The 1981 hunger strikes were a consequence of several years of conflict in Northern Ireland, pitting Irish republican prisoners against the London government… Prisoners belonging to the IRA would have gone on hunger strike in the 80s, in order to have their status as political prisoners recognized by the United Kingdom… These strikes had a terrible effect on international political opinion, and became a real tug-of-war between the strikers and Margaret Thatcher…
Maze prison – Brendan Rankin – CC
The second half of the 20th century was a troubled time in Northern Ireland… The latter is torn apart by a conflict pitting British Protestants against Irish Catholics… These tensions soon led to an escalation of violence between Protestants and Catholic Republicans… As early as 1960, paramilitary factions like the IRA decided to take on the Protestants…
Faced with this explosive situation, the London government ordered the Long Kesh prison project in 1971. This prison is a former disused Royal Air Force base, designed to imprison without trial all Northern Irish Catholics suspected of pro-Republican activism… The latter are then incarcerated in “H-blocks” and impose extremely strict military discipline on themselves to fight against the London government inside the prison…
In addition to their deplorable conditions of detention, the prisoners are denied political prisoner status… However, this refusal outrages the inmates, who intend to assert their rights… Billy McKee organized his first hunger strike in July 1972, when over 40 IRA prisoners stopped eating… Faced with this strike, the London government decided to grant them political prisoner status: they were exempt from wearing prison uniforms, and could refrain from working in the prison… Unfortunately for the strikers, this status was abolished in 1976…
Faced with the abolition of political prisoner status, prisoner Kieran Nugent began the Blanket Protest on September 14, 1976, a form of protest that involved refusing to wear a prison uniform… The latter decides to live naked or wrapped up in a blanket, even though the prison is very cold and damp…
This initial protest escalated when prisoners were attacked by prison guards in 1978 as they left their cells to empty their chamber pots… So the prisoners decided to switch to Dirty Protest, another form of protest involving a hygiene strike… The prisoners refused to wash and smeared the walls of their cells with their own excrement, demanding respect for their political status as well as :
Despite the Dirty Protest, the prisoners’ demands were to no avail. The prisoners decided to organize a new hunger strike on October 27, 1980… Only seven prisoners are selected for the fast, from the IRA and INLA: Brendan Hughes, Tommy McKearney, Raymond McCartney, Tom McFeeley, Sean McKenna, Leo Green and John Nixon.
After more than a month of fasting, 3 female prisoners from Armagh Prison join the movement, along with a dozen other prisoners from Long Kesh. Negotiations begin between the prisoners and the London government… The health of some of the strikers deteriorates rapidly, and McKenna is regularly in and out of a coma… Faced with public pressure, the government finally published a 30-page document, announcing its acceptance of the prisoners’ demands… After 53 days of fasting, the strike came to an end, saving McKenna’s life at the time…
In January 1981, the British government had still not kept its promise, and had not rehabilitated the prisoners to the status of political prisoners…
A new hunger strike was scheduled for March 1, 1981, led by Bobby Sands. The rule is simple: every week, a new inmate must join the strike and see it through to the end… This marked the start of a real tug-of-war with Margaret Thatcher, then British Prime Minister. Demonstrations in the streets of Belfast during the second week of the strike, in support of the strikers…
During the strike, the death of a Republican MP from Fermanagh and South Tyrone awakens many ambitions, and Bobby Sands decides to stand for election, while maintaining his fast. Sands was finally nominated on April 9, 1981, giving added weight to his strike…
To protest against this election, and the demands of the strikers, Margaret Thatcher declared: “We are not prepared to consider the possibility of granting special status to certain groups serving time for committing a crime. A crime is a crime, it’s not political.“.
Bobby Sands’ condition soon deteriorated, and his suffering was reported in the media… Many celebrities come to visit the strikers to convince them to give up in order to stay alive… Bobby Sands and Margaret Thatcher stuck to their guns, until Sands died on May 5, 1981 after 66 days on strike.
His death sparked riots throughout Northern Ireland. Margaret Thatcher’s position was highly criticized, but she declared: “Mr. Sands was a convicted felon. He chose to take his own life. It’s a choice his organization hasn’t given many of its victims.“.
In the two weeks following Sands’ death, three other hunger strikers died: Francis Hughes, Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O’Hara. Despite these new deaths and growing international pressure, Thatcher refused to negotiate their status as political prisoners, stating at the end of May 1981 that“Faced with the failure of their discredited cause, the men of violence have chosen, in recent months, to play what may well be their last card“.
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