A hunger strike is the hardest thing Emil Nielsen has ever tried.

When you’ve spent eight days living only on water, vitamin pills, and a little bit of flaky salt »to just get a new feeling in your mouth,« strange things start to happen to your body.

It tingles in your toes, your fingertips and your teeth, and you feel dizzy when you stand upright for too long. And at its worst, you forget why you’re actually doing it.

»But then you open Instagram and see yet another video of a disembowelled child in Gaza, or soldiers dancing while blowing up a family’s house. What else are you supposed to do,« says Emil Nielsen, a 22-year-old philosophy student, when the University Post met him in his dorm room in the Amager-district of Copenhagen at the beginning of August.

Emil Nielsen is soon to begin his third semester of philosophy, but his time has not really been spent on his studies over the last months. He is one of the leading figures in the student organisation Students Against the Occupation, which took over the courtyards of the Faculty of Social Sciences’ CSS building complex at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) with a forest of tents back in May. The students named their camp Rafah Garden after the city which was the target of an Israeli offensive in Gaza.

The activists issued a list of six demands for the University of Copenhagen to change course on Israel. If they did not fulfil them they would not close down their camp.

After 27 days, the UCPH management team chose to withdraw its investments from companies operating in areas with illegal Israeli settlements, and the students packed up. The students’ assessed that they had come as far as they could on this path.

And while the majority of them went home to catch up on the exam reading they had missed out on, Emil and four others, some of whom were students, went straight on to the next action: a hunger strike in front of Christiansborg.

READ ALSO: University of Copenhagen to quit investments in Israeli-occupied territories

»Rafah Garden had been a success, because the university had given in to our most important demands. Now it made sense for us to focus more directly on the arms industry. And after a very hectic period, it was actually nice to just sit and cook while sitting on a camping stool in front of Christiansborg. At least for the first few days,« says Emil Nielsen.

Ran after Danish foreign minister

The hunger strike was a collaboration between several different organisations, and the ambition was to get through to government, in particular the foreign minister, and to pressure him into banning all forms of arms exports to Israel.

»We were in front of the [Danish parliament building, ed.] Christiansborg from 8 am to 4 pm, and then we went home together and slept in the same place, so we could help each other keep our spirits up,« says Emil.

After a few quiet days with signs announcing the purpose of the hunger strike, an opportunity for dialogue finally arose when the Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen came walking across the square. He walked in a long circle, away and around the protesters, and had a security detail around him. But he was at a distance that could easily be traversed by five healthy youths.

»When we discovered that Lars Løkke was right there, we all ran to catch him before he managed to get inside Christiansborg. On that particular day, of course, I had chosen to put on high heels, it was terrible…« Emil says.

The hunger strike was on the fifth day, and the five hunger strikers could hardly catch up with Lars Løkke, even though he came walking at an ordinary pace.

»At that point, we were all getting pretty exhausted. When we ran after him, people just dropped by the wayside. You ran 20 metres, then someone was dropped, 20 metres, then someone else was dropped,« says Emil.

»We were only a couple of us that barely managed to catch him at a pedestrian crossing. There we had a few seconds to say what we wanted … come up with some bangers, you know … but we were just completely dizzy and lightheaded, so we couldn’t articulate ourselves properly.«

Lars Løkke left before the students had time to say all that much, and they fought their way back to safe ground, slumped on their camping stools.

Three days later, on the eighth day of the hunger strike, it was shut down because a doctor that was associated with them reckoned that the strike would put the students’ health at risk.

Small town anarchist

Emil was 20 years old when he experienced his first demonstration, which took place in Aarhus on the International Women’s Day. He had started at the Testrup Folk High School a few months prior, and had one day gone to a demo with a couple of new friends.

»Neither I, nor my friends from folk high school, were hardy demo-goers. We tried to tag along, but I remember thinking it was really crazy to have to stand and yell in the middle of the street. It really put me out of my comfort zone,« he says.

