About the hetero-referred suicide and the politic hunger strike

Authors

  • Ángela R. Boitano Gruettner Universidad Diego Portales

Abstract

The article analyzes the act of giving death for political reasons (heteric-referred suicide) and the hunger strike as a process in which one is willing to lose his life for altruistic reasons. It is argued that both acts broaden and radicalize the terms that give meaning to political life and will be conceived as acts that subvert the state of affairs in the sphere of the polis. The text situates the reflection in Chile and in the historical present, some emblematic cases of hunger strikes are reviewed and the main conflict between autonomy and right to life; the place occupied by the body is relieved as the support of this form of protest. Finally, some conclusions are proposed that allow us to interpret the tension caused by these acts in the social order.

Keywords:

Suicide hetero-referenced, protest hunger strike, life with meaning, autonomy