In the
spring of 1981, I was a senior in high school. The restaurant I was working at
was about to close down, but with graduation near I was relieved that my last
few months of school were going to have one less to obligation.
On 1 March
1981, I heard on the news that Bobby Sands, an Irish Republican Army (IRA)
volunteer from Belfast, had begun a hunger strike. He was going to be the first
of many republican (IRA) and republican socialist (Irish National Liberation
Army, INLA) prisoners in the H-Blocks at Long Kesh in Northern Ireland. They
were going to strike until their demands were met, or die.
Background
From 14 August 1969 through 10 April 1998, the Six Counties of Northern Ireland were ripped apart by a civil conflict known as The Troubles.
On one
side were the republican and republican socialist paramilitary groups and on
the other side the British Army, Royal Ulster Constabulary, Special Branch, and
loyalist (anti-republican) paramilitary groups (Ulster Volunteer Force and
Ulster Defense Association).
After the
Irish War for Independence, from 21 January 1919-11 July 1921, and the
Anglo-Irish Treaty of 6 December 1921, the island of Ireland was split into two
political entities. In the south there was the Irish Free State (now the
Republic of Ireland), and in the northeast there was the semi-autonomous
province of the United Kingdom named Northern Ireland.
Republicans,
in the Irish context, were those waging an armed conflict to reunite the south
with what they called Northeast Ulster or the Six Counties. Republican
socialists also emphasized social justice, economic democracy, and equal
rights. For simplicity’s sake, after this I’ll use republican to include both.
Prior to 1
March 1976, both republicans and loyalists were interned under Special Category
Status in the Cages, groups of Quonset huts surrounded by chain-link fence topped
with razor wire, at Long Kesh. Within each of the cages, prisoners wore their
own clothes, were allowed liberal visitation with family and friends, held
classes, had large libraries, and had their own officers to govern both their
separate huts and over the entire cage. They even carried out military drills.
Early in
1981, the British secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Merlyn Rees, decreed
that those arrested for paramilitary-related activities, republicans and
loyalists, would after that date be treated as an ordinary criminals.
They would
have to wear prison clothes, follow a prison-mandated regimen, and served their
time in the newly built H-Blocks. The eight H-Blocks at Long Kesh were each
four wings of twenty-five cells, steel and concrete with a central control
facility, and were run like a maximum security prison.
They were
to be treated as ODC’s (ordinary decent criminals) under the new policy of
“criminalization”.
“Ordinary
criminals” convicted in special courts set up to try them under special rules
designed to rob them of their rights and ensure not a fair trial but their
imprisonment. They had one judge and no jury, sometimes no attorney, and could
be convicted on mere hearsay of one person and shoddy evidence.
Resistance
The first
republican to be sent to Long Kesh under the new rules, Kieran Nugent, refused
to wear a prison uniform, saying those were for criminals and he was a
political prisoner. The guards beat him, threw him into his cell naked, and
gave him a blanket to wear the next day.
Thus the blanket protest began.
Soon some
forty republican and republican socialist prisoners were “on the blanket”. Even
some loyalists in the H-Blocks joined the blanket protest for themselves. In
time more than 300 republicans and over 50 loyalists were on the blanket.
Men on the
blanket at Long Kesh, and women on the blanket in Armagh Prison, were refused
exercise, reading and writing materials, and access to news. They were kept in
their cells twenty-four hours a day, cells meant for one person which now most
often housed two. In addition, they were frequently treated to beatings,
maltreatment, harassment, and other abuse by the “screws”, the prison guards,
in the corridors from their cells to the toilets and showers or when taken to
the offices between the wings.
To keep
their minds active and their spirits up, they learned Irish shouted through the
doors, sang, held political discussions, and told stories, either from their
own lives or from well known authors. Bobby Sands was famous for reciting all
of Leon Uris’ novel Trinity.
In March
1978, men on the blanket in the H-Blocks, and some of the women at Armagh,
began to refuse to go to the showers or the toilets to escape the abuse to
which they were subjected on their way to and from those places. They were
given chambers pots to urinate and defecate in and bowls to wash up with. They
demanded showers in their cells so they could clean themselves adequately and
without fear of being attacked. The screws stopped giving them water for their
bowls.
Thus began
the no wash protest.
