Fast for Life

International Fast For Life (IFFL) was a prolonged hunger strike in favor of nuclear disarmament that spawned the Fast For Life movement. The context of this event took place during an era of escalation of the U.S./Russian Cold War. Its purpose was to promote a redirection of international government efforts away from nuclear arms and toward feeding the poor. A poster for the event urged supportive participation in two events: a one-day fast on August 6 or 27, 1983 and a week-long fast beginning September 10, 1983. The core peace action culminated in August 1983 when participants in five countries began a fast on August 6, the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and refused to end their fast until "only when negotiations at Geneva indicate that a halt will be called to the spread of nuclear weapons."

While the participants abstained from food, the protest event garnered major media coverage, commentaries, and open letters of both support and criticism, as well as inspiring thousands of people around the world to fast and hold supportive demonstrations.

For eight of the core participants, the fast ended after 40 days. Their decision to end there was made two days after Californian faster, Dorothy Granada had lost forty pounds and partial eyesight. Didier Mainguy ended his fast early, on the 30th day, after experiencing blood pressure problems. In Canada, however, participant Karen Harrison ended her fast on October 5th after a full 61 days, only when Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau conceded to meet with her to discuss nuclear disarmament. Former chancellor Willy Brandt also visited with the fasters in Bonn, where he pledged to seek immediate support from his Social Democratic Party to postpone deployment of missiles in Germany. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl wrote the fasters, stating his appreciation of their goals. Kohl would later be prominently instrumental in the reunification of Germany and also, in cooperation with French President Mitterrand, with the later formation of the European Union. Given their shared peace agenda, it's no surprise that in France, two of President Mitterrand's ministers visited with the fasters in Paris on the 35th day of the fast with a letter from the President who agreed to meet with them after the fast ended.

Unfortunately, the IFFL hunger strike failed to elicit a supportive public response from either U.S. President Reagan or Russian Secretary Yuri Andropov. However, within less than a decade the world would see the Malta Summit and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and in 1991, the official end of the Cold War that had lasted for almost half a century, as well as the US and Soviet Union signing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which set a framework for the reduction of U.S./Russian nuclear stockpiles.

In recognition of the widespread attention the fast brought to the issue of nuclear weapons disarmament, International Fast For Life was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. The direct result of the protests is not certain, but their legacy was a reinvigoration of the nuclear disarmament movement. Since then, unrelated protest actions have also referenced this event, such as Cesar Chavez' hunger strike that he called a "Fast For Life" in 1988, intended to draw attention to the harmful affects of pesticides on farm workers. The 1986 Veterans' Fast For Life protested U.S. President Ronald Reagan's pro-Contra policies in Central America. A more recent, similarly-titled event was the 2011 Darfur Fast For Life that called for a re-invigoration of international intervention against genocide in Darfur.

IFFL Core Participants

Paris, France Solange Fernex Michel Nodet Didier Mainguy Jacky Guyon San Francisco, California, US André Larivière Dorothy Granada Mitsuyoshi Kohjima Charles Gray

Bonn, West Germany Johanna Jordan Andrea Elukovich Francisco Alejo Toronto, Canada Brian Burch Karen Harrison Rome, Italy Tom Siemer

Roots of the 1983 International Fast For Life

In December 1978, 180 people were on trial for twice entering and occupying the Trident submarine base at Bangor, Washington in May of that year. During the campaign, a fast moved many members of the British Columbia Parliament to support a resolution opposing Trident. Testimony to the power of fasting indicated to Charles Gray, one of the first three participants that would announce the 1983 fast, the power of fasting after he recognized the frustration that resulted following civil disobedience actions that were unproductive, since it allowed police to stop life-affirming action. The objective was to overcome the inability to put morality and sense above a death-promoting legal system, that being an escalating stockpile of nuclear weapons by governments around the world. Shortly afterwards, Gray, meditating in the Friends’ Meeting House in Eugene, Oregon, imagined a fast that he thought might have a chance of stopping the nuclear arms race – an international open-ended fast. The idea was so fraught with risk to life that he did nothing publicly for almost a year.

