More than twenty Oxford students are taking part in a rolling hunger strike as part of the Egypt Solidarity Initiative’s 1,000 Hours of Hunger campaign. The campaign is protesting against the repressive laws used to criminalise dissent and detain activists, destroying the freedoms that the Egyptian people fought for in the 2011 revolution.
During 5th and 6th Weeks, students are taking 24 hours of symbolic action to express their anger at the loss of basic human rights of free speech and free assembly for political activists and Egyptian citizens alike. There are over 140 political prisoners currently on hunger strike in Egypt and the 1,000 Hours of Hunger campaign is showing solidarity with them.
The strike started on 22nd September at SOAS and has already proved that solidarity — according to the Egypt Solidarity Initiative website — “makes a real difference” with three activists, including Alaa Adel Fattah, who launched the hunger strike campaign in August, being released on bail on 15th September.
However, according to Egyptian human rights activists, around 40,000 people have been detained since July 2013, many without charge or trial. For example, Sanaa Seif — a 20 year old student — was arrested on 21st June whilst peacefully protesting the jailing of her brother and 23 others for 15 years. Those that remain incarcerated, in often appalling conditions, are evidence of the assault on civil liberties being conducted by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s administration.
Amelia Cooper, an Oxford University Amnesty International member taking part in the hunger strike, told Cherwell that she is taking action out of a “shared sense of dismay [which] is rooted entirely in the audacious manner in which the Egyptian administration is abusing the rights of its citizens.”
She added, “The object of the strike is twofold — we want to raise awareness, as well as demonstrating support and solidarity to the strikers in Egypt.”
Alex Marshall, who is also involved in the Campaign to Close Campsfield and Oxford Migrant Solidarity, said he was striking because of his disappointment after seeing how the achievements of the 2011 Egyptian revolution have been “gradually and viciously crushed” in the intervening years.
He explained, “There is dirt behind the daydream of peaceful and democratic societies such as ours that we take for granted – part of any expression of political principles is a willingness to look at that dirt, or briefly experience it in solidarity”.
However, the campaign has been questioned by some members of the University. An anonymous second year told Cherwell, “Although I can appreciate what the campaigners are doing at the moment, I don’t exactly see how effective a group of Oxford students going hungry for a few hours will have any impact on events in Egypt. Maybe I’m just being cynical though!”
The campaign is also attempting to show solidarity with prisoners of conscience such as Mohamed Soltan, who is currently in intensive care after slipping into a coma, having been on strike for over 280 days. Along with numerous others, the hope is to reverse the trend towards an ever increasingly damaged civil society in Egypt, and the release of arbitrarily detained political prisoners.
