History of hunger strikes

LAHORE: If the MQM Chief Altaf Hussain persists with his decision to go on a hunger strike in London against what he calls “the victimization of his party workers and their unlawful arrests,” he should bear in mind that in 1981, not fewer than 10 Irish Republican Army prisoners had chosen to die in Northern Ireland by resorting to this oldest tactic of human resistance but the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had not uttered a single word of regret.
One of these hunger strikers, Bobby Sands, was elected as a Member of Parliament during the strike by bagging 30,492 votes against the 29,046 votes pocketed by his opponent, but the day he died, Margaret Thatcher had stated before the British House of Commons: “Mr. Sands was a convicted criminal. He chose to take his own life. It was a choice that his organization did not allow to many of its victims.”
Although the demise of Bobby Sands on 66th day of his hunger strike had captured headlines around the world and sparked protests in several cities throughout Europe, a top British newspaper “The Guardian” had supported the Margaret Thatcher regime, asserting: “The Government had overcome the hunger strikes by a show of resolute determination not to be bullied.”
It is imperative to note that 13 other prisoners had also refused taking food, but were taken off hunger strike, either due to medical reasons or after intervention by their families.The hunger strike of these Irish Republican prisoners, who had died one by one, had lasted from 46 to 73 days, meaning thereby that they had observed extremely genuine hunger strike and that the protesters had literally starved themselves to death.
The showdown between the Irish prisoners and Prime Minister Thatcher had started after the British government had withdrawn the “Special Category Status” for convicted paramilitary prisoners hailing from Northern Ireland.
(References: The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Mirror, The Times and the BBC etc) When it comes to publicity stunts, it doesn’t get much more desperate — or dangerous — than a hunger strike.
Research conducted by the “Jang Group and Geo Television Network” shows that although hunger strikes have been staged for political reasons throughout history, whereby protesters had chosen this mode of protest to draw the attention of the men in power corridors towards any injustice and thus embarrass them to carve out a solution, some of these protests have been more successful than others at bringing about change.
These hunger strikes have been used by both violent and non-violent movements, and study reveals that the history of this mode of human protest even dates back to a few centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ, which thereby means that such strikes have been observed for at least 2,500 years!
The “Ramayana,” a great work of Hindi mythology along with the “Mahabharata,” which dates back to approximately the 5th to 4th century BC, sheds light on how a man during the reign of King Rama had threatened to go on a hunger strike if his dead son was not brought back to life.
The aggrieved man had approached King Rama for the premature death of his son, saying that it must be the consequence of some sin committed within his realm.He had contended that the king did not find the culprit and punish him, he himself was guilty. Thus, King Rama had to find and behead the culprit whose name was Sambuka.
The guilty Shudar or Dalit (untouchable) was actually meditating to gain admission to the Brahman celestial abode through the power of extensive worship, which he had no right to perform. Brahman, we all know, is the highest ranking social class in India.
(Reference: “The riddle of Rama and Sita” by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, India’s first Law Minister and principal architect of country’s 1949 Constitution)
In ancient Christian Ireland, hunger strike was part of the legal system as the law said if a man was harmed or wronged by anyone and had somehow opted to starve himself to death at the doorstep of the wrong-doer, the burden of his debts would have to be borne by the guilty party.
History shows Mahatma Gandhi is arguably the most famous hunger striker till date.
(Reference: The August 16, 2011 edition of the BBC News)
He had staged 17 highly-publicized protests of this kind throughout his life since November 1913, first to protest colonial rule and later to protest Hindu-Muslim violence.
He continued doing so in 1914, 1918, 1919, 1921, 1922, 1924, 1925, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1943, 1947 and 1948.
On September 16, 1932, Gandhi had begun a hunger strike in protest of the British government’s decision to separate India’s electoral system by caste. The British Empire had actually wanted to give a 70-year separate political representation to India’s “untouchables.” Gandhi believed this would permanently and unfairly divide India’s social classes.
During his 1942 strike, he had observed a six-day fast, forcing the British Empire to reach a settlement with him.
In 2006, newly declassified documents in London showed that the then British Premier Winston Churchill would have preferred to let Gandhi die in prison, but his war cabinet had managed to convince him that this would have been disastrous.
Gandhi had fasted three times between 1943 and 1948 to call for unity between Muslims and Hindus in Delhi, including one hunger strike which lasted 21 days.
