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Suicide and life-threatening self-harm have been in protests and militant actions by militants and political activists movements and individuals with very diverse ideologies and goals. Most notoriously they have taken the form of self immolations. [1] Other forms have included hunger strikes, poision, and occasionally suicide bombings, though the latter commonly includes violence has military as well as political goals.
Hunger strikes are another use of life-threatening self-harm, and actual or potential suicide, that is used by some militants and political activists.[ examples needed ]
In 1981 ten members of the IRA died in hunger strikers, the first was Bobby Sands. By January 1981, it became clear that the prisoners' demands had not been conceded. The republican movement—"unconvincingly", argues Kelly—blamed Britain, insisting that Thatcher had reneged on her promises. [2] Instead, for example, of the right to their own clothes, which the prisoners believed had been conceded them, it became clear that they would have to wear prison-issued clothes until they could demonstrate full compliance with the regime. Sands saw this as "a demand for capitulation rather than a step-by-step approach", argues O'Dochartaigh, and began pressuring the external leadership to authorise another hunger strike. [3]
In the early 20th century suffragettes frequently endured hunger strikes in British prisons. Marion Dunlop was the first in 1909. She was released, as the authorities did not want her to become a martyr. Other suffragettes in prison also undertook hunger strikes. The prison authorities subjected them to force-feeding, which the suffragettes categorized as a form of torture. Emmeline Pankhurst's sister Mary Clarke died shortly after being force-fed in prison, and others including Lady Constance Bulwer-Lytton are believed to have had serious health problems caused by force feeding, dying of a heart attack not long after. [4] William Ball, a working class supporter of women's suffrage, was the subject of a pamphlet Torture in an English Prison not only due to the effects of force-feeding, but a cruel separation from family contact and mental health deterioration, secret transfer to a lunatic asylum and needed lifelong mental institutional care. [5] In December 1912, a Scottish prison put four suffragettes in the 'political prisoner' category rather than 'criminal' second division, but staff at Craiginches Prison, Aberdeen still subjected them to force-feeding when they went on hunger strike. [6]
Slobodan Praljak (Croatian pronunciation: [slobǒdanprǎːʎak] ; 2 January 1945 – 29 November 2017) was a Bosnian Croat general found guilty by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of committing violations of the laws of war, crimes against humanity, and breaches of the Geneva Conventions during the 1992–1994 Croat–Bosniak War. [7] Praljak voluntarily joined the newly formed Croatian Armed Forces after the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence in 1991. Before and after the war he was an engineer, a television and theatre director, and a businessman. [8] [9] Praljak was indicted by, and voluntarily surrendered to, the ICTY in 2004. [10] In 2013, he was convicted for war crimes against the Bosniak population during the Croat–Bosniak War alongside five other Bosnian Croat officials, [11] [12] and was sentenced to 20 years in jail (minus the time he had already spent in detention). [13] Upon hearing the guilty verdict upheld in November 2017, Praljak stated that he rejected the verdict of the court, and fatally poisoned himself in the courtroom. [14] [15]
 | This section should include a better summary of self-immolation.(October 2025) |
Romas Kalanta was a 19-year-old Lithuanian student who self-immolated in 1972 to protest against the Soviet regime in Lithuania, sparking the 1972 unrest in Lithuania; another 13 people self-immolated in that same year. [16] [ additional citation(s) needed ]
A wave of self-immolation suicides occurred in conjunction with the Arab Spring protests in the Middle East and North Africa, with at least 14 recorded incidents. The 2010–2011 Tunisian revolution was sparked by the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi. [17] Other cases followed during the 2011 Algerian protests and the 2011 Egyptian revolution. [18] [19]
The most prolific suicide bombers were the Japanese Empire's Kamikaze and others in that region who sought direct military advantage by attacking the United States Navy and their allies, in a failed attempt to conquer the Pacific region. [20] [21] Some believe this is a legitimate use of suicide tactics. [22] However, suicide bombings in the 21st century more commonly seek to make a political point.
Not all politically motivated suicide attacks targeted other people. On 18 November 1982, Neil Roberts carried out a suicide bombing in Whanganui, New Zealand. [23] His target was a facility housing the main computer centre of the National Law Enforcement Database belonging to New Zealand Police, Courts, Ministry of Transport, and other law enforcement agencies, in Whanganui. The power of the explosion made it so that police were initially unable to determine the gender of the perpetrator. [24] The attacker, 22-year-old Neil Roberts, a "punk rock" anarchist, was the only person killed, and the computer system was undamaged. [25] [26] [ better source needed ] He had written on a piece of cardboard before the explosion, "Heres [sic] one anarchist down. Hopefully there’s a lot more waking up. One day we’ll win – one day". A public toilet nearby had the slogan "We have maintained a silence closely resembling stupidity" painted on it, a slogan which the police believe Roberts had painted, [27] and borrowed from the Revolutionary Proclamation of the Junta Tuitiva of 1809. [28] The phrase is still closely linked with the bombing by the New Zealand public. [29]
On 5 October 1987, 12 Tamil Tigers who were taken into custody by the Sri Lankan Navy died by suicide. They were brought by the Sri Lanka Army to the Palaly Military Base which was under Indian Peace Keeping Force control and detained along with 5 others. LTTE leaders including Mahattaya were allowed to visit them in the Palaly Military Base they smuggled in cyanide capsules and as they feared the cadres would be tortured if taken to Colombo. LTTE wanted the IPKF to get them released under the accord. Major General Harkirat Singh J.N.Dixit, Depinder Singh were against handing over LTTE cadres to the Sri Lankan army but due to orders from New Delhi they agreed. When Sri Lankan Army attempted to take them to Colombo for interrogation, 12 committed suicide by swallowing cyanide capsules and remaining 4 were saved in hospital. This led to the LTTE withdrawing from the Indo Lankan peace accord and conflict between the LTTE and IPKF starting. Harkirat Singh blames the diplomats and the Army headquarters for the turn of events leading to the conflict. [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37]
Ironically, Praljak, who surrendered to the tribunal in April 2004 and had already been jailed for 13 years, could have soon walked free because those who are convicted are generally released after serving two-thirds of their sentences.
The Japanese expended 2600 aircraft in kamikaze attacks, and with them the lives of 4000 airmen. The attacks killed more than 7000 Allied naval personnel.
Perhaps surprisingly, carrying out suicide attacks in certain circumstances is not illegal per se. They can, and have been, used legitimately as weapons attacking military targets. In World War Two, Japanese Kamikaze pilots, for example, turned their planes into flying bombs to target American military ships and in so doing were using legitimate means to attack legitimate targets under international humanitarian law (IHL).
…the suicide attack by Neil Roberts on the National Law Enforcement Database, known as the Whanganui Computer, at the Whanganui Computer Centre.
On November 18, 1982 at 12.35 a.m., Neil Roberts, a 22 year old punk anarchist, walked up to the entrance of the building which housed the Wanganui police computer.
When the bombing occured, [director William] Keddell was angered by the media reaction to "what was clearly a politically motivated suicide": "The 'misguided youth' stuff just swept the real issues under the carpet. The Wanganui Computer was worth protesting about. It represented a profound and sad change in New Zealand. " (citing: Film scholar Russell Campbell, quoting director William Keddell in The Journal of New Zealand Studies no 8, 2009)
