Fasting and Research




Political Fasting - Hunger Striking
By Randi Fredricks

In modern society, fasting is seen primarily as a means of protest or threat of self-destruction to put the pressure on higher authorities in order to attain the benefits or claims of the people involved. In other words,
it is political in character.
(Ryken et al,1998, p 11).

Every day, people around the world create a paradigm shift by voluntarily fasting. This practice is known as “hunger striking,” and is done to draw attention to a political statement, such as protestation of an alleged injustice or to demonstrate compassion for the millions of people who are unable to eat because they have no food. Because of the long and successful history of hunger striking, it has become a powerful tool for creating political change. Due to the fact that is political in nature, emotions run high throughout the duration of a hunger strike, regardless of the duration or the stature of the participant.

Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi, who was a Jain, is one of the best-known proponents and participants of political fasting. He regularly fasted to influence others into practicing his principles of non-violence during India's transition to freedom. Gandhi fasted 17 times during his political career (Gandhi, 2001). His first fast, in 1913, was to atone for the immoral behavior of his friends (Adamson & Horning, p. 87). In 1918, he fasted to protest the low wages of workers in Ahmedabad, and, in 1919, he fasted to protest the violence in Satyagraha. During the last month of his life, Gandhi fasted for peace in Delhi. Gandhi considered his hunger striking to be a joyous spiritual experience. He frequently wrote and spoke passionately about the deep spiritual nature of fasting, and was celebrated for fasting as an expression of passive resistance. After a 21-day fast, Gandhi (2001) described the experience as "21 days of uninterrupted prayer," and said he felt "an indescribable peace within" (p. 315). In conclusion, he declared, "I believe that there is no prayer without fasting and there is no real fast without prayer." Gandhi had a strong emotional vision of the power of fasting, demonstrated when he said, “Thus all fasting, if it is a spiritual act, is an intense prayer or a preparation for it. It is a yearning of the soul to merge in the divine essence.”

Cesar Chavez

In the tradition of Gandhi, Cesar Chavez, leader of migrant American workers, fasted numerous times to protest the unfair treatment of farm workers (Buhner, 2003, p. 56). In February of 1968, Chavez fasted to end the violence inflicted on the workers (Chavez et al, 2002, p. 158). Twenty-five days later—and thirty-five pounds lighter—Chavez attended a mass in his honor. Senator Robert Kennedy, one of his most ardent supporters, attended. Too weak to speak, a Chavez spokesman read his speech, which said:

It is how we use our lives that determines what kind of men we
are... I am convinced that the truest act of courage, the strongest
act of manliness, is to sacrifice ourselves for others in a totally
nonviolent struggle for justice. To be a man is to suffer for others.
God help us be men. (p. 159)

On July 16, 1988, Chavez began one of his most publicized fasts, to protest the use of pesticides on the grapes that the farm workers were exposed to. The national news ran daily reports showing emotional-charged nightly masses with thousands of worshippers. Chavez, who grew near death during the 36-day fast, ended with a celebration of eight thousand people, including staunch supporters like Ethel Kennedy, the Kennedy children, Reverend Jesse Jackson, and James Olmos. Chavez, again too weak to speak, had a statement read asking others to fast for three days to "keep the chain of suffering alive" (Chavez, p. 160). In response, Jesse Jackson and actors Martin Sheen and Robert Blake were amongst those who fasted according to Chavez’ wishes (Bishop, 1988).

The Suffragettes

The feminist movement is another human rights movement that has extensive roots in hunger striking. Beginning in England around 1909, the first feminist hunger strikers were known as suffragettes. The suffragettes were routinely imprisoned for protesting the unequal treatment of women. Once imprisoned, the suffragettes would go on extended hunger strikes. The first suffragette to adopt a hunger strike was Marion Wallace Dunlop in July of 1909 (Jorgensen-Earp, 1997, p. 79). She also had the dubious distinction of being the first hunger-striking suffragette to be force fed in prison. Force feeding, a method commonly used to force imprisoned hunger strikers to eat, involved forcing a tube down the person’s nose and throat into their stomach and then pouring liquid food into them (p. 23). More often than not, force feeding was a brutal act that involved the chipping of teeth, continual vomiting and breathing difficulties when misintubation occurred and the tube ended up in a lung instead of the stomach (p. 23).

The imprisoned suffragettes had enormous political influence and received media attention during their hunger strikes. The government was seen as nonresponsive when it was unable to stop the suffragette’s hunger strikes. In response, the legislature passed the Cat and Mouse Act, a law that would release the hunger strikers and then rearrest them when they were eating and healthy again (p. 79). The legislature went on to pass additional laws to deal with the hunger striking of the suffragettes. The hunger striking done by the suffragettes is seen by many women as an emotional demonstration of suffering which directly resulted in women being granted the right to vote.

The Irish Nationalists

The intricate and emotional relationship between hunger strikers, government, and the media was demonstrated in the hunger strikes of the Irish nationalists. The first mass hunger strike in Ireland was in 1920 when Terence MacSwiney was imprisoned for carrying secret IRA codes (Beresford & Maas, 1997, p. 9). He joined nine others for the longest hunger strike in recorded history, dying on the 74th day of his fast (p. 11). In 1981, this scenario was repeated when ten Irish hunger strikers died in a British jail in Ireland, protesting being held as criminals as instead of political prisoners. By the time the hunger strike was over, ten Irish activists had died between May and August of 1981 after fasting for between 59 to 73 days (The Irish, 2009). Bobby Sands became the best known amidst a flurry of controversial and emotionally-charged news reports.

When Sands died on May 5th 1981, Fox News reporter Sheperd Smith made the following televised comment, "On this date Bobby Sands died after 66 days on a hunger strike in prison in Belfast, N.I. The moral of the story, eat more often" (Fox News, 2009, 3). Smith’s statement, seen by many as morally reprehensible, drew mass protest worldwide. A petition, still available to this day for signing on the internet, forced Fox News to apologize.

Hunger striking remains a popular method for pressuring governments and other organizations because of its non-violent nature and its ability to draw media attention. It does this so effectively by stirring the emotions of opponents and proponents alike.

References
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Randi Fredricks is a Naturopathic Psychotherapist with a Doctorate in Naturopathy and a Masters in Psychology. She sees clients at her office in San Jose, California. She can be reached at 800-957-5655 or you can contact her online. This article is an excerpt from Randi Fredricks' book Fasting: An Exceptional Human Experience. Copyright © 2009. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems.







I undertook this fast because my heart was filled with grief and pain for the sufferings of farm workers. The Fast was first for me and then for all of us in this union.
It was a fast for non-violence and a call to sacrifice. Our struggle is not easy. Those who oppose our cause are rich and powerful and they have many allies in high places. We are poor. Our allies are few. But we have something the rich do not own. We have our own bodies and spirits and the justice
of our cause as
our weapons.
~ Cesar Chavez











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