Hunger Strike - Image Shiritori Started (#175)

(#174) Conviction→"han"→Hunger strike

"Hey, |Shiiko|. You thought a hunger strike was a half-day strike, didn't you?"
"Eh? Isn't it?"
"It's not, actually.
A hunger strike is short for 'hunger strike', you know♪"
"Oh, I see♪ You're so smart, Eiko-chan, you know everything(´∇｀)♪"
"Well, yeah."
"Hey, hey, can I ask one more thing?"
"Ask me anything(⌒～⌒)"

"So, in the end, who benefits from this?"

"………(・_・)"

So close, Eiko-chan. You were right that a hunger strike is short for "hunger strike", but^m^.

But the two of you are hanging on a "hanger", while the hunger strike one is "
hunger". Hmm, subtle, very subtle^m^

Now, first of all, what exactly is a hunger strike?

A hunger strike is, as the name suggests, a strike that uses "hunger" as a weapon. Specifically, it is a strike where people sit in a public place and refuse to eat anything at all until their principles or demands are met, in other words, they go on a fast.

The first person to practice this method was Mahatma Gandhi of India.
It is a very Gandhi-like way of developing an independence movement under the banner of non-violence and non-cooperation.

Also, in Ireland, as part of the Northern Ireland independence movement, hunger strikes were carried out by prisoners in jail, and it has resulted in the ultimate form of protest and assertion through a hunger strike—starvation deaths.

Incidentally, a film called "HUNGER" was made in 2008 about this series of events.

The subject matter is what it is (it might be hard for Japanese people to grasp💦),
there is almost no dialogue in the film (lol),
and then, the conversation between the protagonist Bobby Sands and Father Dominic Moran who comes to visit him in the final part of the film is extremely long, with a long take of over 15 minutes(≧▽≦),

I think it's a film that will probably divide opinions quite extremely, but for Japanese people who were granted freedom without going through independence movements from below, I think it's a film worth watching... that's just my personal opinion, though(￣∀￣)

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Although it is not directly related to a hunger strike, an episode of a village that advocated "non-resistance" in a Gandhi-esque way is also depicted in the manga & anime "Fist of the North Star".

A village that advocated "non-resistance" encountered by Raoh, who called himself the Conqueror of the Century's End, as he marched forward.
The village chief, who is the leader, offers up the food and supplies in the village himself and says this.

In other words, if you resist, you create the opponent's strength and end up having everything taken away. Therefore, if you offer what is to be taken before that happens, you can at least ensure your own safety—
that seems to be the argument.

However, such "logic of the weak" does not work on the Conqueror of the Century's End.

The village chief, whose composure disappears with a single unexpected slap
(￣O￣)💦

To get a little serious, in the end, just putting up a facade of non-resistance isn't enough. If you do that, you'll end up getting slapped once, and then you'll be forced to flail around ungracefully and even beg for your life pathetically.

The thing is, when you get slapped, you should immediately

You hit me... even my father never hit me!

You want to have enough composure to be able to reply with that.
Even so, Lord Raoh is, after all, giving you one last chance.
He says, "Laugh!! Try laughing!!".

Village Chief, why don't you take advantage of this last chance! (*´Д｀)

Exactly.
If you're going to use "non-resistance" as your banner, if you're going to call non-resistance a "weapon," you need to be able to at least make a comeback like that.
Otherwise, you won't be able to protect yourself, let alone the village (￣∀￣)... that's the point.

"Non-resistance" is a form of "resistance" that consists of not resisting, and it is essentially different from "doing nothing".

It's an episode that surprisingly makes that point very clear (⌒～⌒).
To get a little serious, you can catch a glimpse of that kind of truth.

Even though you might think it's just a fun and strange martial arts manga full of things to nitpick, "Fist of the North Star" is interesting because it occasionally inserts these essentially important fables (￣∀￣)♪

Peace, you know, doesn't just fall from the sky in silence, and it's not something you just find lying around. Basically, it's something you have to "win".

That's what it is.

That's it 👆

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When I hear the word strike, for my generation, it brings to mind:
The old Japanese National Railways and labor unions holding wage increase struggles during the spring labor offensive 👉
👉 If those negotiations break down, they go on strike
👉 The trains stop
👉 School is closed ✨
👉 The kids are wild with joy ＼(^o^)／

-- It's a bit of a spring tradition.

However, a hunger strike is not a strike as a labor dispute like that, but rather a "fight" that stakes human dignity on a larger stage, like the independence movement led by Gandhi or the Irish struggle for independence.

Well, that's true.
I've never heard of anyone bringing a hunger strike into a wage increase struggle.
Actually, I've been thinking about this for a while, but there's a fundamental and decisive weakness lurking in a hunger strike... I think.

That is 👆
I think the psychological system of a hunger strike is its weapon, where the longer you go on in terms of time and days, the more the tragic sense of starvation you project increases the seriousness of your resolve and your persuasiveness.

However!

The thing about a hunger strike is that the more time and days that pass, the more the executor loses their physical strength, eventually losing the power to physically resist.

In other words, when you've become weak enough and they say, 'Alright, time to pack up~♪',
if you don't have enough physical strength left to resist, the hunger strike ends easily with nothing you can do about it^m^

That's why the ' Hanger Strike ' in this joke image might actually be a surprisingly decent form of industrial action and protest behavior (￣∀￣)

You could line up as many lockers as there are strikers in an appropriate public space, have each person hang from them in the style of the joke image, and it would be even better if you gave their otherwise idle hands placards with their principles and arguments written on them (o^-')b♪

This way, you won't suffer the misery of losing your strength and being forcibly removed.

Above all, isn't it fun to watch? ＼(^o^)／🎉

Since the primary purpose of a hunger strike is to make some principle or argument widely known to the world, the flavor you attach to it doesn't have to be tragic,
couldn't it be refreshing instead?^m^—that's the point.

It's just a personal thought, but I dream of things like that.

Hoping that one day, this ' Hanger Strike ' will become the mainstream♪(≧▽≦)♪

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Today's closing song is ' Mika Nakashima ' with ' RESISTANCE '

Personally, it's one of my two favorite songs of hers (o^-')b♪
I had only ever listened to the album version included on the album 'LOVE', so listening to the original version with the MV this time gave me a slightly different impression,
but even so, its place in my top two remains unshaken; it's that good of a song (￣∀￣)

Oops, it's already this late tonight.
I was planning to watch Abema News from 22:00 today, but a problem occurred right before it started where the Fire Stick froze and wouldn't move (>_<)
……In the end, after struggling, I thought, 'Wait? Come to think of it, I can watch it on my PC, right? (・_・)'
Realizing a fairly basic fact (*´Д｀)

It's dark right under the lighthouse, isn't it (￣∀￣) ← I don't think that's the issue

With that said,
I hope tomorrow will be another wonderful day where as many people as possible
can eat what they want to eat,
and can do what they want to do✨

■ Bonus

This is the car before the current one in the image word chain train (175th car). If you are curious about the title ' Kakushin-han (Willful Offender) ' and the joke image below, please take a look when you have time.