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54-416: A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fast as an act of political protest , usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not solid food. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are named dry hunger strikers . In cases where an entity (usually the state ) has or is able to obtain custody of

108-422: A heart attack not long after. William Ball , a working class supporter of women's suffrage, was the subject of a pamphlet Torture in an English Prison not only due to the effects of force-feeding, but a cruel separation from family contact and mental health deterioration, secret transfer to a lunatic asylum and needed lifelong mental institutional care. In December 1912, a Scottish prison put four suffragettes in

162-486: A laurel wreath . The medals were made by Toye & Co. and their manufacture cost the WSPU £1.00 each. The silver bars on the medal were awarded for periods of hunger strike and are engraved on the reverse with the date that the recipient was arrested leading to a hunger strike. The enamelled purple, white and green bars for force-feeding are similarly engraved on the reverse. The sculptor Edith Downing 's medal bar

216-484: A state of emergency was declared and protests paused after a brutal crackdown was launched against protesters, including doctors and bloggers. Nearly 3,000 people have been arrested, and at least five people died due to torture while in police custody. Protests resumed after lifting emergency law on 1 June, and several large rallies were staged by the opposition parties, including a march on 9 March 2012 attended by over 100,000. Smaller-scale protests and clashes outside of

270-852: A critical role in fifty of sixty-seven transitions from authoritarianism . The " Singing revolution " (1989–1991) in Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania , led to the three Baltic countries ' restoration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 . Recently, nonviolent resistance has led to the Rose Revolution in Georgia . Research shows that nonviolent campaigns diffuse spatially. Information on nonviolent resistance in one country could significantly affect nonviolent activism in other countries. Many movements which promote philosophies of nonviolence or pacifism have pragmatically adopted

324-640: A hunger strike and endured forced feedings while incarcerated at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia. Hunger strikes have deep roots in Irish society and in the Irish psyche. Fasting in order to bring attention to an injustice which one felt under his lord, and thus shame him, was a common feature of early Irish society and this tactic was fully incorporated into the Brehon legal system. The tradition

378-503: A hunger strike at Cork County Gaol for 94 days, from August 11 to November 12, 1920. Arthur Griffith called off the strikes after the deaths of MacSwiney, Murphy and Fitzgerald. During the early 1920s, the vessel HMS  Argenta was used as a prison ship for the holding of Irish republicans by the British. Conditions on board were "unbelievable" and there were several hunger strikes, including one involving upwards of 150 men in

432-517: A message from the Bill of Rights on the wall of the House of Commons . The prison authorities considered her a criminal prisoner whereas she viewed herself as a political prisoner and began her strike in objection to this classification. Her strike lasted 91 hours, ending only because the prison released her to avoid her death. The hunger strike was Wallace Dunlop's idea and she did it without informing

486-421: A perceived wrong. Legends of Saint Patrick , the patron saint of Ireland, have used the hunger strike as well. In India , the practice of a hunger protest, where the protester fasts at the door of an offending party (typically a debtor) in a public call for justice, was abolished by the government in 1861; this indicates the prevalence of the practice prior to that date, or at least a public awareness of it. In

540-626: A political weapon at this time. Meins went on hunger strike for the first time in 1973 together with other prisoners in protest against the prison conditions. The RAF prisoners wanted to be pooled together and claimed prisoner of war status. The 1.83m tall Meins still weighed 39 kg in November 1973 and died in prison. In 1980, seven Irish Republican prisoners, six from the IRA and one from the Irish National Liberation Army , in

594-467: A previously severely demoralised IRA. Mahatma Gandhi was imprisoned in 1908, 1909, 1913, 1917, 1919, 1922, 1930, 1932, 1933, and 1942. Because of Gandhi's stature around the world, British authorities were loath to allow him to die in their custody; Gandhi engaged in several famous hunger strikes to protest British rule in India . In addition to Gandhi, various others used the hunger strike option during

