Solidarity Fast for Gaza-MKE calls “people of conscience” to fast

Photos by Sandra Whitehead

Solidarity Fast for Gaza-MKE launched Friday, June 6, in front of the Federal Courthouse in Milwaukee.

A coalition of Greater Milwaukee-based organizations launched a Solidarity Fast for Gaza through the end of June, joining a national fast led by Veterans for Peace. 

Palestinians in Gaza are facing starvation since Israel instituted a total blockade on March 2, preventing all food, water, medical supplies, fuel and other life-sustaining essentials from coming into Gaza. Limited aid has recently entered Gaza through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a joint U.S.-Israeli project that has been marred by violence, as local authorities say Israeli forces have killed Palestinians seeking food, The Guardian reported. 

Even with recent aid, the daily caloric intake of Gazans has fallen well below survival level, the United Nations reports.

Solidarity Fast for Gaza-MKE held a press conference Sunday, June 6, on the Federal Courthouse steps in Milwaukee, right after the Eid prayer at the Baird Center. About 30 representatives from Veterans for Peace, Peace Action Wisconsin, Jewish Voice for Peace, the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine, Milwaukee for Palestine, Wisconsin Christians for Justice in Palestine, Code Pink and Catholics for Peace participated in the press conference.

Peace Action Wisconsin co-chair Jim Carpenter called on Israel to allow the delivery of sufficient aid as Steve Watrus, president of the United Nations Association of Greater Milwaukee and Mary Devitt of the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine held up photos of starving children. (Far right) Pam Richard of Peace Action of Wisconsin waved a Palestinian flag.

Fasters locally and nationwide are demanding “the full resumption of humanitarian aid to Gaza and an immediate end to U.S. military support for Israel,” Peace Action Wisconsin co-chair Jim Carpenter announced at the press conference.

The press conference aimed to accomplish three things: to call media attention to the suffering and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza, launch the Solidarity Fast for Gaza-MKE and deliver a request to Sen. Ron Johnson, urging him to co-sponsor Senate Resolution 224, a resolution calling for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to address the needs of civilians in Gaza. If Sen. Johnson signs on, he will be the first Republican among 45 other co-sponsors, noted Carpenter.

During the press conference, Carpenter and Mark Foreman, a Vietnam veteran and a leader of Veterans for Peace, both locally and nationally, delivered their request to Sen. Johnson’s office. As of Monday, they have not received his response, Carpenter said. 

Mark Foreman of Veterans for Peace and a Vietnam veteran called on people to live their values.

Absence of the media

The Wisconsin Muslim Journal was the sole media organization to attend the June 6 press conference.

“It is outrageous that we don’t have the major media networks here,” Carpenter exclaimed as the press conference began. “I gave them a call today and they said, ‘Yeah, it’s on our calendar. We’ll see if we’re going to come.

“If 50 children were killed in a school shooting in the United States, it would be on the front page of every newspaper,” he continued. “How many children have been killed or injured in Gaza as we speak—50,000! The fact that the media isn’t here to talk about the killing (or injury) of 50,000 innocent children is outrageous!”

Fasting for Gaza

Twenty-seven people signed up with Solidarity Fast with Gaza-MKE so far, Carpenter said in an interview Monday with the Wisconsin Muslim Journal. They will fast for 174 days collectively. 

“Although our fast began June 6, some of us have already begun fasting. Some people are fasting for a day or two. A couple of people are fasting all of June. We exceeded our goal of 40 (collective) fasting days.”

To join Solidarity Fast for Gaza-MKE, see the instructions here.

Fasters from southeastern Wisconsin join a national fast led by Veterans for Peace, which began May 22 and runs through the end of June. The 40-day national fast and the Greater Milwaukee fast have the same objectives—“the full resumption of humanitarian aid to Gaza and an immediate end to U.S. military support for Israel.” 

The national call explains: “This collective act of resistance is open to all Gaza allies and people of conscience. Participants may fast in two ways: by joining the centralized fast in New York City, where fasters consume only 250 calories per day to mirror the average caloric intake of Gazans under Israeli blockade, or by taking part in a dispersed fast from their own local context.” 

Carson Bunker, a member of Code Pink, said Code Pink “strives to raise visibility around the occupation of Palestine.”

Speaking out

Representatives from each organization made brief speeches at the press conference. Here are a few highlights:

“We are here because we are compelled by our conscience to speak out against genocide,” said Carpenter of Peace Action Wisconsin. “We are here because we are compelled by our conscience to speak out against a government that supports genocide,” he said, then led the group in chanting, “Ceasefire now! Food not bombs! End the genocide!”

“Fasting is a way to set out everything else in the world and focus your heart and attention,” said Pastor Darren Utley of the First Presbyterian Church of Racine, who led a prayer at the press conference. “As we pray, let’s remember we are here because our hearts and attention are on stopping the genocide. 

“Great Spirit that unites all of us here in this place and all of creation, we have a spirit of love and justice inside of us. When we see people starving, when we see people being bombed and killed, when we see hate and evil, our very selves reject it. Unite us together in our sense of love and justice, well up in us a spirit of courage because we must stop this genocide.”

Angela Lang, executive director of Black Leaders Organizing for Communities, committed to fasting for two days in the month of June and asked her friends to do the same. “May it remind us of what folks are dealing with in Gaza,” she said.

“I think it is a beautiful idea to start with yourself,” said Mark Foreman, Vietnam veteran and a member of Veterans for Peace. “Know yourself. Know what you believe in, what’s right and wrong. And then act on it. I’ve been trying to live my life this way for the past 57 years, since coming back from Vietnam.”

A representative of Jewish Voice for Peace said the fast is “an invitation to commit to your values … It shows others at your work, home and community that you cannot and will not digest the horrors of what the Israeli government, with full support from the U.S., is doing in Gaza and Palestine.”

“I stand before you on the first day of Eid al-Adha with nothing to celebrate,” said Heba Mohammad, founder of Milwaukee for Palestine. “Today there are 609 days of genocide and over 90 days of a complete blockade on food, water, medicine and other essentials in Gaza. 

“We are witnessing war crimes and crimes against humanity every single day, paid for with our tax dollars and supported by our U.S. government. The Zionist entity has made its plans crystal clear—to ethnically cleanse Palestine of Palestinians. 

“Today marks 58 years since the Nakba (the 1967 Israeli occupation of the remaining Palestinian lands). During this period, Palestinians were slaughtered yet again and displaced yet again by Zionists and more of our land stolen yet again. This led to at least 400,000 new Palestinian refugees, including my family, who were facing expulsion for the second time due to the crimes of the Neksa.

“What we are seeing today is an acceleration of Zionist policies. I applaud the hunger strikers participating in this action to force attention on the situation in Gaza. I also applaud the crew aboard the Madleen, commonly referred to as the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. This is a humanitarian aid ship headed to Gaza as we speak to deliver aid to Palestinians. They have asked the world to keep our eyes on them to prevent an attack like the one that happened just last month. Or the attack that happened more than 10 years ago that killed 10 activists.

“What are we doing in Milwaukee while war profiteers count their profits from our backyard, right here in Milwaukee? … Milwaukee for Palestine has a number of actions you can participate in. We cannot take our foot off the gas. The time to double down on our collective action is now.”

Local members of Veterans for Peace, Peace Action Wisconsin, Jewish Voice for Peace, Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine, Milwaukee for Palestine, Wisconsin Christians for Justice in Palestine, Catholics for Peace and Justice gathered to commit to fasting in June in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza who do not have access to sufficient food.