A couple
of months later, the screws began refusing to let prisoners on the blanket
“slop out”, or empty their chamber pots. The blanket men (and women) smashed
the glass in the windows of their cells and threw their urine and excrement out
of the windows. The screws boarded those up.
With no
other recourse, other than to surrender and accept the designation of them by
the state as criminals, they got rid of their bodily waste the only way they
could. They poured their piss out on the floor of their cells and smeared their
shit on the prison walls.
Thus began
the dirty protest.
Periodically
the guards would enter the cells and clean the prisoners and the cells—with
fire hoses and disinfectant. In between those loving sessions of tenderness and
care, they lived with piss, shit, maggots, and flies, with only a single
blanket to clothe themselves with and a thin mattress on which to lie or sit.
In the
midst of the indignity in which they lived, these prisoners clung to the
dignity of their right to be recognized as the political prisoners they were
and treated accordingly.
After
nearly three years of going to great lengths to resist and enduring tremendous
deprivation, forty-five republican prisoners declared a hunger strike on 27
October 1980. Three women at Armagh joined them on 1 December, with dozens more
men in the H-Blocks soon on 15 December.
They had
five demands:
(1) the
right not to wear a prison uniform;
(2) the
right not to do prison work;
(3) the
right of free association with other prisoners, and to organize educational and
recreational pursuits;
(4) the
right to one visit, one letter, and one parcel per week;
(5) full
restoration of remission of sentence lost through the protest.
Six prisoners from the loyalist group Ulster Defence Association (UDA) began a hunger strike on 12 December calling for their segregation from republicans and return of political status, but called it off five days later on 17 December after appeals from the (Anglican) Church of Ireland.
As one prisoner, Sean McKenna, neared death, the British government told the republican prisoners they were prepared to grant their demands on a phased basis. The prisoners voted to end their hunger strike on 18 December, after 53 days.
And the British government reneged on its deal.
The
Hunger Strike of 1981
The prisoners made the decision to conduct another hunger strike. Only this time instead of a mass protest, one prisoner would be going on hunger strike at a time, followed by another a couple of weeks later, staggering out the number and enabling them to carry out a prolonged campaign.
On this round, only those who had not been involved in notorious incidents were allowed, they had to be in good health, and they had to discuss their decision with their families or loved ones.
As I mentioned before, Bobby Sands of the IRA began his hunger strike on 1 March 1981, the anniversary of the beginning of criminalization.
Francie Hughes of the IRA followed him on 15 March.
Patsy
O’Hara of the INLA and Raymond McCreesh of the IRA joined them on 22 March.
On 9
April, Bobby Sands, IRA prisoner on hunger strike, was elected to the House of
Commons for the seat of Fermanagh-South Tyrone. I remember being overwhelmed
with relief, thinking, “Now she’ll have to give in, at least part way,” she
being Maggie Thatcher, then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
But Maggie
the Hen did not have the shred of humanity I assumed she had, and Bobby Sands
MP died at the age of 26 on 5 May after 66 days on hunger strike.
The
government of the Islamic Republic of Iran renamed Winston Churchill Boulevard, where
the British Embassy still sits, as Bobby Sands Street.
I heard
the news on the car radio while driving on the interstate. I had to pull over,
and couldn’t stop crying for ten minutes. I had to circle my car and smoke a
cigarette before I could concentrate on driving again.
Each time
the rest of the summer, no matter where I was, I had to stop and take a few
minutes whenever I heard the news about one of them.
Joe
McDonnell of the IRA joined his comrades on 8 May.
Francie
Hughes died at the age of 25 on 12 May after 59 days on hunger strike.
Brendan
McLaughlin joined his comrades on 14 May.
Patsy
O’Hara died at the age of 23 and Raymond McCreesh at the age of 24 on 21 May
after 61
days on hunger strike.
Kieran
Doherty of the IRA joined McDonnell on 22 May.
Kevin
Lynch of the INLA joined his comrades on 23 May.
Brendan
McLaughlin was taken off hunger strike after 12 days when he suffered a
perforated ulcer and internal bleeding on 26 May.
Martin
Hurson of the IRA joined his comrades on 28 May .
Tom
McElwee of the IRA joined his comrades on 8 June.