Finally, Gray concluded that the nuclear crisis of that time was so grave that people of peace may have to offer up their lives in an effort to prevent the continuation of the silent holocaust of world hunger and the impending holocaust of nuclear fire. These are the origins of the Fast For Life. With the help of colleagues a letter was circulated to about a hundred people in the peace movement. After a favorable response, a small group was formed in Eugene - the Nonviolent Tactics Development Project (NTDP). A pamphlet titled “First Step” was published so that others could gain experience for a major fast in the event that the nuclear arms race was not stopped by Hiroshima Day, August 6, 1983. In the fall of 1980, Solange Fernex, President of Women for Peace in France, and a founding member of France’s Green Party, adopted NTDP methods in Western Europe.

A 24-page guide to political fasting was produced in 1980 giving a brief history of political fasting, how fasts should be conducted, and how to organize for a political fast. There followed in June 1982 a Fast for Disarmament originating in Washington DC and aimed at the United Nations Special Session on Nuclear Disarmament in New York. At this time Gray and Granada met for the first time with Fernex. On June 19, 1982 the three announced that if the development, testing, production and deployment of nuclear weapons had not been stopped by the symbolic date of August 6, 1983, then they would begin an open-ended fast. Throughout this fast, designed to appeal to conscience, fasters would be guided by Gandhi’s principles of non-violence. In introducing the Fast, it was noted that the struggle for peace and justice requires that non-violent actions be commensurate with the evil faced, fasting being such an action. As with all non-violent methods, suffering is taken upon oneself and not imposed on the opponent. The Fast For Life is seen as an experiment in truth, seeking change through moral suasion.

Developments through August 6, 1983

Preparations began in earnest following the June 1982 fast. The months through to the beginning of the Fast saw preparation among groups in many countries commencing one-day a week fasts or longer fasts while communicating as widely as possible to organizations, church leaders and individuals the approaching Fast’s commencement. For many, there was the important task of connecting the link between world hunger and the arms race. Besides support being established in the U.S., Solange Fernex traveled to Japan to attend the Conference Against A and H Bombs before visits to European countries and then to India for the Non-Aligned Nations Conference in March 1983 where disarmament, survival and co-existence in the age of nuclear weapons was a chief issue on the agenda. Endorsements came from many groups, including Clergy and Laity Concerned and the War Resisters League, but the American Friends Service Committee and Fellowship of Reconciliation would not endorse. In November 1982 Gray joined an international hunger strike in Comiso, Italy, the U.S. base for Pershing and Cruise missiles. Gray later traveled to Japan and New Zealand, countries that would become involved in the Fast For Life. In January 1983, Fast headquarters in the U.S. moved from Eugene, Oregon to San Francisco. From April 12–24 an international meeting was held at the Community of the Ark near Rodez, France. The tasks were to establish goals for the Fast and consider application from fasters. The international meeting adopted an “Appeal to people, institutions and governments to take action to stop the nuclear arms race”. (See appendix 1) By June 1983, Oakland and Paris had been chosen as the sites for the fasting centers. It was agreed that fasters, with advisers, would make their own decisions concerning continuation and termination to end his or her fast at any time, and would receive the full support of the Fast For Life. (In France the fast was called International pour la vie”.)

August 6, 1983

Thousands of people had pledged to participate in support fasts from all over the world. While many fasted one day a week, others took upon themselves longer fasts, often three to 10 day fasts. While records are incomplete, to the best knowledge of organizers, there were more than 150 fasts in 24 countries around the world, mostly in North America and Europe, but also Japan and New Zealand Communications were not possible to establish with East Germany, but reports from individuals in the Fast movement suggest that as many as 21 people were fasting there. In Italy alone, 44 support groups came into being to boost that country’s small peace movement. 86 groups were formed in France and a Fast For Life banner was hung at the Arc de Triomphe where 328 people were arrested – France’s largest civil disobedience action against nuclear weapons. Over 100 groups were born in West Germany. Former chancellor Willy Brandt visited with the fasters in Bonn and pledged to seek immediate support from his Social Democratic Party to postpone deployment of missiles in Germany. Chancellor Kohl wrote the fasters stating his appreciation of their goals. In France, two of President Mitterrand's ministers visited with the fasters in Paris on the 35th day of the fast with a letter from the President who agreed to meet with them after the fast ended. Didier Mainguy ended his fast on the 30th day after experiencing blood pressure problems. On September 13th - the 38th day of the Fast - Karen Harrison met with Pierre Trudeau in Ottawa. Trudeau received a list of proposals from the IFFL and stressed that he sincerely wanted a halt to the arms race. With supporters, Harrison also met with other administration officials as well as with embassy representatives of both the Soviet Union and the United States. On October 6th, the 61st day, Harrison broke her fast recognizing that the Fast For Life could continue in other positive ways. In Scotland, an Open Letter was published urging a policy of international aid and bringing an end to the escalating arms race. The letter was signed by leaders of all the major churches in Scotland and handed in to the Queen at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, and Prime Minister Thatcher in London, as well as being sent to all members of parliament. (See appendix 3)