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648-646: A range of military-style campaign medals to raise morale and encourage continued loyalty and commitment to the cause. The Hunger Strike Medals were designed by Sylvia Pankhurst and first presented by leadership of the WSPU at a ceremony in early August 1909 to women who had gone on hunger strike while serving a prison sentence. Later the medals would be presented at a breakfast reception on a woman's release from prison. On 5 July 1909, suffragette Marion Wallace Dunlop began her hunger strike in Holloway Prison . She had been sentenced to one month for stenciling

702-403: A stone at a window of 10 Downing Street . Helen MacRae 's Hunger Strike Medal in its case was auctioned in 2015 to a private collector, for £12,300, Lockdales Auctioneer's auction manager, James Sadler said 'These are among the most historically important items we have ever dealt with.' A medal found in a drawer awarded to suffragette Elsie Wolff Van Sandau who was arrested for smashing

756-646: A window in Covent Garden on 4 March 1912 and who went on hunger strike in prison was sold at auction in 2019 for £12,500. A medal belonging to suffragette Selina Martin , auctioned in Nottingham in 2019, expected to fetch £15,000-£20,000 was bought by the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia for £27,000. The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa purchased Frances Parker's medal in 2016. The Museum of Australian Democracy holds

810-414: Is engraved with 'Fed by Force 1/3/12' - the date that she was imprisoned which subsequently lead to her hunger strike and forcible feeding. The medals could be issued with more than one bar representing multiple hunger strikes or force-feeding. Each Hunger Strike Medal was presented in a purple box with a green velvet lining. A piece of white silk was fitted inside the lid which was printed in gold with

864-854: Is revered as Amarajeevi (Immortal being) in Coastal Andra for his role in achieving the linguistic re-organisation of states. As a devout follower of Mahatma Gandhi , he worked for much of his life to uphold principles such as truth, non-violence and patriotism, as well as causes such as Harijan movement to end the traditional alienation of, and accord respect and humane treatment to those traditionally called " untouchables " in Indian society. On April 3, 1972, Pedro Luis Boitel , an imprisoned poet and dissident, declared himself on hunger strike. After 53 days on hunger strike, receiving only liquids, he died of starvation on May 25, 1972. His last days were related by his close friend, poet Armando Valladares . He

918-735: Is the most popular figure related to this type of protest; United Nations celebrates Gandhi's birthday, October 2, as the International Day of Non-Violence . Other prominent advocates include Abdul Ghaffar Khan , Henry David Thoreau , Etienne de la Boétie , Charles Stewart Parnell , Te Whiti o Rongomai , Tohu Kākahi , Leo Tolstoy , Alice Paul , Martin Luther King Jr. , Daniel Berrigan , Philip Berrigan , James Bevel , Václav Havel , Andrei Sakharov , Lech Wałęsa , Gene Sharp , Nelson Mandela , Jose Rizal , and many others. From 1966 to 1999, nonviolent civic resistance played

972-484: Is the responsibility of the Bureau of Prisons to monitor the health and welfare of individual inmates, and to ensure that procedures are pursued to preserve life." It further provides that when "a medical necessity for immediate treatment of a life or health threatening situation exists, the physician may order that treatment be administered without the consent of the inmate." Non-violent resistance Mahatma Gandhi

1026-434: Is ultimately most likely part of the still older Indo-European tradition of which the Irish were part. Within the 20th century a total of 22 Irish republicans died on hunger strike with survivors suffering long-term health and psychological effects. The tactic was used by physical force republicans during the 1916–23 revolutionary period . Early use of hunger strikes was countered with force-feeding , culminating in 1917 in

1080-401: The 1981 Irish hunger strike . Hunger strikers can experience hallucinations and delirium . Death usually occurs when a hunger striker has lost about 40–50% of their pre-strike weight at about 60–70 days in. Obese individuals can last longer. In the early 20th century suffragettes frequently endured hunger strikes in British prisons. Marion Dunlop was the first in 1909. She was released, as