In his longest hunger strike, meant to protest his 1943 imprisonment, Gandhi had survived 21 days on just sips of citrus juice and water. Though he failed to achieve his freedom, his resilience had stunned his doctors.
Gandhi had started his last fast on January 12, 1948 against the inter-communal riots in New Delhi. After six days without food, he had made political leaders agree to meet and discuss peace in the city.
(References: O.P. Dhiman’s book “Betrayal of Gandhi,” Homer Jack’s book “Short chronology of Gandhi’s life” and a March 4, 1943 Indian Express article “The previous fasts”)
By the way, a 43-year old Indian woman on world’s longest hunger strike was released in India in August 2014, before being rearrested after 40 hours.
Irom Sharmila has not eaten or drunk anything since November 3, 2000, meaning thereby that she is engaged in what is by far the world’s longest hunger strike.
(Reference: The August 22, 2014 edition of a British newspaper “The Independent”)
The incident that triggered Irom’s decision to launch a hunger strike was the killing of 10 civilians in the city of Manipur on November 2, 2000 at the hands of the Assam Rifles.
The use of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act has been in vogue in Manipur since 1958 and gives wide-ranging powers to the Indian military, including the right to shoot to kill suspects without any fear of prosecution.
“The Independent” in its above-cited edition had stated: “She has been fed through a tube inserted up her nose for nearly 15 years in protest at controversial Indian government legislation that allows the military wide-ranging powers.”
The esteemed British newspaper had added: “Repeatedly arrested by the authorities and charged with trying to commit suicide, an offence for which she can be detained for just 12 months, Ms Irom has said the only way to end the cycle of violence in Manipur and elsewhere is to scrap the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.”
Famous pre-partition revolutionary Bhagat Singh (1907-31), convicted and later hanged in the murder of a British police officer John Saunders, had observed a historic 116-day long hunger strike in jail, along with a companion Batukeshwar Dutta (1910-65) in 1929 against the abusive treatment of Indian political prisoners. The tactic had paid off and the duo had eventually succeeded in securing some rights for them.
Both Bhagat and Batukeshwar were also found guilty of exploding a few bombs inside New Delhi’s Central Legislative Assembly in April 1929.
Batukeshwar was sentenced in 1929 to life imprisonment by the Sessions Judge of Delhi.
(References: “Encyclopedia Britannica,” the October 14, 2007 edition of “the Hindu” and a September 29, 2014 article of the “Times of India”)
Another Indian revolutionary, Protti Sreeramulu, had died at 51 after undertaking a hunger strike for 58 days in 1952 after Indian independence in an attempt to achieve the formation of a separate Andhra Pradesh state.
(Reference: Ramchandra Guha ‘s 2003 article “The battle for Andhra.” This article had appeared in “The Hindu”)
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, jailed Irish Republicans had registered a 94-day long hunger strike in 1920.
From 2004 to 2006, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had launched three separate hunger strikes during proceedings of his war-crimes tribunal, protesting that the court lacked legitimacy and had failed to provide security for his defense lawyers. Three of his attorneys were killed during the proceedings.
However, Saddam’s protest had only resulted in feeding tubes and occasional mockery.
(Reference: Fox News)
Just a few years ago, an American journalist Roxana Saberi, who worked for “Al-Jazeera America,” had gone on a hunger strike in April 2009 for two weeks.She was arrested in January 2009 and was held in prison for 101 days under accusations of espionage, before being sentenced to an eight-year prison term.
However, her eight-year prison term was reduced to a two-year suspended sentence and she was released in May 2009.
(Reference: BBC News)
Globally-renowned British political activist Emmeline Pankhurst (1857-1928), whose efforts had helped her compatriot women win the right to vote, had often used hunger strikes as a form of protest against the British establishment.
She and her comrades were often subjected to horrific force-feedings, during which steel gags were used to hold the mouth open and a plastic tube was inserted down their gullets.
Pankhurst was arrested in 1912 and had staged her first hunger strike, but had soon declared that this protest mode was a mere publicity stunt.
(Reference: The Daily Mail’s August 2002 article “100 great Britons——a complete list”)
The late South African President Nelson Mandela had also joined a hunger strike in 1966 against prison condition, two years after he was sent behind bars, but had later began to question the efficacy of the tactic – favoring instead actions such as work stoppages and “go-slows.”