An Announcement of a Fast To Begin August 6, 1983

Appendix 1

"One week ago today more than three quarters of a million people demonstrated for disarmament, peace, and justice in New York City. It was the largest such demonstration in American history, overshadowing even the great marches of the anti-Vietnam war period. From the evidence of peace movement strength, and from similar evidence from many other countries, we take hope that the peoples of the earth will rise up: to put an end to the madness of the arms race; to put an end to the arms themselves; to put an end to foreign policies of intervention and domination; to begin the reallocation of the world’s resources to meet human needs; to begin to affirm life, to celebrate our common humanity, to love each other, to share the bounty of the earth more equitably.

We write this letter during the Second United Nations Special Session on Disarmament. WE do not yet know what the outcome of these deliberations will be. What we do know is that we live under the threat of a nuclear holocaust. The preparations for that holocaust, both conventional and nuclear, doom thousands to starvation each day. We live under a double crime, a monstrous crime, a crime that must be stopped to save the hungry, and to save the world itself.

If public pressure for a nuclear freeze build and succeeds the major powers may opt for a greater build-up of conventional forces. This must not be allowed because a conventional arms race will increase the probability of a conventional war which would escalate to a nuclear war. This is true even if nuclear arms were cut back. Thus, comprehensive disarmament is as essential as nuclear disarmament if we are to reduce the threat of nuclear holocaust.

We have a long way to go and a short time to get there. We believe we must deepen and intensify our efforts. We must act in a manner commensurate with the evil we face if that evil is to be overcome in ourselves and in the world. We must live more simply and share what we have that others may live also. We must reduce our own complicity in institutions of violence and we must resist those institutions through civil disobedience, draft resistance. And tax resistance.

We are up against great odds. To prevail we must use the most powerful non-violent methods available to us. If Gandhi is correct, the most powerful such method is fasting. Fasting for religious people is a path to God; for those guided by moral and ethical principles fasting is a profound way to express their beliefs. Gandhi and many others throughout history have confronted evil institutions by offering their lives through fasting. We intend to do the same. Through fasting we identify with the millions who hunger as long as the arms race continues. We will share their pain and by doing so we may finally unlock the doors to our own hearts and to the hearts of our brothers and sisters. Open-ended fasts, because of the life risks involved, have a way of speeding up decision-making, breaking stalemates, and producing change. If we ever needed such speed, it is certainly now. The children are dying and the thread that holds the Bomb is fraying.

During the Second United Nations Special Session on Disarmament we have been engaged in limited fasts with thousands of other persons around the world. We will continue such fasting in the months ahead, inviting others to join us and attempting to communicate the purposes of our fasts to peace and justice organizations and to the public. We hope this action will deepen and strengthen the peace movement, and that we will soon attain at least a cessation of the arms race as a first step towards disarmament and justice.

We believe that such a first step will become much more difficult if cruise and Pershing II Missiles are deployed in Europe in the Fall of 1983. That planned deployment defines our time frame for action. If such plans are not renounced, indeed, if the deployment, testing, production and deployment of nuclear weapons by all nuclear powers has not been stopped by Hiroshima Day, August 6, 1983, we intend to commence an open-ended fast.

Considering the hunger of the world, we would prefer to start sooner, but we need to prepare for such a fast, to counsel with our loved ones, and to strengthen our spirits. We also wish to allow sufficient time in order that others might prepare themselves to struggle for these goals by fasting with us in an open-ended or more limited ways and by taking other actions such as offering personal support, financial support, writing letters help with media, obtaining organizational support, demonstrations, work stoppages, civil disobedience, etc. We invite your help, counsel, and participation.

We will call our fast a Fast For Life, for that is what it will be, a fast to affirm that all humanity has a right to live freed from the pain of hunger and the dread of holocaust.

To this Fast For Life we now commit ourselves.