1134-550: The Irish Free State (a total of over 12,000 republicans had been interned by May 1923). Three men, Denny Barry , Joseph Whitty , and Andy O'Sullivan , died during the 1923 Irish Hunger Strikes. The strike, however, was called off by Republican leadership in the camps (November 23, 1923) before any more deaths occurred. Under de Valera 's first Fianna Fáil government in 1932, military pensions were awarded to dependants of republicans who died in 1920s hunger strikes on

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1188-687: The Jeans Revolution in Belarus, the fight of the Cuban dissidents , and internationally the Extinction Rebellion and School Strike for Climate . Although nonviolent movements can maintain broader public legitimacy by refraining from violence, some segments of society may perceive protest movements as being more violent than they really are when they disagree with the social goals of the movement. A great deal of work has addressed

1242-663: The Maze Prison launched a hunger strike as a protest against the revocation by the British Government of a prisoner-of-war -like Special Category Status for paramilitary prisoners in Northern Ireland . The strike, led by Brendan Hughes , was called off before any deaths, when the British government seemed to offer to concede their demands; however, the British Government then reneged on

1296-487: The Republic of Ireland by electorates who wished to register their opposition to the British Government's policy. The ten men survived without food for 46 to 73 days, taking only water and salt, before succumbing. After the deaths of the men and severe public disorder, the British Government granted partial concessions to the prisoners, and the strike was called off. The hunger strikes gave a significant propaganda boost to

1350-476: The ' political prisoner ' category rather than 'criminal' second division, but staff at Craiginches Prison , Aberdeen still subjected them to force-feeding when they went on hunger strike. In 1913 the Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for Ill Health) Act 1913 (nicknamed the "Cat and Mouse Act") changed policy. Hunger strikes were tolerated but prisoners were released when they became sick. When they had recovered,

1404-467: The Indian independence movement, including Jatin Das , who fasted to death, and Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt in 1929 In 1952, in independent India, revolutionary Potti Sriramulu undertook a hunger strike for 56 days in an attempt to achieve the formation of a separate state, to be known as Andhra State . His death on December 15 became instrumental in the linguistic re-organisation of states . He

1458-580: The WMA's decisions, as neither organization has formal legal powers. The AMA has formally endorsed the WMA Declaration of Tokyo and has written several letters to the US government and made public statements in opposition to US physician involvement in force feeding of hunger strikers in contravention of medical ethics. The United States Code of Federal Regulations rule on hunger strikes by prisoners states, "It

1512-454: The authorities did not want her to become a martyr . Other suffragettes in prison also undertook hunger strikes. The prison authorities subjected them to force-feeding, which the suffragettes categorized as a form of torture . Emmeline Pankhurst 's sister Mary Clarke died shortly after being force-fed in prison, and others including Lady Constance Bulwer-Lytton are believed to have had serious health problems caused by force feeding, dying of

1566-406: The capital have continued to occur almost daily. More than 80 people had died since the start of the uprising. Nonviolent resistance is often but wrongly taken as synonymous with civil disobedience . Each of these terms—nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience—has different connotations and commitments. Berel Lang argues against the conflation of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience on

1620-736: The death of Thomas Ashe in Mountjoy Prison . During the Anglo-Irish war , in October 1920, the Lord Mayor of Cork , Terence MacSwiney , died on hunger strike in Brixton prison . At the same time, the 1920 Cork hunger strike took place. Two other Cork Irish Republican Army (IRA) men, Joe Murphy and Michael Fitzgerald , died in this protest. Demanding reinstatement of political status and release from prison, nine men undertook

1674-477: The dedication: 'Presented to [name] by the Women's Social and Political Union in recognition of a gallant action, whereby through endurance to the last extremity of hunger and hardship a great principle of political justice was vindicated'. The Museum of London holds the medal awarded to the suffragette leader Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst who went on hunger strike during a two-month prison sentence in 1912 for throwing

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1728-433: The details of the agreement. The prisoners then called another hunger strike the following year. This time, instead of many prisoners striking at the same time, the hunger strikers started fasting one after the other in order to maximise publicity over the fate of each one. Bobby Sands was the first of ten Irish republican paramilitary prisoners to die after 66 days during the 1981 hunger strike, with Mickey Devine being

