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Suicide andlife-threateningself-harm have been in protests and militant actions bymilitants andpolitical activists movements and individuals with very diverse ideologies and goals. Most notoriously they have taken the form ofself immolations.[1]Other forms have includedhunger strikes,poison, and occasionallysuicide bombings, though the latter commonly includesviolence or hasmilitary as well as political goals.
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Romas Kalanta was a 19-year-old Lithuanian student who self-immolated in 1972 to protest against theSoviet regime in Lithuania, sparking the1972 unrest in Lithuania; another 13 people self-immolated in that same year.[2][additional citation(s) needed]
A wave of self-immolation suicides occurred in conjunction with theArab Spring protests in theMiddle East and North Africa, with at least 14 recorded incidents. The2010–2011 Tunisian revolution was sparked by the self-immolation ofMohamed Bouazizi.[3] Other cases followed during the2011 Algerian protests and the2011 Egyptian revolution.[4][5]
Suicide protests aboutgenocide and relatedwar crimes have been carried out by all sides: the targets of genocide, other opponents of genocide and war crimes,[example needed] and (in at least one case) by a Croatian accused ofwar crimes in the Bosnian War (below).
The Holocaust inGermany andoccupied Europe targeted local ethnic and religious minorities that were perceived as non-European.ParticularlyAshkenazi,Roma, andSinti. The genocide against later groups is sometimes considered a separateRomani Holocaust.
On 19 April 1943, high-ranking officials of theAllied governments of the UK and the US met inBermuda, ostensibly to discuss the situation of the Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe. By coincidence, that same day the Nazis attempted to liquidate the remaining Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto and met withunexpected resistance.By the beginning of May, the futility of the Bermuda Conference had become apparent.[6]
Days later,Szmul Zygielbojm (Yiddish:שמואל זיגלבוים)[a] – aPolishsocialist politician,Bundtrade-union activist, and member of theNational Council of thePolish government-in-exile – received word of the suppression of theWarsaw Ghetto Uprising and of theghetto's finalliquidation. He learned that his wife Manya and 16-year-old son Tuvia had been killed there.[7]At his home inPaddington,West London,[8] on 11 May 1943 Zygielbojm committed suicide with an overdose ofsodium amytal, as a protest against the indifference and inaction of theAllied governments in the face ofThe Holocaust.[7]He died atSt Mary's Hospital, London, on 12 May 1943.[8]
In a long suicide note addressed to Polish presidentWładysław Raczkiewicz and prime ministerWładysław Sikorski, Zygielbojm said that while the Nazis were responsible for the murder of the Polish Jews, "the whole of humanity" was also indirectly culpable. He accused the Western Allies of "looking on passively upon this murder of defenseless millions of tortured children, women and men," and the Polish government of not doing enough (see image).
I cannot continue to live and to be silent while the remnants of Polish Jewry, whose representative I am, are being murdered. My comrades in the Warsaw ghetto fell with arms in their hands in the last heroic battle. I was not permitted to fall like them, together with them, but I belong with them, to their mass grave. By my death, I wish to give expression to my most profound protest against the inaction in which the world watches and permits the destruction of the Jewish people.[9]
Zygielbojm wished his letter to be widely publicized and hoped that "the Polish Government [would] embark immediately on diplomatic action... in order to save the living remnant of thePolish Jews from destruction".[9]
TheBosnian genocide a genocide againstBosnian (mostlyBosniak)Muslims in Europe, 40 years after the genocide against Ashkibazi, Roma, and Sinti.Slobodan Praljak (Croatian pronunciation:[slobǒdanprǎːʎak]; 2 January 1945 – 29 November 2017) was aBosnian Croat general found guilty by theInternational Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of committing violations of thelaws of war,crimes against humanity, and breaches of theGeneva Conventions during the 1992–1994Croat–Bosniak War.[10]Praljak voluntarily joined the newly formedCroatian Armed Forces after the outbreak of theCroatian War of Independence in 1991. Before and after the war he was an engineer, a television and theatre director, and a businessman.[11][12] Praljak was indicted by, and voluntarily surrendered to, the ICTY in 2004.[13] In 2013, he was convicted forwar crimes against theBosniak population during the Croat–Bosniak War alongside five other Bosnian Croat officials,[14][15] and was sentenced to 20 years in jail (minus the time he had already spent in detention).[16]When he heard the guilty verdict against him upheld in November 2017, Praljak stated that he rejected the verdict of the court, andfatally poisoned himself in the courtroom.[17][18]
"Genocide bombing" was an alternate term forPalestinian suicide attacks that was coined in 2002 byIrwin Cotler, a member of theCanadian parliament, in an effort to focus attention on thealleged intention ofGenocide by militantPalestinians.[19][20]
The most prolific suicide bombers were theJapanese Empire'sKamikaze and others in that region who sought direct military advantage by attacking theUnited States Navy andtheir allies, in afailed attempt toconquer the Pacific region.[21][22] Some believe this is a legitimate use of suicide tactics.[23] However, suicide bombings in the 21st century more commonly seek tomake a political point.