(Reference: The July 18, 2008 edition of the “Daily Telegraph”)
Since 2005, many prisoners at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay (Cuba) have carried out hunger strikes in protest at their detention without trial.
In mid-2005, at least 50 detainees went on hunger strike to protest their imprisonment and conditions. The fasting prisoners were force-fed via a tube inserted through their nose into their stomach.
The initial strike ended after 26 days when prison authorities agreed to bring standards at the camp into compliance with the Geneva Conventions in July 2005.
(References: The New York Times, the New Yorker and the Washington Post etc)
By September 2005, as many as 200 prisoners were again on hunger strike.
In December 2005, the US military had reported that there were 84 hunger strikers taking part in the protest.
By April 2008, around 10 prisoners were still on hunger strike.
By July 2008, some 106 of 166 detainees were participating, with 45 of them being force-fed. The US military had disputed this number, saying only 21 men were taking part in the strike.
An American feminist, activist and key member of the right to vote movements of the US Women’s Organisation Alice Paul (1885-1977) had gone on a hunger strike in the early 20th century to rattle country’s President Woodrow Wilson, who had denounced such tactics.
History tells President Wilson had later buckled amid a public outcry over the forced feeding of the protesters and had agreed to grant American women the right to vote.
(Reference: Katherine Adams’ book “Alice Paul and the American woman suffrage campaign”)
In 2009, Bolivian President Evo Morales had slept for five nights on a mattress on the floor of the Presidential palace surrounded by supporters, refusing to eat anything.
Having lost nearly nine pounds, he was agitating for new election legislation.
He had ended his hunger strike after Bolivia’s congress had approved a controversial law that sets a December 2009 date for general elections.
(References: The April 14, 2009 edition of the “Daily Telegraph” and the May 3, 2009 edition of the “Time magazine”)
Internationally-acclaimed Indian social activist Anna Hazare (born 1937), famous for launching movements to promote rural development, increase government transparency, and investigate and punish corruption in public life, had frequently conducted hunger strikes to further his causes.
On April 9, 2011, Hazare had ended his 98-hour hunger strike after the Indian government had pledged it would draft the “Lokpal Bill.”
In July 2011, the “Lokpal Bill” was introduced but it kept the Indian Prime Minister, judiciary and lower bureaucracy out of the ombudsman’s ambit.
Hazare rejected the government version and again began an indefinite fast from August 16, 2011, but was arrested at Allahabad, just four hours before the planned indefinite hunger strike.
By Augusrt 21, 2011, Hazare had lost more than seven pounds since beginning his fast. He had ended his 288-hour long fast on August 28, 2011 after the “Lokpal Bill” was passed unanimously.
On December 27, 2011, Hazare had once again begun a three-day hunger strike to demand a stronger “Lokpal bill,” but had to end his fast on December 28, after his doctors said that his kidneys might fail if he continued with the fast.
In August 2011, Justice P B Sawant had said that in 2005, the commission headed by him had accused Hazare’s “Hind Swaraj Trust” of unlawfully spending Rs 220,000 on his birthday.
(References: NDTV, the Times of India, The Hindu and the Indian Express etc)
In 2005, a Saudi citizen Ahmed Zaid Salim Zuhair had gone on a hunger strike in the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp, where other long-term hunger strikers had died under mysterious circumstances in June 2006.
The matter came to light in August 2008 and in March 2009, the jail authorities had declined to budge to Zuhair’s demand of moving him to another cell.
In December 2008, Zuhair was cleared for release and was repatriated to Saudi Arabia on June 12, 2009.
The “Fox News” had reported that Zuhair had been implicated in the murder of an American.
“The Miami Herald” had reported that Zuhair had been the longest lasting hunger striker, whose hunger strike had lasted 1450 days.
“The Associated Press” had reported: “Guards have struggled with him repeatedly, at least once using pepper spray, shackles and brute force to drag him to a restraint chair for his twice-daily dose of a liquid nutrition mix force-fed through his nose.”
Meanwhile, many Palestinians like Khader Adnan, who had been held in prison 10 times without the filing of charges or a trial by Israeli authorities, and anti-Civil War Tamils in Sri Lanka had staged hunger strikes in recent past for their demands.