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The word GULAG comes from a Russian acronym which referred to the Soviet-era system of forced labour camps that imprisoned so many innocents. The Gulag Meal was an educational activity originally conceived to raise awareness of current conditions in North Korean prison camps, but it can be adapted to a broad spectrum of human rights issues and is suitable for both religious and secular settings.
The essence of experiential education is to learn by doing, to engage the whole person in an activity. One paradox of teaching about human rights is that we never want anyone to be hungry, to be tortured, or to be demeaned, yet at the same time it is necessary to find ways to help the more fortunate connect with the experiences of those whose rights have been denied. Such an approach is not new. Consider the success of the Thirty Hour Famine, which helps young people to learn about the experience of hunger within a safe setting while at the same time raising funds for food aid.
The essential elements of a Gulag
Meal are texts for reflection and a shared meal. Additional experiential
activities may be added. Below is a description of a Gulag Meal which
was held in North Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, on August 4, 2005.
This Gulag Meal focussed on the prison camp system in North Korea today.
1. Introductory Remarks
Participants heard some basic facts about North Korea. This information is available from Democracy Network Against North Korean Gulag.
2. Sharing of Camp Rations
The food portion for each person
was 100 grams of rice with a little salt. This is an actual daily
ration in some North Korean prisons, as described by defector Soon Ok Lee
in her memoirs, Eyes of the Tailless Animals.
How long could you survive on this and also work at the same time?
3. General Discussion
Participants were given an opportunity to express their thoughts and ask questions. In retrospect, this would have worked better after the readings.
4. Reflective Readings
Texts for this Gulag Meal included passages from Kang Chol-Hwan's The Aquariums of Pyongyang, Soon Ok Lee's Eyes of the Tailless Animals, and Alexandr Solzhenitsyn's essay Live Not By Lies.
5. The Sweatbox
Participants had the option of briefly
getting into a model "sweatbox" which is a torture device used to punish
those deemed uncooperative in North Korean prisons. Of course, a
real sweatbox is an enclosed space, but the dimensions of the model shown
(24"x24"x42") are based on Soon Ok Lee's information and also square with
other defector accounts.
Can you imagine staying in a space
this small for a week? A month? If you managed to survive,
would you ever walk again?
Note: This activity
is NOT suitable for people who have poor circulation in their legs or other
physical disabilities. Most people will experience some discomfort
after remaining in this position for more than one minute.
5. Minute of Silence
One minute of silence was observed
to remember those who have died.
Incense was burned out of respect for the victims of the North Korean prison camps.
6. Concluding Discussion
Participants were given an opportunity to react to their experience in writing and were given printed information on ways to address human rights issues in North Korea. One participant, Bill Donovan of North Sydney, Nova Scotia, had this to say:
"It is incomprehensible
that anyone, any government, or any country could be so cruel. Human
life, human dignity, and human rights are meaningless in North Korea.
Such atrocities must be brought to an end by whichever peaceful means are
available."
The Gulag Meal described above is
simply an example. Consider how you could adapt it to a variety of
human rights education contexts. Feel free to change the texts, to
alter the activities, to make it your own. See if you can use drama,
music, or another art form. Read from the Bible or another sacred
text and adapt it for your prayer group. Incorporate some course
readings and make it part of a meeting on a university campus. The
message of the Gulag Meal is not contained in a strict formula, but in
the belief that even now, as you are reading this, somebody's life or freedom
depends on YOUR action and YOUR creativity.
The Gulag Meal was inspired by the work of Alexandr
Solzhenitsyn. This Nobel Prize winner, who did so much to alert
the world to human rights abuses in the Soviet Union, commemorates the
anniversary of his arrest each year by eating only his camp ration on that
day, a ration which in his case consisted of 650 g of bread and a little
surgary water (see Adam
Hochschild's The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin, p. 21).
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