6 - When Hunger Strikes Arise

Summary

Hunger strikes follow their own rules, much like war, according to Clausewitz's analysis. Whatever the specific contexts that brought them about, whatever the subjective or objective reasons behind them, once they are in place a specific situation unfolds, with its own constraints and its own logic.

Beginning a hunger strike

Choosing a site

Except for prisons, where the question of choosing a site is not relevant, beginning a hunger strike means finding the most appropriate site to combine publicity and security, to enable visits from the media and supporters and still ensure minimal comfort. The site will become a rallying point, including mobilisations that involve other forms of protest. The stakes are high in this decision because as the hunger strike progresses the physical condition of the striker will deteriorate. In addition to the practical aspect, there is a strong symbolic element in this choice. If Jean Lassalle chose to carry out his strike in the Quatre Colonnes room in the National Assembly, it was because his office (as an MP) was there. The access to an appropriate site is often cruelly lacking for many.

The list of possible hunger sites is long: places of worship or other sites linked to religious organisations, political party offices (or more rarely union offices), offices of dissident newspapers in authoritarian regimes (for example, Ben Tunisia), but also administrative buildings squatted for the occasion. Sometimes strikes are even held on the steps or forecourts of buildings housing the adversaries of the strike, when it is impossible to enter. Sometimes they are held in tents and caravans in front of such buildings when they are locked. Of course the choice of the site is even more delicate when there are a number of strikers and the police are liable to intervene to prevent the strike.

As we can see in this brief statistical overview, Catholic places of worship and the striker's place of work are among the most frequently chosen sites for hunger strikes in France.

Although Catholic churches and workplaces appear to be the most popular choices overall, the sans papiers overwhelmingly choose to strike in churches.