Fast for Life

International Fast For Life (IFFL) was a prolonged fast 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 inspired thousands of people around the world to fast and hold supportive demonstrations.

In objectives, the International Fast For Live movement is related to the Plowshares Movement. Each would rather the powers-that-be feed the world's inhabitants rather than harm them and they each hope to bring about the better world in which that occurs by inspiring others to care and polarize on the contrasting issues of nuclear disarmament vs. world hunger. Given the response around the world and recognition by several world leaders, it's apparent the IFFL's 1983 efforts were effective, to a degree. Before they even began their fast, one commentator, Arthur Hoppe of the San Francisco Chronicle said after hearing about it, that he'd already been inspired by the IFFL to join the one-day fast on August 6. "Admittedly, this is a minuscule accomplishment for them (having won over another ally) -- a tiny drop of oil on the storm-tossed ocean of world affairs. But if it were to be multiplied by a hundred, a thousand, a... Who knows? Our leaders might renounce their deadly geo-political games, beat their missiles into plowshares and war no more. Anyway, isn't it pretty to think so?"

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.

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Wikipedia