Life moves in circles in astonishing ways. This morning, a female colonel stood over me and said: your blood test shows a serious deterioration in your health and a significant risk. If you do not end your hunger strike, we are prepared to begin force-feeding you immediately. Then she went on describing all the "benefits" of force-feeding to me. A straitjacket and other such delights. And as I listened, I was transported back to kindergarten. I am 3 years old, and a similar woman is forcing me to eat the skin from boiled chicken. Through tears, I still say no. And that woman also promises to feed me by force, swaddle me, and tie my hands. But there is also a big difference. In kindergarten, I instinctively understood that they had no right to force me to eat disgusting boiled chicken skin. Now I simply point to the relevant clause of the law and say: excuse me. Please do not force-feed me. I can eat on my own. After all, this is my absolutely guaranteed right: to be examined by an independent civilian doctor. Why is it that this right has been revoked specifically in my case, and the only way to demand it is through a hunger strike? And the answer is simple, even if it has two parts: a) they are afraid it will come out that the ongoing loss of sensation in my limbs may be connected to poisoning. The old one. Or some new one — at this point, I would not be surprised b) the general rule in prison is that, for the system, a person is a slave. All the more so if he is a political prisoner. He is supposed to be denied everything, always. And if he protests, they would rather force-feed him than comply with lawful demands. So once again I understand: I am protesting not only for myself, but for hundreds of thousands of others just as deprived of rights. The only difference is that they do not even have Instagram to write about it there. That is all. My head is spinning badly, but I am still on my feet because I feel your support. Thank you! 😉