Not allpolitically motivated suicide attacks targeted other people.On 18 November 1982,Neil Roberts carried out asuicide bombing inWhanganui,New Zealand.[24]His target was a facility housing the main computer centre of theNational Law Enforcement Database belonging toNew Zealand Police,Courts,Ministry of Transport, and other law enforcement agencies, inWhanganui. The power of the explosion made it so that police were initially unable to determine the gender of the perpetrator.[25]The attacker, 22-year-old Neil Roberts, a "punk rock"anarchist, was the only person killed, and the computer system was undamaged.[26][27][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,[28] and borrowed from the Revolutionary Proclamation of theJunta Tuitiva of 1809.[29]The phrase is still closely linked with the bombing by the New Zealand public.[30]
Sometimes suicide attacks that do not go according to plan, are still used successfully for political gain.For example theLehi–Irgun suicide operationin 1947 – that failed to do any tangible damage to assets or personnel of their opponents, allegedly due to being inadvertently obstructed by Rabbi Yakov Goldman – is still told as a heroic story in numerousLikud Party speeches,[31][32]IncludingMenachem Begin's1981 election-winningTchach-Tchachim Speech [he].[33][34][35]
Hunger strikes are another use of life-threatening self-harm, and actual or potentialsuicide, that is used by somemilitants andpolitical activists.[examples needed]
In 1981 ten members of theIRA died in hunger strikers, the first wasBobby 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.[36] 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.[37]
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In the early 20th centurysuffragettes 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 amartyr. Other suffragettes in prison also undertook hunger strikes. The prison authorities subjected them to force-feeding, which the suffragettes categorized as a form oftorture.Emmeline Pankhurst's sisterMary Clarke died shortly after being force-fed in prison, and others includingLady Constance Bulwer-Lytton are believed to have had serious health problems caused by force feeding, dying of aheart attack not long after.[38]William Ball, a working class supporter of women's suffrage, was the subject of a pamphletTorture 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.[39] In December 1912, a Scottish prison put four suffragettes in the 'political prisoner' category rather than 'criminal' second division, but staff atCraiginches Prison, Aberdeen still subjected them to force-feeding when they went on hunger strike.[40]
On 5 October 1987, 12Tamil Tigers who were taken into custody by theSri Lankan Navy died by suicide. They were brought by theSri Lanka Army to thePalaly Military Base which was underIndian Peace Keeping Force control and detained along with 5 others.LTTE leaders includingMahattaya were allowed to visit them in thePalaly Military Base they smuggled incyanide 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 GeneralHarkirat SinghJ.N.Dixit,Depinder Singh were against handing over LTTE cadres to the Sri Lankan army but due to orders from New Delhi they agreed. WhenSri Lankan Army attempted to take them toColombo 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.[41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48]
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 [sic?], [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)
