The only real weapon a hunger striker has is the concern of those against whom he is striking that the hunger strikers might actually die, bringing negative repercussions on those the striker opposes. If the hunger strikers are not actually prepared to die for their cause, they have no power at all. And, as I previously noted, a hunger strike is only effective if someone actually cares if you starve yourself to death.

Many people, including me, mocked the Princeton princess and her whining about the rigors of the students’ hunger strike, because it showed the unseriousness of it. Now we have this:

Princeton University students end anti-Israel hunger strike ‘due to health concerns’

The end of the ‘hunger strike’ came after members initially vowed not to eat or drink again

by Lawrence Richard | Monday, May 13, 2024 | 4:14 AM EDT

Students at Princeton University protesting Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza have called an end to their hunger strike after just 10 days.

Princeton Divest Now, the student protest group that is calling for the New Jersey Ivy League university to divest from America’s Middle Eastern ally due to the high civilian death toll in the Gaza Strip, said additional strikers would be continuing their efforts.

“Due to health concerns of the 13 strikers who fasted for 10 days, the first hunger strike wave ended, and the second wave has begun,” it wrote in a post shared on Instagram.

Parents are familiar with little children threatening to hold their breath until they turn blue, and the Princeton princess and her dozen compatriots have shown that their actions were just a (slightly) more grown up attempt at the same ploy. Kids can’t hold their breath that long, and while ten days really is a long time to go without food, the strikers have given up their only real weapon: they have shown that they are unwilling to continue their hunger strike until death.

It added: “In the tradition of rotary strikes, seven new strikers are indefinitely fasting for a free Palestine.”

A “rotary” hunger strike? Utterly laughable! It surrenders, in advance, the hunger strikers’ only weapon, because those against whom the strike is being used have been notified that the strikers will only go so far.

Students at the university are not the only ones who went without food since an encampment formed on the campus to protest Israel’s military campaign to eradicate Hamas, as faculty apparently participated in a 24-hour hunger strike.

The faculty’s 24-hour hunger strike, which began on Friday morning at 10 a.m., ended Saturday.

I guess that a 24-hour hunger strike is twice as serious as the 12-hour hunger strike that thirty Hahvahd students held in solidarity with their fellow Ivy Leaguers. 🙂

The powers that be at Princeton were probably never worried that the hunger strikers were serious enough to die for their beliefs, and held to their positions long enough to outwait the strikers; now, they don’t have to worry at all.