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Anti-radar hunger strikers seek government meetings

Demonstrators tired but no less motivated

By Kimberly Hiss
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
May 21st, 2008 issue

As their hunger strike against the planned U.S. radar base enters its second week, Humanist movement members Jan Tamáš and Jan Bednář are feeling “weaker every day,” but remain eager to open a dialogue with government officials. On May 18, the demonstrators contacted the offices of Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek, Foreign Affairs Minister Karel Schwarzenberg and U.S. Ambassador Richard Graber to request meetings.
“We’re hoping to actually start the debate we’re calling for,” said Tamáš. “So we’ll see if they answer.”  
Tamáš, 31, and Bednář, 29, have been living at their Prague 2 strike headquarters since May 13, when they began their demonstration to urge government officials to stop radar base negotiations with the United States and to hold a public referendum on the issue. They are supported by anti-armament groups in Turin, Rome, Milan, Budapest, Berlin, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Paris, which have been holding sympathy strikes and other solidarity demonstrations throughout the week.
Also members of the No Bases Initiative, Tamáš and Bednář had spent two years demonstrating against government plans to build a U.S. radar base 90 kilometers southwest of Prague as an extension of the European missile-defense shield. While Tamáš feels their previous protest activities, including marches, international press appearances and an anti-base petition, have delayed the signing of the Czech–U.S. radar treaty, he decided to undertake this more extreme form of demonstration when a date was set to finalize the agreement.
While on the strike — the diet for which consists of water, juice and tea — Tamáš and Bednář’s daily routine includes maintaining their anti-base Web site (Nonviolence.cz), corresponding with media, coordinating with solidarity demonstrators and discussing issues of democracy and disarmament with visiting public. Tamáš hopes the strike will last into early June, the most recent time frame cited by officials to sign the treaty.
Foreign Affairs Minister Schwarzenberg said he is aware of the demonstrators’ request, and, that although he has no current plans to meet with Tamáš and Bednář, he is open to their invitation.
“It is known that I have never avoided serious discussion,” he said Monday in an e-mail. “So, based on the time I have, if they asked me, I would not avoid meeting them.”
Meanwhile, Tamáš complains of modest discomfort, such as feeling “more tired and having more difficulty getting up in the mornings.” After a physician expressed alarm over their low blood pressure during a weekend visit, the activists modified their diet by replacing pure water with mineral water, and scheduled blood tests to monitor their condition.
Nutritionist Dr. Kateřina Cajthamlová speculated Monday that lack of protein could be causing symptoms such as fatigue and muscle aches. But she wasn’t surprised the demonstrators weren’t suffering more dramatic effects.
“Because they are in a motivated state of mind, I don’t expect them to feel clear symptoms,” she said. “But it’s not OK. A violent action like this can be very damaging and trigger processes that cannot be altered.” She cited concerns of tissue loss, a drop in white blood cell production and even eventual changes to the genetic code.
Still Tamáš is undeterred.
“We are feeling worse, but that doesn’t mean that we’re changing our determination to continue,” he said. “Not at all. We are going to continue.”

Kimberly Hiss can be reached at news@praguepost.com


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