Hunger strikes

BMJ 1995;311:1114-1115 (28 October)

Editorials

Hunger strikes

Can the Dutch teach us anything?

A hunger strike "is an age-old ritual act which can serve somany motivations and exigencies that it can be as corrupt asit can be sublime" noted Erikson in his study of Gandhi's nonviolenttactics.¹ Within the past few years there have been well publicisedhunger strikes for various causes in many countries, includingthe United States, the former Soviet Union, China, South Africa,Sudan, Poland, the former Yugoslavia, Bangladesh, France, Egypt,Canada, Israel, and the Netherlands.

Although deaths are rare, the power of the hunger strike comesfrom the striker's sworn intent to die a slow death in publicview unless those in power address the injustice or conditionbeing protested about. Hunger strikers are not suicidal andwould greatly prefer responses to their demands. The most intractablehunger strikes, from a human rights and medical ethics perspective,are those carried out . . . [Full text of this article]

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