FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 22, 2025
Media Contacts: Melissa Garriga | [email protected] or Cyntha Papermaster | [email protected]
Long-Time Peace Activist and UC Alum Begins Fast for Gaza at Noon, UC Berkeley Sproul Plaza
Hunger Striker Demands UC Divest from Companies Profiting from Genocide in Gaza
BERKELEY, CA – Long-time peace activist, CODEPINK Bay Area organizer, and UC alumna Cynthia Papermaster began an open-ended “Fast for Gaza and Against Genocide” at noon, May 22, at Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus. This hunger strike is part of the Veterans for Peace “Fast for Gaza”, a nationwide action with two urgent demands: resume humanitarian aid to Gaza under UN authority and stop arming Israel NOW.
“Imagine surviving on just 250 calories daily and not knowing if you will even have that amount tomorrow. That’s the harsh reality for most Palestinians in the Gaza Strip right now. This is not by choice, but by an intentional, calculated blockade. Weaponizing food and starving people into submission or death is a slow, calculated method of genocide, designed to break the human spirit through prolonged agony, to suffocate life one calorie at a time. This is not collateral damage; it targets an entire population’s rights. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached catastrophic proportions. Gaza is being starved and bombed—its homes, hospitals, and infrastructure shattered—while much of the world remains silent. When words fail, our bodies must speak.” Sami Awad, Co-Director, Nonviolence International
Papermaster will be at Sproul Plaza with supporters and her service dog Luck-Key on Thursday and Friday, 5/22 and 5/23, from Noon to 2 PM. On Friday at 6 pm, she will be at Stanford University’s White Plaza with the student hunger strike. During the fast, she will be at locations of entities supporting and profiting from the genocide, including the offices of California Senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla; Representatives Lateefah Simon, Nancy Pelosi, and Eric Swalwell; media outlets such as San Francisco Chronicle, KQED; the Israeli and Egyptian Consulates, and Bay Area Colleges.
“I am fasting to call out the University of California for investing and profiting from a genocide that is starving and killing a population of innocent civilians. These are war crimes and crimes against humanity,” said Papermaster. “I am grateful to and proud of UC Berkeley, my alma mater, where I got my undergraduate and graduate degrees. But I am horrified that UC profits from genocide. Recent Pew Research Center polls show that over 60% of all U.S. voters across party lines want an arms embargo on Israel. And among Democrat voters under the age of 50, the number is 80%! It is time for UC to divest. My fast is open-ended; I will fast until the University indicates it will divest. I will consume 250 or fewer calories a day, reflecting the “severely restricted caloric intake Israel has imposed on Palestinians in Gaza” under blockade conditions," she continued.
###
