Content area
Full text
Context
ON MAY 5,1981, TWO YEARS AND TWO DAYS INTO THE FIRST THATCHER government, Bobby Sands, Member of Parliament for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, died in the prison hospital of the H Blocks, Long Kesh Prison, in the North of Ireland. His was the first of 10 deaths, a consequence of the hunger strike protest for Irish Republican prisoners to be granted political status (see Campbell et al., 2006). As prisoners of war, Irish Republicans refused to accept the label "criminal." But the British government had removed special category status for those sentenced for crimes related to the conflict after March 1, 1976. All convicted prisoners were then incarcerated in the 800-cell H Blocks. Following the imprisonment of Kieran Nugent in the Blocks in September 1976, and his refusal to wear prison-issue clothes, the blanket protest began. Covered only by a single blanket, prisoners were held in solitary confinement and exercise and basic "privileges" were withdrawn. The blanket and no-wash protest was followed in 1978 by the Dirty Protest. Prisoners daubed their cells with excreta. In 1980, Republican women prisoners at Armagh jail also joined the Dirty Protest.
On October 27, 1980, seemingly no closer to achieving political status, seven men began a hunger strike. Expecting some form of resolution with the British government, the strike was abandoned on December 18. But the expected concessions were afalse dawn and on March 1,198 !,Bobby Sands refused food (O'Hearn, 2006). It was exactly five years to the day since the abolition of special category status. The prisoner's five demands encompassed five political rights: not to wear prison-issue uniforms; free association with Republican political prisoners; not to participate in prison work; access to, and self-organization of, education and recreation; and one weekly visit, letter, and parcel. The Thatcher government was unmoved. Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes, Raymond McCreesh, Patsy O'Hara, Joe McDonnell, Kieran Doherty, Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch,Thomas McElwee, and Michael Devine all died. Protests erupted around the world. Eventually, with more men replacing those who died, the Thatcher government made concessions and the Hunger Strike ended on October 3, 1981 (see McKeown, 2001). Twenty-five years on, survivors of the Hunger Strike reflect on the struggle, the implications, and the consequences of their and their comrades' actions.1
Introduction
Matt...