Bobby Sands and India’s Daughters Encounter the Fast

This supplement article discusses some modern high-profile examples of the Fast, and elucidates why they were successful or not. This should be requisite reading for any person contemplating a Fast, and also for activists in general. To understand more about the modern implications of a Fast, read on!

This article is available for free download, at the link below.

An extract from the article:

The use of the Fast by Ireland’s Bobby Sands (along with nine others), in 1981 is particularly worthy of consideration in light of earth ethics for several factors: the use of ideal, the awareness, practices, the use of the vow and Satyagraha. In a brief glance at his writings, the universal applicability of Satyagraha can be seen, along with the call of the Fast through conscience or moral duty. The influence of ideals present in the environment—in his case, the Catholic atmosphere and corresponding ethics that he grew up with (like the influence of India upon Gandhi) impacted the means that Sands was to employ. How he initially dealt with the Fast demonstrates the general applicability of Gandhi’s findings regarding its practical aspect with the mind and body connection.