Other Definitions
hunger strike (dict)
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Hunger StrikeA hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest or to achieve a goal such as a policy change. Mohandas Gandhi In 1922, 1930, 1933 and 1942 Mahatma Ghandi was sent to prison. The British could not let him die as he was very well known and Britains reputation would have suffered. Ghandi would not martyr himself for nothing. He knew how to sacrifice in ways which had political value. Mohandas Gandhi engaged in two famous hunger strikes. The first protested British rule of India; the second, autocratic rule in the newly self-governed India. The IRA Bobby Sands was one of ten Irish nationalist paramilitary prisoners who died due to a hunger strike in 1981. This hunger strike was a protest against the revocation by the British of a prisoner of war-like Special Category Status for paramilitary-linked prisoners held in Northern Ireland.There was support for the hunger strikers from some Irish republicans. Hunger Strikes by Kurdish and other Prisoners in Turkey In recent years, many Kurdish separatists in Turkish jails have died on hunger strike. It is alleged that 6 hunger strikers died during 2004, Kurdish or other. They protested against small prison cells which, are felt to facilitate torture. The Government maintains that 189 hunger strikers received presidential pardons since 2000. Turkey's poor human rights record causes many Europeans to oppose its accession to the European Union. Hunger Strikes by British Suffragettes In the early 20th Century Woman Suffragettes frequently endured hunger strikes in British prisons. Marion Dunlop was the first in 1909. She was released as the authorities did not want her to become a martyr. Other suffragettes in prison also underwent hunger strikes. The prison augthorities subjected t hem to force-feeding which was a form of torture. Mary Clarke and several others died as a result of force-feeding. In 1913 the Prisoner's Temporary Discharge of Ill Health Act changed policy. Hunger strikes were tolerated but prisoners were released when they became sick. When they had recovered the suffragettes were taken back to prison to finish their sentences. Reference External link Womens Suffrage
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