For a week now, young New York immigrants have been participating in a hunger strike outside Senator Chuck Schumer's office in midtown in hopes to win support for the DREAM act. The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act was re-introduced to Congress in March of 2009. Providing the minor graduated from a US high school and had been in the country continuously for at least five years prior to the bill's enactment, the bill would allow illegal minors to obtain temporary residency for six years, during which they must pursue a degree of higher education or serve in the uniformed services for at least two years to obtain conditional permanent residency. And apparently Schumer has been slow on his response. more ›

Savitri D., normally acting as director of the Church of Stop Shopping, became a mermaid this past weekend. After marching in the Mermaid Parade on Coney Island as Queen, and attending the Ball later that night, she began a hunger strike. She now sits in a storefront on Coney Island, fasting until a scoping meeting tomorrow regarding the fate of the area. You can see her on a livecam that's been set up; she talked to us after her fast began about her cause. more ›

Reverend Billy and Savitri D have been named King Neptune and Queen Mermaid of the 2008 Coney Island Mermaid Parade, taking place this Saturday, and they're using their power to save Coney "from the gentrifying apocalypse of RETAIL ENTERTAINMENT HELL!" But as they say, No pain, No Gain -- and in order to help their cause, the Queen Mermaid has declared a hunger strike.

The Queen Mermaid will refuse to go back in the ocean! She will initiate a hunger strike during the parade, and will live in a window on Surf Ave and West 12th from the Mermaid Ball until the critical scoping meeting on June 24th at 6 pm. She is fasting to draw attention to a destructive scheme to reduce 60 acres of amusements to 9. She is fasting so YOU will come to this meeting, where the fate of Coney Island may be determined.

The Columbia University students' hunger strike to protest Columbia's non-inclusive attitudes about redevelopment and curriculum continues with one less striker. Just after midnight on Sunday, a post went on up on the Columbia Hunger Strike website saying, "This evening, one hunger striker was admitted to St. Luke's hospital. She will not continue the strike for personal medical reasons." The student, Aretha Choi, who attends Barnard, later wrote:...my disappointment increases as I remember the bitter... more ›

Six anonymous students at Columbia University have gone on a hunger strike to protest the administration's attitude and position on a number of issues, including Columbia's plans for West Harlem/Manhatanville, a series of hate crimes on campus and lack of an ethnic studies program. You can see the full list of demands at the strikers website, as well as explanations for questions like "Why now?"The recent acts of hate on this campus have lent urgency... more ›