Emil has no problem nowadays shouting in the street or even arguing with the police if it is done for what he considers a good cause.

But it hasn’t always been that way.

Emil grew up in Herning with a father who is a theologian, a mother who works in a trade union, and an older brother who was almost as interested in philosophy as he was. In Herning, Emil mostly hung out in communities around fantasy worlds – he read Dragon Ball, played Dungeons and Dragons and »role-playing in the dark forest,« as he puts it.

»I don’t know why, but there’s an overlap between the people who identify as anarchists and the people who have played a lot of Dungeons and Dragons,« he laughs.

Looking back, Emil reckons he »radicalized himself« during secondary school. He wrote a large written assignment on the Uighurs in Xinjiang, and not many of his classmates found this subject particularly exciting. He did have a few friends who would like to discuss the oppressive working conditions of the Chinese Muslim minority.

After secondary school, he attended Testrup Folk High School, and this confirmed that it was philosophy that was his calling.

»At that time, I had probably been a closet anarchist in Herning for a couple of years. I think I was looking for a community that shared my interests in activism and philosophy. And when I discovered it existed, I knew I had to go to a bigger city and find even more of it,« he says.

Emil has a hard time relating to things if he doesn’t understand where they originate, he says, when I ask him what it is about philosophy that attracts him.

»I usually say that I like abstract and other-worldly things, but that statement has seemed less and less adequate recently.«

In recent months, his philosophical interest in justice and equality is more down-to-earth than the protracted discussions he previously had with his friends at the university, he says.

»I have spent a lot more time reading about investment policy than on the syllabus. I also had to postpone two exams last semester because the work in Students Against the Occupation took up so much time,« Emil says.

He has had re-examinations in both political philosophy and applied philosophy, and in both cases he uses the current investment policy of UCPH as the starting point for a larger theoretical discussion.

»But every time I sit and read theory that fits the topic, I get an idea for something I can do in real life, and then I would rather spend my time on it. Right now, I find the study programme a bit irrelevant,« he says and adds:

»There are times for theoretical abstractions, and then there are times when you have to act. Now is a time to act. You should never turn into an armchair socialist.«

Dragon Ball trumps Marx

Emil is involved in many different kinds of activism and politics. When we met for our interview appointment, he was hanging up a poster for a demonstration against animal cruelty in his dorm.

And in his small dorm room, the walls are plastered with posters that testify to his broad activist and leftist commitment. Here is a hammer and sickle. A poster with the text ‘Support the Psych Council – support the blockade’. And a bookshelf with carefully selected works by thinkers of both past and present like Judith Butler, Simone de Beauvoir, Plato and of course Karl Marx.

»I haven’t read much of it … yet,« Emil reveals, and points instead to a smaller, centrally located, bookcase, which includes the complete collection of the popular Japanese manga Dragon Ball. »I’ve read that,« he laughs.

Emil is activistically engaged in a wide sense. But it is still Israel’s continued invasion of Gaza that he is most concerned about.

»What’s happening in Palestine right now is blatant in a way I haven’t seen before. It is clearly the situation in the world that requires the most action,« says Emil, whose own activism started in its sister organisation, Anarchist Students, some time around »minus 3 days into my study programme.«

»A friend and I had seen an event on Facebook called Anarchist book café, and we showed up there along with a lot of other anarchist students,« he says and continues:

»And then we were in. The first week of my studies, I went around hanging up anarchist posters at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. That’s when I got the feeling that wow, now I’ve really left the provinces.«

You identify yourself as an anarchist?

»I do.«

Why?

»I think it’s the best analysis of society. Anarchism has a special focus on means and ends. Your means must always be conditioned by your goal. You should not, say, take over the state in order to abolish state power,« he says, then mumbling under his breath »ahem … Lenin …«

»… You build society from below as a counter-structure to the society you want to change. If it fails, you haven’t made a violent coup where you’ve killed a lot of people. You may have just fed some homeless people, grown some vegetables, and created some communities.«

Rafah Garden

In October 2023, Emil participated in his first pro-Palestine demonstration as a student, and from then on there was no turning back.

