Sex and the City’s Cynthia Nixon has joined a group of progressive lawmakers in a multi-day hunger strike calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
Speaking in front of the White House on Monday, November 27th, Nixon declared that she would embark on a two-day hunger strike, and highlighted the plight of the Palestinian people in the wake of a weeks-long bombing campaign carried out by the Israeli government. “We are here hunger-striking just to sort of mirror to [President] Biden the kind of deprivation that is happening in Gaza and how he has it within his power to make a ceasefire happen,” she said at the rally, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “None of this is normal. None of this is routine and none of this can be allowed to continue.”
Nixon — who was a candidate in the Democratic primary for the 2018 New York gubernatorial election — cited her son, Jewish activist Seph Mozes, as a reason for her involvement in pro-Palestine activism. “He said to my wife and me point-blank, ‘You have a much bigger megaphone than I do, and I just implore you at this moment to do everything you can to bring attention to this,’” Nixon told The Cut. “His Jewish identity is very central to him. He’s the grandson of two Holocaust survivors. He said, for him, ‘never again’ means never again for everyone.”
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A number of lawmakers from across the country are joining Nixon in the hunger strike, including Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton, Rep. Zohran Mamdani, Rep. Mauree Turner, Rep. Sam Rasoul, and Rep. Abraham Aiyash. In her interview with The Cut, Nixon explained that it was Mamdani who first reached out to her about the protest.
“He’s a New York assemblyman I’ve put an enormous amount of faith in,” she said. “When Zohran explained to me that this was happening, I wanted to be part of it. It’s happening the week after Thanksgiving, a time when people get very distracted and caught up in the holidays. The progress made so far has been largely due to protests in this country and around the world, and it’s why we’re looking at a temporary cease-fire at this moment.”
For his part, Mamdani — who will be on hunger strike for five days — explained to Time that the hunger strike’s goal is “to show President Biden the consequences of his actions. This is what he’s doing to Palestinians. It is time that he sees at his doorstep, what it means to support policies such as these… The United States is not simply a witness to this genocide. It’s an actor in this genocide.”
A temporary ceasefire went into place on November 24th, but is expected to end on Wednesday, November 29th. Beyond the hunger strike, Nixon has joined many artists and celebrities who have signed a letter calling for a permanent ceasefire, including America Ferrera, Dua Lipa, Florence Pugh, Jeremy Allen White, John Cusack, Jon Stewart, Michael Stipe, and many more.
Speaking to The Cut, Nixon explained that she sees artists as having the potential to make a big impact, not only because of their sizable platforms, but for their perspectives too. “We’re a group of people who have a megaphone,” she said. “There are a lot of actors who signed that letter, and our profession is all about empathy and putting yourself in the shoes of someone else… [President Biden] is known for his empathy, it’s one of his strengths as a leader, so we’re imploring that he listen to the will of the American people, 70 percent of whom want there to be a ceasefire.”
The Israel-Hamas War has been a contentious issue since the conflict broke out last month. Some celebrities, like Quentin Tarantino and Sarah Silverman, have expressed support for Israel’s actions in Gaza. Meanwhile, Melissa Barrera — who also signed the artists’ letter calling for a ceasefire — was dropped from Scream VII following her vocal support of Palestine, and in Paris, Melanie Martinez’ microphone was cut after she raised a Palestinian flag on stage.