1782-462: The doorstep of the home of the offender. Scholars speculate that this was due to the high importance the culture placed on hospitality. Allowing a person to die at one's doorstep, for a wrong of which one was accused, was considered a great dishonor. Others say that the practice was to fast for one whole night, as there is no evidence of people fasting to death in pre-Christian Ireland. The fasts were primarily undertaken to recover debts or get justice for

1836-635: The early 1970s, when several republicans successfully used hunger strikes to get themselves released from custody without charge in the Republic of Ireland . Michael Gaughan died after being force-fed in Parkhurst Prison in 1974. Frank Stagg , an IRA member being held in Wakefield Prison , died in 1976 after a 62-day hunger strike which he began as a campaign to be repatriated to Ireland. Members of other movements like Holger Meins of German Red Army Fraction used hunger strikes as

1890-455: The end of his 17-year imprisonment, Antúnez, his wife Iris, and Diosiris Santana Pérez started a hunger strike to support other political prisoners. Leaders from Uruguay, Costa Rica, and Argentina declared their support for Antúnez. On February 23, 2010, Orlando Zapata , a dissident arrested in 2003 as part of a crackdown on opposition groups, died in a hospital while undertaking a hunger strike that had been ongoing for 85 days. His hunger strike

1944-446: The extent and intensity of the violence is limited by the non-revolutionary intentions of the persons engaging in civil disobedience. Lang argues the violent resistance by citizens being forcibly relocated to detentions, short of the use of lethal violence against representatives of the state, could plausibly count as civil disobedience but could not count as nonviolent resistance. Hunger Strike Medal The Hunger Strike Medal

1998-673: The factors that lead to violent mobilization, but less attention has been paid to understanding why disputes become violent or nonviolent, comparing these two as strategic choices relative to conventional politics. In 2010, A "White Intifada" took hold in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Activities included weekly peaceful protests by Palestinian activists accompanied by Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem and Israeli academics and students against settlers and security forces. The EU, through its foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has criticised Israel for convicting an organiser of

2052-420: The first three days, the body still uses energy from glucose . After that, the liver starts processing body fat , in a process called ketosis . After depleting fat, the body enters a " starvation mode". At this point the body "mines" the muscles and vital organs for energy, and loss of bone marrow becomes life-threatening. There are examples of hunger strikers dying after 46 to 73 days of strike, for example

2106-415: The grounds that the necessary conditions for an act instancing civil disobedience are: (1) that the act violates the law, (2) that the act is performed intentionally, and (3) that the actor anticipates and willingly accepts punitive measures made on the part of the state against him in retaliation for the act. Since acts of nonviolent political resistance need not satisfy any of these criteria, Lang argues that

2160-403: The hunger striker (such as a prisoner ), the hunger strike is often terminated by the custodial entity through the use of force-feeding . Fasting was used as a method of protesting injustice in pre-Christian Ireland , where it was known as Troscadh or Cealachan . Detailed in the contemporary civic codes , it had specific rules by which it could be used, and the fast was often carried out on

2214-464: The implication of their decision and be capable of informed consent. The World Medical Association (WMA) recently revised and updated its Declaration of Malta on Hunger Strikers. Among many changes, it unambiguously states that force feeding is a form of inhumane and degrading treatment in its Article 21. The American Medical Association (AMA) is a member of the WMA, but the AMA's members are not bound by

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2268-528: The last to die after 60 days. There was widespread sympathy for the hunger strikers from Irish republicans and the broader nationalist community on both sides of the Irish border . Sands was elected as an MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone to the United Kingdom's House of Commons and two other prisoners, Paddy Agnew (who was not a hunger striker) and Kieran Doherty , were elected to Dáil Éireann in

2322-540: The leadership of the WSPU. Many others quickly imitated her. The round and hallmarked silver medals hang on a length of ribbon in the purple, white and green colours of the WSPU . This hangs from a silver pin bar engraved with 'For Valour', in imitation of the inscription found on the Victoria Cross . The front of the medal is inscribed 'Hunger Strike', while the reverse is engraved the recipient's name surrounded by