In both the autumn and the spring, he stood with his allies from the Students Against the Occupation when there were meetings in the UCPH Board and chanted slogans like »KU [UCPH,ed,], KU, you can’t hide – you’re commiting genocide,« and »KU, stop your hypocrisy – Israel’s a tyranny.«

They demanded that UCPH withdrew its investments from companies like Airbnb, Booking.com and eDreams. They took their cue from the rest of the world, where university students in the US and several European countries blockaded the entrances to their universities with tent camps and demonstrations. And in early May, when a tent camp at Trinity College Dublin seemed to be bearing fruit, the Danish Students against the Occupation group decided they couldn’t wait any longer. Tents had to be set up on UCPH campus – now.

»Rafah Garden was actually completely unplanned,« says Emil and continues:

»It was important for us to be part of the university movement before it died out. We had actually planned to start on 13 May, but chose to bring it forward by a week. This meant there was a sudden hurry to write press releases, get tents, and make plans for what we would do if the camp was cleared immediately.«

Cheat sheets were also produced for those who were going to participate. They included a guide on what to do if, for example, you were removed by the police, says Emil.

READ ALSO: University of Copenhagen called in the police: »We were not treated like students, but like terrorists«

On the first day of the tent camp, media reported how several of the students present had refused to speak to the press. Only a small team, consisting of about five students, would be interviewed – Emil was one of them.

»For some people, being associated with Palestine activism put them in a vulnerable position. So we decided that only a small group took that risk,« Emil says.

»None of us were trained in speaking with the media, but we ended up getting an hour of media training from someone in the organization who had tried it before.«

It was »pretty scary,« says Emil, who at that time had been active in the movement for just over half a year and was now suddenly the face of the entire mission.

Then it was if he had been thrown into a lions den: The media wanted to hear what Students Against the Occupation expected to get out of the tent camp, whether their presence could lead to a feeling of insecurity, or if/when they intended to storm the university.

»At that point, I had only tried to speak to the University Post a couple of times,« Emil laughs, and he had to put all his interviews on a schedule to keep track of them.

READ ALSO: Students after University of Copenhagen opts to continue Israel investments: »A huge nothing burger«

Although he was nervous the first times he had to speak to the press, he quickly got used to it. Within a few days, Emil had spoken to most Danish media, appeared on TV, been in a live debate with Minister for Higher Education and Science Christina Egelund (M) on P1 and participated in the political talk show Lippert.

Glamming down for TV

Emil was aware that his opinions would, in particular, be unpopular outside the university and outside the city. And there would probably also be viewers who would focus more on his earrings and the nail polish on his fingers than on what he had on his mind.

»I took some precautions during this period. I made my address a secret, for example, and deleted most of the content on my social media. And then it was probably also an advantage that I don’t have a particularly unique name,« he says referring to the fact that both ‘Emil’ and ‘Nielsen’ are common names in Denmark.

Although Emil wanted to be his own authentic self, even when he appeared on television, he considered very carefully whether his appearance could draw focus away from his political points.

»I considered several times whether I should glam down when I went on TV. On the one hand, I wanted to be myself. On the other hand, it’s just easier to get speaking time if you don’t stick out too much,« he says.

To a large extent, however, it all went without saying. Emil lived in the tent camp at the time, and had primarily packed practical clothes that harmonized with life for an indefinite time in a tent.

»I didn’t, for example, wear any of those things when I was on TV,« Emil laughs and points to colourful apparel that is neatly displayed on the wall:

Tailored suit jackets with flower embroidery, a purple top with sewn-on pearls, and a white vest consisting of fur and lace.

What is your style inspired by?

»Good question. I just walk into a second hand shop and let the muses sing for me,« he says.

»I typically see a piece of clothing and think, who on earth is it made for? The white vest there for example …«

He points to the wall.

