Hunger Strike Term Papers

The hunger strike is an extreme case of public disobedience, when one 's body is used as a tool in order to make a political or social statement. It has an old history and, as McCabe says, it has roots in Ancient times. In Antiquity, when a person was treated unfairly, he or she used to go the doorstep of his enemy and stay there starving to death, asking the gods for vengeance (McCabe 306). This was particularly frightening for the owner of the house because the starving man would be cursing him and his family right from the entrance of the house. Politicians are still afraid of hunger strikes and of people deciding to starve themselves because, through their actions, the strikes place the responsibility for their death entirely in the hands

However, after a short period of peace and quiet, when the officials discovered that the prisoners were putting pressure on the media asking for fair trials, the prisoners ' leader Aamer, was put in the isolation cell, thing which led to another hunger strike. This time the hunger strike was so severe that many inmates were force fed in what the prisoners ' lawyers denounce as inhumane: "the feeding tubes, which were "the thickness of a finger," were regarded as objects of torture. She reported that they were forcibly shoved up the prisoners ' noses without anesthetic or sedatives being provided, and that this resulted in prisoners "vomiting up substantial amounts of blood," but added that when they did so, "the soldiers mocked and cursed at them,and taunted them with statements like 'look what your religion has brought you '"(qtd in Worthington 275). Here we clearly see how force feeding can become torture, and how it can denigrate human

The role of the psychiatrist is very important, and he or she is he the one to decide whether a person is competent of making responsible decisions: "An individual is described as being competent if he has the ability to make an informed decision, regardless of whether the decision is sensible" (Brockman 453), and therefore an individual may decide to persist on his or her hunger strike until death. The Johannes Wier Foundation 's manual states that in case of hunger strike "the psyche remains clear ... there is no mental deterioration" until few hours before death occurs (qutd in Fressler 245). Therefore, doctors should not attempt force feeding the striker as he or she is still competent of making decisions. According to Fressler, "The autonomy of competent individuals is, however, to be respected, for to do otherwise is, from both ethical and legal perspectives, to commit assault" (244). A person who is not confined in prisons or mental institution and goes on a hunger strike does not have his or her right to privacy restricted and she or he is free to die of starvation. Many authors argue that the same thing should be happening in the case of