2376-501: The medal awarded to Charlotte Blacklock . The medal awarded to Kate Williams Evans was sold at auction as part of a collection in 2018 which realised £48,640. It is now in the collection of Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales . Rosamund Massy's medal and Holloway brooch are buried inside the plinth of the statue of Emmeline Pankhurst in London. In September 2023, Glasgow Women's Library decided to buy Maud Joachim 's medal as it

2430-589: The methods of nonviolent action as an effective way to achieve social or political goals. They employ nonviolent resistance tactics such as: information warfare , picketing , marches , vigils , leafletting, samizdat , magnitizdat , satyagraha , protest art , protest music and poetry, community education and consciousness raising , lobbying , tax resistance , civil disobedience , boycotts or sanctions , legal/diplomatic wrestling, Underground Railroads , principled refusal of awards/honors, and general strikes . Current nonviolent resistance movements include:

2484-408: The peaceful movement and said that she was deeply concerned about the arrest of Abdullah Abu Rahmeh. There have been two fatalities among protesters and an American peace activist suffered brain damage after being hit by a tear gas canister. On 14 March, Saudi -led GCC forces were requested by the government and entered the country, which the opposition called an "occupation". The following day,

2538-496: The same basis as those who were killed in action . During the state of emergency of World War II another De Valera government interned many IRA members, three of whom died on hunger strike: Sean McCaughey , Tony D'Arcy and Jack McNeela . Hundreds of others carried out shorter hunger strikes during the de Valera years. The tactic was revived by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in

2592-562: The suffragettes were taken back to prison to finish their sentences. About 100 women received medals for hunger striking or enduring force-feeding. Like their British counterparts, American suffragettes also used this method of political protest. A few years before the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , a group of American suffragettes led by Alice Paul engaged in

2646-502: The two categories of action cannot be identified with one another. Furthermore, civil disobedience is a form of political action which necessarily aims at reform, rather than revolution. Its efforts are typically directed at the disputing of particular laws or groups of laws while conceding the authority of the government responsible for them. In contrast, political acts of nonviolent resistance can have revolutionary ends. According to Lang, civil disobedience need not be nonviolent, although

2700-540: The winter of 1923. In February 1923, 23 women (members of Cumann na mBan) went on hunger strike for 34 days over the arrest and imprisonment without trial of Irish republican prisoners. The Free State subsequently released the women republican prisoners. Most of the male republicans were not released until the following year. After the end of the Irish Civil War in October 1923, up to 8,000 IRA prisoners went on hunger strike to protest their continued detention by

2754-417: Was a protest against poor prison conditions. Amnesty International had declared him a prisoner of conscience. Article 8 of the 1975 World Medical Association Declaration of Tokyo states that doctors are not allowed to force-feed hunger strikers. They are supposed to understand the prisoner's independent wishes, and it is recommended to have a second opinion as to the capability of the prisoner to understand

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2808-512: Was a silver medal awarded between August 1909 and 1914 to suffragette prisoners by the leadership of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). During their imprisonment, they went on hunger strike while serving their sentences in the prisons of the United Kingdom for acts of militancy in their campaign for women's suffrage . Many women were force-fed and their individual medals were created to reflect this. The WSPU awarded

2862-560: Was awarded for the first WSPU hunger strike in Scotland. The money raising campaign was successful and it was brought back to the library in October. The BBC television series Call the Midwife , featured an episode with an elderly suffragette played by Annette Crosbie who gifted her Hunger Strike Medal to one the nurses who cared for her. As of October 2023 there are 82 known medal recipients. If known, this list also contains

2916-669: Was buried in an unmarked grave in the Cólon Cemetery in Havana . Guillermo Fariñas did a seven-month hunger strike to protest against the extensive Internet censorship in Cuba . He ended it in Autumn 2006, with severe health problems although still conscious. Reporters Without Borders awarded its cyber-freedom prize to Guillermo Fariñas in 2006. Jorge Luis García Pérez (known as Antúnez) has done hunger strikes. In 2009, following

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