Eli5: Why do hunger strikes work?

Question

I’ve never understood this. Isn’t it in the interest of people in power or people jailing you to watch you starve to death? Yet in prisons and detention centers, it’s always the go-to. Why do they work?

In: 30

Answer 1

Hunger strikes work if there are enough people who care about you to be driven to action by your threat of starving to death. Or, they work if there are enough people who care enough about the bad publicity you’re bringing them to stop what they’re doing. It’s a move that draws attention to a problem but gives the problem time to be solved before you die – unlike self-immolation.