»… a terrible piece of clothing, right? Who on earth would wear it? And when I can’t think of anybody, then it has to be me,« he says, and shrugs his shoulders before adding:

»Wait, now I know: My style icons are older women. I once worked in home care. And their clothes, they really nailed it.«

Summer activism

After tent camp and hunger strike, there was suddenly a summer vacation on Emil’s calendar. It was strange after the intense period, he says.

»I had made so many good friends, and I felt like I was doing exactly what I should be doing. So it was a big contrast when I suddenly had days where I could drop into a Netflix hole and not do anything,« he says.

But global injustice did not take a summer vacation.

Although July was supposed to be used for studying for the exams that he had postponed, he used his time instead participating in blockades and demonstrations against companies that contribute to arms exports to Israel.

During blockades in front of the technology company Terma, a supplier to the aircraft and weapons industry, the police were involved multiple times. Emil was twice dragged along the ground, thrown into a police car, and driven down to the station because he refused to budge.

»It is supposed to be unpleasant to be arrested, and the police make sure that it is. Painful holds, strip searches, that sort of thing. I haven’t actually tried the latter, but I know several who have. You have to recover a bit before you can do it all again,« he says:

»And that is annoying. Because you would like to be able to keep up a constant pressure and stop the companies that contribute to arms exports to Israel.«

Emil and several of his friends have now joined the insurance association Bødebanken to take care of fines and penalties. You pay a subscription fee, which then in return covers fines below a certain amount if the offence has occurred in connection with activism on the extra-parliamentary left.

It sounds like the activism you’ve done alongside Student Against the Occupation has of late become a bit more … hardcore?

»Maybe. But Rafah Garden was also a very radicalizing space. You met many people there who did forms of activism that you might have wanted to do yourself, but had not yet dared. A lot of people probably find it intimidating to show up just for a blockade if you don’t know anyone else involved,« says Emil.

He points to a huge broken padlock on his radiator as if it were some kind of trophy.

»I was locked to the gate at Terma with this around my neck. The police first tried to cut me free with wire cutters. Then they turned up with an angle grinder, but couldn’t use it so close to my neck. Eventually, they cut me free with the world’s largest electric scissors.«

When you sit there, do you ever think: Could I spend my time differently than being strapped to a gate right now?

»No. Right at that moment, I’m thinking mostly about what I can do next. I feel like I’m in the right place and I’m spending my time in exactly the right way.«

Are you fighting a battle of justice, or is it just as much about the fact that you like being in extreme situations?

»I sometimes ask myself that. But it’s really not something I’ve sought out before. I’m not a very confrontational person, in fact I’m quite conflict-averse. It’s not because I was wild as a teenager or anything like that,« says Emil.

The dream of another world

It’s depressing to be the person who talks about war all the time if your friends occupy themselves with something completely different, says Emil, who in Students Against the Occupation has found a community »where everyone shares the same interest and the same grief.«

»I’ve met so many cool and nice people who are passionate about exactly the same thing as me,« he says, explaining that his best friends today are from either the philosophy or activist community. There is a big overlap between the two.

And even though Emil hasn’t spent a lot of energy on his studies in recent months, he’s actually pretty excited about going to university. He is, in his own words, »a big school person.«

He finds it difficult to answer what he dreams of doing afterwards.

»My job consultant – my mum, that is – she looks over my shoulder every now and then and asks if me whether it really is philosophy that I should be studying. But that’s what I’m passionate about, and if I could choose, I’d rather be an eternal student,« he laughs and continues:

»I don’t dream of having a particular job. Or yes I do, but I’m not one of those people who think that my work absolutely has to be meaningful. I just hope I can continue to do activism in one way or another.«

Perhaps he dreams of an academic future as a researcher in the philosophy field, where he can continue to think big. But he doesn’t really have that many dreams on his own behalf, he says:

»I dream of a free Palestine and the deconstruction of the patriarchy. That’s really all there is.«

READ ALSO: Rector interview: This is why there will be no UCPH academic boycott of Israel