Hunger Strike
Joy Martins
Please note that this story contains photographs that may be distressing.
Close to 500 undocumented people in Brussels have been occupying the Béguinage church, the ULB, and the VUB since the end of January 2021. The occupations were established as a call for their legal regularisation in Belgium. Being undocumented means not having legal rights, a status that has only further worsened as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
To put it in practical terms, undocumented migrants cannot legally work, rent a flat or house, open a bank account, or even get a SIM card.
Nonetheless, many undocumented people work, under the table, without stable salaries or protection, leaving them extremely vulnerable to abuse and low pay. In Belgium, undocumented migrants have only have access to urgent medical aid, but have no other social or legal protection as they legally do not exist on Belgian territory. Regularisation would mean having access to the job market, higher education, social services, and legal protection. While undocumented, people live in constant risk of being caught without documents, and in the worse case being sent to a closed centre for deportation.
A hunger striker holding a drawing of Sammy Mahdi, the Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration during a press conference at the Béguinage church.
A female hunger striker sleeping.
A male hunger striker who has sewn his mouth shut in protest.
On May 23, after months of demonstrations, mass arrests, solidarity assemblies, and other civil society actions, the occupants began a hunger strike that continued for 60 days. Some of the strikers also stopped drinking water. This resulted in mass hospitalisations, and further medical complications. From heart complications, to suicide attempts, this action demonstrated the precarity in which undocumented people live in Belgium, for sometimes as long as decades. Some hunger strikers even sew their mouths shut as a form of protest against the deafening silence on behalf of the government. The physical act of stopping to nourish oneself to make their political point shows that to continue living undocumented is worse. This has been encapsulated in the repeated phrase among the strikers: "dignity in life or death”.
Hunger strikers with their mouths taped over and hands bound during a press conference at Béguinage.
A hunger striker accompanying another striker to the ambulance. The occupations saw mass hospitalisations over the course of the hunger strikes.
Photographed are shots of the hunger strikers over the duration of the strike that has now been suspended. Nevertheless the occupation goes on, and the strikers are currently preparing their files to be reviewed by the relevant authorities.
A collapsed hunger striker lying on the ground in front of the church, waiting to be checked by ambulance workers.
A hunger striker’s vitals being checked by ambulance workers in the church after collapsing.
While the strike may be suspended, the fight is not over. The regularisation criteria still remains hazy, and the structural issue of racist migration policies persists. These men, women, and children are a part of Belgian society, contribute to the Belgian economy, and work for the Belgian public. To not regularise them is not only unjust for them, but nonsensical for the Belgian state.
Multiple members of the hunger strike security team carrying a collapsed striker to an ambulance.
A hunger striker resting at the church.
To maintain a system that enables the abuse of undocumented migrants, while profiting from their labour, is a conscious act of oppression. Oppression that touches thousands upon thousands currently living on Belgian territory.
An exhausted hunger striker resting in her bed.
A young hunger striker who had collapsed, waiting for the ambulance workers.
Hunger strikers kneeling down in prayer at the Béguinage church.