Her Story ... Feminist & Activist
IXX. Hunger Strike
Milestones:
DS 2nd hunger strike at the Indian ambassador's residence
Gains international media support
“During the late 1950’s when Nasser’s regime was consolidating power, political parties, the press, and women’s organizations were superseded by a larger state-controlled system.” (Nelson in “Women in Middle Eastern History” ed. By Nikki Keddie p 325). Within this context, in 1957, in order to drive home her opposition to Nasser’s authoritarian government, Doria embarked on her second hunger strike, this time alone, at the Indian ambassador’s residence. What was to be her final public act did not concern women’s right but what she believed to be the broader issue of human rights, freedom and democracy. Her declaration (one in Arabic addressed to Gamal Abdel Nasser and the other in French addressed to Secretary-General of the United Nations) stated that she was “going to hunger unto death as a protest against the infringement of my human freedom on two fronts – the external: (1) the Israeli occupation of Egyptian land, and the internal (2) the onset of dictatorship that is leading Egypt into bankruptcy and chaos.”
Doria’s hunger strike lasted 11 days and came three years after the first one, that was undertaken with such fanfare and support. After a few days, Doria left the ambassador’s residence but continued her hunger strike at a clinic under the supervision of a physician. When asked by her longtime friend and colleague, Ragia Raghab why she was doing this strike, Doria answered, “I do this from faith. We must stand against the Communists. I am not with the Americans. I am not with anyone, but as an Egyptian it is my duty to protest and to ask the ruler of Egypt where he is leading us. It is the moment. If we don’t do something now, we will never escape from under Nasser.”