In love and hope,

(signed by Soalnge Fernex, Dorothy Granada and Charles Gary)"

The end of the Fast

By September, it was the opinion of many supporters that the Fast had made a significant contribution to the peace movement. By the 6th week, the presidents of the World Council of Churches and the U.S. National Council of Churches cabled and urged an end to the Fast, as did some congressmen. With doctors increasingly fearful, fasters at the three centers (Oakland, Bonn and Paris) decided on September 13th to end their fast September 15th. (see appendix 2) Andrea Elukovich continued three more days. In early October, the French fasters were granted a two hour audience with President Mitterrand where they affirmed their opposition to nuclear buildup and testing in Polynesia. In the final edition of “The Date Is Set” (November 1983) French priest Joseph Pyronnet fasted for 15 days until October 18 when he held a press conference when bishops assembled for the Synod of Reconciliation. On October 30, Tom Siemer reported a letter he presented to the World Catholic Bishops’ Synod was read out loud by Cardinal Loerschreider of Brazil. The Synod adopted the terms of Tom’s letter by issuing a summary which condemned nuclear weapons, and signed by 15 Catholic communities around Rome. On October 24 in Stockholm, Sweden, significant blockades were held at the British, West German and Italian embassies following a day on non-violence training. Further actions also occurred throughout Europe in the months following the end of the fast. An international meeting was held in Lyon, France on September 24/25 1983, where two hundred people assembled. Acknowledging the power that fasting had shown, the gathering undertook to pursue the same aims; the moral pressure on governments to respond to the Fast’s appeals for greater justice in this shared world would be maintained until a reversal in the escalation of nuclear weapons occurs, and real attempts to confront the plight of the world’s hungry are made. Alan Burns, from the Scottish support group, agreed to act as international coordinator to maintain communications between participating countries. This was continued through the summer of 1984, when an international gathering took place in Oxford, England on June 1-3 with about 20 people participating to assess the Fast’s effect

The statement ending the Fast

Appendix 2

"September 14th, 1983

Dear Friends:

Eleven people on the 6th August committed themselves to an open-ended fast. This Fast had the general aim of avoiding a holocaust of humanity, and has as its major objectives the stopping of the escalation of nuclear arms and the feeding of the world’s hungry who starve because resources are diverted to militarism.

It is always difficult to evaluate a fast, whether it be public or private, limited or unlimited. There are certainly some immediate and visible results. While others will reveal themselves much later, and still others may forever remain secret. The totality of this action cannot be measured and does not belong to anyone.

The Fast is a way of appealing to the consciences of the Fasters and all people. During the last 40 days, we have been listening to the “small inner voice” which was so dear to Gandhi, and we have accepted guidance on the path which has been revealed to us.

The Fast called upon people, institutions and governments, having precise objectives while being sufficiently open to allow us to take into consideration all the positive elements which are working toward the same goal.

What is the situation today? News is reaching us from everywhere: appeals and multiple commitments, from individuals, institutions, trade unions and political groups, religious communities and churches, non-violent groups . . . who are witnesses of a strong awakening of conscience and who predict that the birth of a large relay movement can be expected. Many people are ready to commit themselves personally to initiate chains of limited fasting or undertake other non-violent actions of their choice. They are commitments.

The tendency of the governments is to hope that the negotiations in Geneva will be rapid and efficient. Official contacts have been made and while they are certainly quite insufficient, there is nevertheless hope for a dialogue. Such talks could not reasonably be expected to bear fruit in the few days remaining to the Fasters without putting our lives in danger. This is why we have decided to respond to the expectation and impetus of all individuals and institutions who are already committed, by accepting that others will continue their action – which may remain forceful and international - and where everyone can, at any moment, find his or her own place, according to each person’s richness of expression. We place our trust in the force of truth which is non-violent, and which will continue to bear fruit.

We associate ourselves with all those throughout the world who are calling for an international day of fasting, prayer, and reflection on the 18th of September. In order to conserve the solidarity and unity of the group, we will break our fast in joy and hope on Thursday, the 15th of September, after 40 days of fasting."

Open letter from the Church of Scotland

Appendix 3

The Open Letter, which was taken by a delegation to the Queen at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, and to the Prime Minister (Margaret Thatcher) at Downing Street, has been signed by leaders of all the major churches in Scotland. A copy was also sent to every member of the Houses of Commons and Lords. The letter is founded on statements already made by the churches individually. It represents a quite remarkable ecumenical breakthrough, as this is the first time that the churches together have spoken out so strongly and with such a single voice on this issue.

