On March 16, the pilot Nadezhda Savchenko resumed a hunger strike. She refused to eat for more than 70 days.
Food refusal is one of the most common forms of protest, when people have no other ways to prove their point. However, those on hunger strike rarely get what they want, but they always attract attention. If we now google ‘hunger strike’, you will get three results connected with politics: Savchenko, Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot and the former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
Belsat recalls political hunger strikers in the modern history of Belarus and their outcomes.
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Hunger strike and miners’ rally, 1992
Before going on hunger strike, Salihorsk miners held talks on increasing rates for over two months. On March 12, 1992, they announced an indefinite strike and blocked the railway tracks to prevent the shipment of goods from the Belaruskali. On March 30, eight people went on a hunger strike. The authorities did not react. A rally was held in Salihorsk, which gathered 12 thousand people, and where it was decided to go to the capital on foot to bring claims to the government.
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After 4 days, the miners reached the capital, the rally in support of their demands was attended by 50 thousand people. As a result, the miners’ wages were increased 3.4 times and their social benefits package was expanded.
Trade union members were starving in Belarus quite recently, in November 2014. After the 9-day hunger strike of the four members of the Free Trade Union, authorities did not respond to their demands. In 2013, union members also starved in Mozyr, and with no avail.
Deputies on hunger strike, 1995
On April 11, 1995, 19 members of the Popular Front opposition party declared a hunger strike in the Oval Hall to protest against referendum to abolish the white-red-white-flag and Pahonya coat of arms as state symbols, elimination of the status of the Belarusian language as a single state language, economic integration with Russia and the right of the president to dissolve the parliament. The referendum had been initiated by Lukashenka.
On the night of April 12, the MPs were beaten by riot police and expelled from the parliament building. Many politicians consider this date the beginning of the dictatorship in Belarus. It was after the strike was dispersed that deputies Vasil Bykau said: “The country is ruled by the junta”. A referendum was held in a month’s time and all of the President’s proposals were supported.
After that, deputies in Belarus went on hunger-strike one more time – in 2004. Three deputies of the Respublika opposition faction demanded democratization of the electoral process. The 2004 elections were the last time, when there were representatives of the democratic community in the Parliament. One of the hunger strikers, Syarhei Skrabets had to starve twice – already in prison.
Siuchyk and Hadyka on hunger strike, 1996
The members of the BPF, Vyachaslau Siuchyk and Yury Khadyka were arrested in spring 1996. After the big spring opposition rallies and police clashes with the demonstrators, they were accused of organizing riots and put in jail on Valadarsky street in Minsk. The politicians starved for three weeks, Siuchyk spent the last three days spent in the intensive care. On May 17, they were released on bail, the case was terminated after a few years.
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Галадоўкі маладафронтаўцаў
In 2005, members of the Young Front starved in Zhodzina for more than two weeks. They were protesting against the expulsion of their member from the acamedic institution. One year later, they began a hunger strike in Salihorsk, which was gradually joined by activists across the country. As a result, about four dozen people starved, the strike lasted three weeks. Their demands were not met, but the hunger strike had a big effect, especially because there were a lot of minors among the participants.
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The Young Front members starved in 2009 in support of Autukhovich.
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Many of the Young Front members, as well as other members of the youth movements, starved in prison during the administrative arrests.
New Life hunger strike, 2006
Protestant believers of the church New Life starved in October 2006. The hunger strike and a fast lasted about a month, the demand was to let them keep the church building. The hunger strike itself did not yield any results: the court sided with the Minsk City Executive Committee. In 2010, the forced eviction of the faithful from the building was to take place, but … it did not happen. Maskousky District Administration gave up on the building without explanation. Was it a God’s miracle?
Hunger strikes of Alyaksandr Kazulin and Mikalai Autukhovich
Vaukavysk entrepreneur Autukhovich went on hunger strike during his two arrests. But the first hunger strike, in 2005, was the most severe, prolonged and effective one: the prisoner did not eat for 74 days and lost 40 kg of weight. He sought to be released, but the authorities put him under house arrest. Then Mikalai got 3.5 years in prison but was released early after pressure from the United States.
During his latest confinement, Autukhovich made a radical step: he cut his belly in the Hrodna prison, protesting against the actions of the administration.
Alyaksandr Kazulin was a presidential candidate in 2006. Immediately after the election, he was arrested and sentenced to 5.5 years in prison. In the Vitsebsk colony he starved for 53 days, demanding the “Belarusian” issue be considered at the UN Security Council. Then the US ambassador to the UN was really trying to raise the issue of human rights violations in Belarus, but the proposal was blocked by the Russian Federation.
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Syarhei Kavalenka hunger strike, 2013
Syarhei Kavalenka announced a hunger strike on December 20, 2011. The activist went on hunger strike in protest against his detention and prosecution: employees of the correctional inspection initiated a case against him for violation of the “home confinement” – a conditional sentence given for a white-red-white flag, hung out on the town Christmas tree in 2010.
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The activist stopped the strike in March 2012. During the hunger strike, he lost about 30 kg of weight. They repeatedly tried to force-feed him and eventually placed him in the republican prison hospital. Kavalenka received two years in prison, but was released early after a petition addressed to the head of Belarus.
Ivan Shyla, belsat.eu/en/
