While playing Miranda Hobbes in Sex and the City may still be the main thing the world thinks of when it comes to Cynthia Nixon, the actress has been quite outspoken about her beliefs and political views in the past. From being a member of the Democratic Socialists of America to running for Governor of New York in 2018, per The Cut, Nixon has not shied away from politics.
And, most recently, she has continued her activism by making a drastic move: taking part in a hunger strike calling for the immediate ceasefire in Gaza. According to The Guardian, Nixon, who introduced herself as “the mother of Jewish children whose grandparents are Holocaust survivors,” announced the news alongside an interfaith coalition of over a dozen activists on Monday, Nov. 27.
“In seven weeks, Israel has killed more civilians on a tiny strip of land than was killed in 20 years of war in the entire country of Afghanistan,” Nixon said in her speech outside the White House. “I’m sick and tired of people explaining this away by saying that civilian casualties are a routine toll of war. There is nothing routine about these figures. There is nothing routine about these deaths.”
“None of this is normal,” she added.
“I would like to make a personal plea to a president who has experienced such devastating personal loss,” Nixon continued, speaking directly to President Biden. “To connect with an empathy that he has acknowledged and to look at the children of Gaza and imagine that they were his children. We implore him that this current ceasefire must continue.”
The hunger strike, which coincides with the end of the four-day truce in Israel’s military offensive into Gaza, will take place between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. every day this week until Friday. Nixon, however, will only be able to join until Tuesday due to prior “work commitments,” per The Cut.
“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, why we saw the return of so many of the hostages and Palestinian political prisoners,” Nixon told The Cut.
“We’ve seen all the good that can come from a cease-fire; it’s a moment we have to grab and make permanent,” she said of the strike. “We need this to allow the beginnings of repair and figure out where we go from here.”