The letter:

“All the major churches in Scotland have spoken out against the escalation of nuclear weapons.

The British people now face a situation in which, with the concurrence of their government, Cruise missiles are about to be deployed on British soil.

The government is pursuing this course in the face of serious and informed opposition from people in all sections of society.

Apart from the churches’ statements, there have been repeated demonstrations of a size never experienced before in Britain (some in excess of 500,000 people); millions of people have put their names to petitions to halt deployment; canvassing and letter writing have been undertaken by peace groups which have mushroomed up and down the land. Opinion polls have shown that probably half of Britain’s population is against the deployment of Cruise. (One poll, MORI 22/1/83, puts the percentage as high as 61%).

The government does not appear to have taken seriously the widespread concern that efforts should be directed towards reducing the level of armaments rather than increasing new weapon systems. There has been no significant response to the arguments put forward, not only by peace campaigners, but by many military experts that the increasing weight and sophistication of weapons heightens insecurity rather than produces stability.

Although the proposed deployment of Cruise missiles has caused a sharpened perception of our dangerous situation, the forward planning for a whole new generation of nuclear arms needs to be called into question. We appear to be locked into an unalterable assumption that the hostility between the super powers will continue indefinitely. We are planning for as 21st century which will be characterised by the same unresolved, aggressive confrontation.

Because of our commitment to Christ and our faith in the purpose of God for his world that He has created, we are compelled to place all our actions within the context of His intention that we should live as one family, able to find forgiveness and reconciliation between each other in the world.

We therefore urge that a positive policy of international aid and development should replace the attempt to achieve security by an escalating arms race. At present we commit enormous sums of money, vast quantities of material; resources, and, most vitally, the creative lives of many of our front rank scientists and engineers to this spiral of destruction. Yet, Britain has not honoured its promise to provide 0.7% of gross national product to aid for countries in need.

For many people in the world there is not a future threat of destruction. It is happening now. Hunger kills as surely as any weapon. Because of the waste of world’s resources many are denied their rightful share of food, clean water, good health, shelter and education.

We are further aware of an increasing tendency for those in government to avoid serious public debate and instead to attempt to denigrate or marginalise those who oppose them. In this we discern part of the danger which arises from a reliance upon deterrence through a threat of destruction. Decision of life and death become concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer to whom any questioning of authority is unacceptable.

We, leaders of the churches in Scotland, therefore request our government:

To engage in serious debate about defence issues, including the deployment of Cruise missiles, with those who seek alternative ways of security. To give priority to opening the channels of communication and understanding between East and West so that tensions arising from false perceptions may be reduced. To honour at once this country’s promise to contribute 0.7% of GNP to proper and genuine Aid and Development for the poorest countries, ensuring that such assistance be not tied to trade, except where trade is clearly to the advantaged of the truly poor."

Signatories to the Open Letter

Bishop James Monaghan, Very Reverend Malcolm Clark, Ellen Moxley, Reverend Ronald Ferguson, Reverend Gerard Hand, Duncan MacLaren, Canon Neville Chamberlain, Reverend Duncan Forrester, Margery Turnbull, Helen Steven, Reverend Andrew Morton, Edwin Lucas, Very Reverend George Reid, Paul Baker, Dr. William McGuire, Reverend David Humphries, Reverend John Dalrymple, Joyce Gray, Canon Kenyon Wright, Reverend Alan Horner, Bishop Mario Conti, Bishop Derek Rawcliffe, Bishop Edward Luscombe, Bishop George Sessford, Bishop Frederick Derwent, Bishop Michael Hare Duke, Bishop Alistair Haggart, Reverend Columba Ryan, Reverend Donald MacDonald, Reverend David Lyon, Christine Davis, Cardinal Gordon Gray, Bishop Morris Taylor, Bishop Charles Renfrew, Archbishop Thomas Winning, Bishop Vincent Logan, Bishop Stephen McGill, Bishop Joseph Devine, Bishop Francis Thompson

References

• A guide to political fasting: Svevo Brooks, John Burkhart, Dorothy Granada and Charles Gray
• The Date is Set – final issue Number 4 – November 1983