Shevani Murray with EU-parliament member Irene Montero. Own picture Since Wednesday morning she has been sitting there, on the steps of the European Parliament. The last time she ate anything was six days ago. Wageningen PhD student Shevani Murray (30) has gone on hunger strike to force action against Israel. ‘My hunger is a choice, that of the people in Gaza has not been for months.’
She has a little headache and an occasional rumbling stomach. But she still feels fine, she says, on day six of her hunger strike. ‘That feeling of hunger also dissipates again. Occasionally, I twitch a little, but I still have plenty of energy, mind you’, an upbeat Murray said Thursday afternoon. She drinks only water with electrolytes to keep her energy up somewhat.
At that point, she has been on a hunger strike for more than two days. Since then, Murray has been sitting on the doorstep of the European Parliament every day. She hopes to get in touch with MEPs who will stand up for her call to end the EU’s trade agreement with Israel.
The site of her protest was not chosen at random. Late last month, the EU announced it was reviewing the EU-Israel trade agreement because of human rights violations and the catastrophic situation in Gaza. The review of this agreement is on the agenda at Parliament in the coming days. ‘When I heard this in the news, I immediately thought: this is it. This is the hook I need to take action.’
Fear of cops
Demonstrating is not entirely unfamiliar to Murray, who grew up in Brussels. Back home in Wageningen, she sometimes took part in a demonstration to call attention to the situation in Gaza. And she once stood on the A12 highway. But a hunger strike? ‘I was looking for ways to apply nonviolent disobedience when I heard about this. With that, I also have to be honest that I am not good at confrontations, and I find the cops rather frightening’, she explains.
For me, this is a choice; I can eat again whenever I want. But the Palestinians are dying of starvation.
Shevani Murray
‘In this way, by going on a hunger strike, I am not doing anything to anyone but myself. And perhaps most importantly, I find the parallels with the hunger being suffered now in Gaza. For me, this is a choice; I can eat again whenever I want. But the Palestinians are dying of starvation.’
So Murray, together with a housemate from Wageningen – who is not participating in the hunger strike – left for Brussels. Together with him and other sympathizers, she sits on the parliament’s doorstep every day from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
She sleeps at her parents’ house, further down town. ‘I have that luxury of just having a place to go at night, but I realize very well that most Palestinians now have no roof over their heads.’
A week, or longer?
How long Murray plans to remain on hunger strike is not yet certain. ‘We will stay for at least a week. That’s what we said to each other from the beginning. But I have to say that now that I’m here, I feel like we should actually stay longer’, she speaks her thoughts aloud. And at the same time, ‘It’s not my intention to stay so long that it becomes dangerous to my health; I don’t want to end up in the hospital because of this.’
We will stay for at least a week. But I have to say that now that I’m here, I feel like we really should stay longer.
Shevani Murray
To keep things from getting dangerous, Murray is in contact with a local family doctor. ‘In an ideal world, maybe I should have had a checkup before I stopped eating, but we didn’t. I did start eating less a few days beforehand and stopped drinking coffee. So maybe I got that headache not from hunger, but from withdrawal.’
To generate support for her action, an Instagram page was started. An online petition has received the first few hundred signatures.
Source: De Gelderlander/Rosa de Buisonjé | Translated using DeepL
