Hunger strikes: What do you think they can they achieve?

A.V. · 19-08-11, 01:22 AM

A well-known Indian activist has been arrested ahead of a planned hunger strike in protest against a new anti-corruption law. But how effective is a hunger strike as a political statement?

Hunger strikes have been staged for political reasons throughout history.

One of the first recorded is in ancient Indian scriptures, which talk of the brother of the exiled King Rama using the threat of a fast to coax him into returning. He placed himself on a bundle of sacred grass at his feet and refused to budge.

On this occasion the "hunger strike" failed. But the concept persisted - indeed, in pre-Christian Ireland, it was part of the legal system. If a man felt wronged by you and starved himself to death on your doorstep, you had to bear the burden of his debts.

Unlike other protests, a hunger strike has no direct effect on the intended target. The protester suffers, not the person protested against. The protester relies on the moral force of their actions, or the publicity value, to achieve something.

The idea of hunger as political protest has experienced a renaissance in the recent past, says Prof Sharman Apt Russell, author of Hunger: An Unnatural History.

It was revived by the suffragettes in the UK at the beginning of the 20th Century. In July 1909, when a doctor asked jailed suffragette Marion Wallace-Dunlop what she would eat for dinner, she replied in defiance: "My determination."

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BBC News - Hunger strikes: What can they achieve?

A.V. · 19-08-11, 01:24 AM

Some famous ones

A.V. · 19-08-11, 01:24 AM

Some famous ones

Hunger strikes: What do you think they can they achieve?

A.V.

A.V.

A.V.

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