Fasting: When suffering becomes a weapon more powerful than violence

Source: Gandhi and the art of persuasion without coercion

Fasting is the highest level in Satyagraha. It is a means to be used only when all other avenues have been exhausted. Fasting in Satyagraha is a hunger strike undertaken in protest. It is not a fast for purification, penitence, or health. The goal of this type of fast is to persuade and not to coerce. Such a fast is directed at the conscience of those who love us or of those who oppress us, in the hope that the voluntary suffering of the Satyagrahi (the nonviolent warrior) will melt their hard hearts and bring them to see the truth they refuse to acknowledge.

Explanation: A glass of orange juice that broke an empire

Gandhi (1869–1948) undertook 18 fasts during his life, some lasting 21 days. The British Empire learned from him the hard way that whoever cannot coerce change through force can do so through suffering. In September 1932, when the British proposed granting the Untouchable caste a separate electoral system (a kind of political ghetto), Gandhi began a fast unto death. He declared that if this policy passed, he would die. After six days, they conceded. Gandhi broke his fast with a glass of orange juice.

Perspective: When does voluntary death change history?

Hunger strikes began on the slave ships sailing from Africa on their way to Europe and the United States. The lives of the enslaved were of no value at all, and millions died along the journey, but the slave traders' loss of profit led to force-feeding or improved conditions. In dictatorial regimes, a hunger strike is ineffective because human life does not count; only in the Western world can hunger strikes defeat those in power. The great British Empire, conquering and imperialist, surrendered to a hunger strike. Was it out of mercy for human life, or, more plausibly, out of fear of sparking widespread rebellion? This is essentially a defense mechanism against pointless hunger strikes, where even the striker's death would not bring people into the streets.

Going Deeper: From Russia to Parliament: The suffragettes and the invention of a media weapon

The term "hunger strike" (golodofka) was coined in 19th-century Russia by political prisoners demanding to be treated as prisoners of conscience rather than common criminals. The phenomenon spread to the West, and British suffragettes adopted the tactic. Marion Wallace Dunlop, imprisoned in 1909 for stamping "Votes for Women" on the wall of Parliament, was the first. She was released after 91 hours. The backlash was brutal: the British authorities subjected the women to force-feeding through nasal tubes. Leaked photos from the prisons sparked outrage, and suddenly, the state looked like a tyrant. Fasting became a media weapon that ultimately defeated the empire and the men who opposed women's suffrage.

Culture: Bobby Sands: The victory that came too late

Bobby Sands, an IRA (Irish Republican Army) fighter who died in 1981 after a 66-day hunger strike in Long Kesh prison. Sands and nine other prisoners demanded political prisoner status rather than criminal status. Margaret Thatcher refused to compromise. They died one after another, roughly one each week. During the strike, Sands was elected to the British Parliament, despite his death. Thatcher's reputation was somewhat tarnished, but the strike failed in those years. Ultimately, however, Britain conceded, and the [Good Friday Agreement](https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%99%D7%95%D7%9D_%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%99_%D7%94%D7%98%D7%95%D7%91) was signed, putting an end to the hostility. [John Hume](https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%92%27%D7%95%D7%9F_%D7%99%D7%95%D7%9D) and [David Trimble](https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%93%D7%99%D7%99%D7%95%D7%95%D7%99%D7%93_%D7%98%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9E%D7%91%D7%9C), architects of the accord, won the [Nobel Peace Prize](https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%A1_%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%91%D7%9C_%D7%9C%D7%A9%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%9D) for 1998.