Why political prisoners weaponize starvation to challenge the power of the state

Countries & Cities · Published 3 October 2026 · Updated 21 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: A hunger strike is a nonviolent protest where an individual refuses food to force a specific demand. While often viewed as a modern tactic, the practice has roots in ancient legal traditions. It transforms the body into a battlefield, pitting the protester's life against the state's moral authority.

The modern hunger strike emerged in late 19th-century Russia, where political prisoners used starvation to protest inhumane conditions. The term itself is an English translation of the Russian word golodofka, or famine fast. Early attempts were met with extreme callousness; in 1878, when families pleaded for the lives of striking prisoners in St. Petersburg, the head of the military police, Gen. N.V. Mezentsev, reportedly ordered coffins for them all. This brutality fueled international awareness, as newspapers in Britain and America documented the plight of these dissidents.

By the early 20th century, the tactic was adopted by suffragists in Britain and the United States. Marion Wallace Dunlop, arrested in 1909 for defacing a wall at the House of Commons, became the first suffragist to hunger strike in a British prison. Her success inspired others, including Alice Paul, who led a 1917 strike after being arrested for picketing the White House. Authorities often responded with forced feeding through nasal tubes, a process that caused lasting damage to teeth, throats, and lungs. This practice was widely condemned as a form of torture, generating significant public sympathy for the suffragist cause.

In India, Mahatma Gandhi integrated fasting into his political campaigns, grounding the practice in the religious tradition of ahimsa, or noninjury. His 1932 fast successfully pressured the British government to abandon a plan that would have disenfranchised the Dalits, then known as the untouchables, by segregating them into separate electorates. Meanwhile, in Ireland, the tactic became deeply embedded in the national psyche. Between 1917 and 1923, thousands of Irish nationalists staged strikes against British rule. The 1920 Cork hunger strike, which lasted 94 days, resulted in the deaths of three men, including the lord mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney. These historical instances demonstrate how hunger strikes serve as a potent, albeit physically devastating, mechanism for those seeking to challenge systemic injustice.

The physical toll of a prolonged strike is severe. After initial energy reserves are depleted, the body enters a state of starvation, eventually breaking down muscle and vital organs. Medical professionals often face a profound bioethical dilemma known as the rule of double effect: providing palliative care to ease suffering may inadvertently accelerate the patient's death, while refusing to intervene violates the striker's autonomy.

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