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Politics
Hunger Strikes02 July 2009
100 years since the first suffragette hunger strike

100 years ago on July 5, the first suffragette went on hunger strike in prison. Marion Wallace Dunlop had been arrested for militancy. When she refused to eat, the prison authorities became afraid that she might die and become a martyr. They released her. Shortly after, hunger-striking became standard suffragette practice. What motivates people to protest in this way? How successful is it as a political tool? How much is a hunger strike seen as a woman’s method of campaigning? To discuss the practice, Jenni is joined by Joanna Bourke, Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London and Maura Harrington an Irish environmental campaigner who went on hunger strike last year.
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