Egypt: Going Hungry to Draw Attention to the Plight of Syrians · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011/12.
Syrian activists and artists abroad have been on hunger strike for almost two weeks, to draw attention to the atrocities being committed by the Syrian regime against their people.
In Cairo, six women, including prominent Syrian poet and writer Lina Tibi, have been camped outside the Arab League headquarters for a week today [September 10, 2012], vowing that they will not end their hunger strike until their demands are met.
Tibi tweeted yesterday [ar]:
Syrian women protesting in Douma in April, 2011. Photograph from Syriana2011 photostream on flickr, used under (CC BY 2.0)
And on her Facebook page, she writes [ar]:
Among their goals are:
@Mou2amara: One aim of #StrikersForSyria hunger strike in #Cairo is for closure of #SuezCanal to #Iran & #Russia ships supplying arms to #Assad. #Egypt
The Cairo protesters are part of a huge group of activists off food to draw attention to the plight of Syrians.
On Twitter, former Syria resident Donatella tweets:
@donatelladr: Many #Syria artists & activists living in #Egypt #France #Lebanon #Turkey #Germany #Spain #Jordan #KSA on hunger strike since Aug 26
Meanwhile, on Facebook, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria page posts [ar] a statement on the hunger strike:
The statement names some of those taking part in the hunger strike and appeals to them to stop:
ولا يزال معظم هؤلاء النشطاء مستمرين في إضرابهم حيث تدهور الوضع الصحي لعدد منهم.و إذ توجه لجان التنسيق المحلية في سوريا التحية و تثمن موقف الأحرار[….]
فإنها تتمنى على المضربين عن الطعام فك إضرابهم، باعتبار أن الرسالة وصلت، ويكفينا الموت القادم من كل صوب
على أيدي آلة حرب النظام ومرتزقته. فمعركة انتزاع الحرية لوطننا طويلة ومريرة و تحتاج جهود الجميع، و لاينبغي أن نخسر المزيد من الأرواح كيف يلتفت العالم إلى معاناتنا، التي باتت أوضح من الشمس الساطعة
Those activists are continuing their strike, and some of them are in deteriorating health conditions. The Local Coordination Committees of Syria sends its regards to those freedom fighters and appreciates their gesture.[….]It also hopes those on hunger strike will stop their actions because their message has reached those it was intended for. We have had enough death coming from all directions, at the hand of the war machine of the regime and its mercenaries. The war to extract freedom for our country is long and bitter and will need all our efforts and we shouldn't risk more souls for the world to pay attention to our plight, now that it has become clear for all to see
For more reactions on Twitter, follow the hash tag #StrikersforSyria in English and #مضربات_لاجل_سوريا in Arabic.
This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011/12.