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Description of  Refusal to Eat: A Century of Prison Hunger Strikes

The first global history of hunger strikes as a tactic in prisons, conflicts, and protest movements. The power of the hunger strike lies in its utter simplicity. The ability to choose to forego eating is universally accessible, even to those living under conditions of maximal constraint, as in the prisons of apartheid South Africa, Israeli prisons for Palestinian prisoners, and the detention camp at Guantnamo Bay. It is a weapon of the weak, potentially open to all. By choosing to hunger strike, a prisoner wields a last-resort personal power that communicates viscerally, in a way that is undeniableespecially when broadcast over prison barricades through media and to movements outside. Read more