Prisoners for Palestine are preparing to take on the violence of the British state with a hunger strike. The Canary first reported their plan to put their own bodies on the line for Gaza on 20 October. The last time such an pledge was undertaken was when Republican prisoners took on Margaret Thatcher. The battlefield was Ireland then, and the weapons were their own bodies.

There are key differences, of course. The Republican movement of the 1980s was committed to physical force. These Palestine solidarity activists are dedicated to non-violence.

However, these modern-day heroes, who believe they’ve been unjustly held by the state for trying to stop a genocide, are set to take on Britain’s genocidal complicity – potentially at great personal cost to themselves.

And here’s the thing. The Irish hunger strikes were a serious problem for the Thatcher government. So, Starmer is in for an almighty headache.

Bodies on the line

A press release from advocacy organisation CAGE International announced:

that pro-Palestine prisoners, all of whom have been unjustly treated, and imprisoned for up to a year without trial, were preparing to go on hunger strike.

They explained that prisoners feel they have no choice but to turn to a hunger strike:

Many of these prisoners were arrested in dramatic dawn raids, with the police misusing counter-terrorism powers, something which has even been condemned by the UN. They have faced systematic abuse throughout their incarceration, and since the proscription of Palestine Action in July, the level of abuse and mistreatment has escalated.

The prisoners feel they have no other choice, but to launch a rolling hunger strike in support of a principled set of demands, which include an end to interference with their communications, the right to a fair trial, and the deproscription of Palestine Action.

Speaking on behalf of Prisoners for Palestine, Francesca Nadin, former Palestine Action prisoner said:

It’s no great surprise that the government has ignored the prisoners’ demands, this is simply a continuation of the corruption and violence enacted by the British state- not only upon the prisoners, but most importantly on the Palestinian people.

It seems that they believe that they can act against the wishes of the people, but we are here to tell them otherwise. The prisoners lead the way with resolve and moral clarity and we must heed their call. We are here today with Defend Our Juries to show the British state that we will not be intimidated into silence, on the contrary, we are fighting for the same cause and will continue to escalate. For justice, for freedom, to stop the genocide in Palestine.

A long history

Hunger strikes have a long tradition in Ireland. They were often used as a tactic against British occupation, But, they were perhaps most famously used in the 1980s against Margaret Thatcher’s government. The most well-known death of a striker was that of Bobby Sands in 1981, in what was a game of nerves between the colonialist British state and jailed Republicans.

The achievements and complexities of that strike are still hotly debated to this day. What is clear is that global outpourings of solidarity were gigantic, and brought the Republican cause in the country’s occupied north to a worldwide audience.

Britain is again faced with a question of rooted in it’s colonial past and present. The context is different, and so are the main actors. But the hunger strike – in which one sacrifices one’s own health, or even life, in the opposition to a great injustice – still summons an emotive power which cannot easily be brushed off.

We don’t know the tactics the strikers will employ. But the sense of symbolism and sacrifice may prove to be such that a figure as limited and politically weak as Keir Starmer cannot withstand its force.

Featured image via the Canary