On 11
June, hunger striker Kieran Doherty of the IRA and blanketman Paddy Agnew of
the IRA were elected TD's in the Republic of Ireland.
Paddy
Quinn of the IRA joined his comrades on 15 June.
Mickey
Devine of the INLA joined his comrades on 22 June.
Laurence
McKweon of the IRA joined his comrades on 29 June.
On 5 July,
through intermediary Brendan Duddy (codenamed “Mountain Climber”), Thatcher’s
government offered the prisoners the right to wear their own clothes and made
other concessions, and the prisoner leadership of the PIRA (Bik McFarlane, OC,
and Richard O’Rawe, PRO) agreed to accept. After word passed outside to
Gerry Adams and his “Kitchen Cabinet” (Martin McGuinness, Danny Morrision, Tom
Hatley, and Jim Gibney), they vetoed the prisoners' acceptance and ordered them
to continue. They gave the excuse that it more was needed, but the real
reason was that Adams and the rest want to keep up political support for the
upcoming August by-election for Westminister to fill the seat vacated at the
death of Bobby Sands. Adams and the Kitchen Cabinet kept the contents
from the leadership of the IRSP, who would have ordered their members off the strike,
as well as from the candidate, Owen Carron.
Joe
McDonnell died at the age of 30 on 8 July after 61 days on hunger strike.
Pat
McGeown of the IRA joined his comrades on 9 July.
Martin
Hurson died at the age of 29 on 13 July after 46 days on hunger strike. He had
lost the ability to hold down water and died from dehydration.
Matt
Devlin of the IRA joined his comrades on 14 July.
In the
second half of July, Fr. Denis Faul, realized Maggie Thatcher had a head like
the Rock of Gibraltar and was a bit lacking in the soul department, and would
never express a gesture of humanity. A
strong supporter of the prisoners in the H-Blocks and a frequent visitor to
that hellhole, he began trying to convince the families of those on hunger
strike to take their sons off once they lost consciousness.
Paddy
Quinn lapsed into a coma on 31 July after 47 days, and his parents took him off
hunger strike.
Kevin
Lynch died at the age of 25 on 1 August after 71 days on hunger strike.
Kieran
Doherty died at the age of 25 on 2 August after 73 days on hunger strike.
Liam
McCloskey of the INLA joined his comrades on 3 August.
Tom
McElwee died at the age of 23 on 8 August after 62 days on hunger strike.
Patrick
Sheehan of the IRA joined his comrades on 10 August.
Jackie
McMullen of the IRA joined his comrades on 17 August..
On 20
August, Owen Carron of Sinn Fein was elected as the Anti-H-block/Proxy
Political Prisoner candidate to the Westminister seat of Fermanagh-South Tyrone
vacated by Bobby Sands upon his death.
Pat
McGweon lapsed into a coma on 20 August after 42 days, and his family took him
off hunger strike.
Mickey
Devine died at the age of 27 on 22 August after 60 days on hunger strike.
Bernard
Fox of the IRA joined his comrades on 24 August.
Hugh
Carville of the IRA joined his comrades on 31 August.
Matt
Devlin lapsed into a coma on 4 September after 52 days, and his family took him
off hunger strike.
Laurence
McKweon lapsed into a coma on 6 September after 70 days, and his family took
him off hunger strike.
John
Pickering of the IRA joined his comrades on 7 September.
Gerard
Hodgkins of the IRA joined his comrades on 14 September.
James
Devine of the IRA joined his comrades on 21 September.
Bernard
Fox was taken off hunger strike on 24 September after 32 days when his
condition suddenly deteriorated rapidly.
Liam
McCloskey took himself off hunger strike on 26 September after 55 days when his
family made it clear they would intervene if he fell into a coma.
Patrick
Sheehan (55 days), Jackie McMullan (48 days), Hugh Carville (34 days), John
Pickering (27 days), Gerard Hodgkins (20 days), and James Devine (13 days)
ended the hunger strike on 3 October after realizing their families, as well as
those of potential strikers who have not yet joined, had listened to Fr. Faul.
For years
afterward, Fr. Faul was known to republicans and republican socialists,
especially among then current prisoners and ex-prisoners, as “Dennis the
Menace”.
After the
hunger strike ended, the British government, quietly and in stages, fulfilled
all five of the prisoners’ demands, though not in writing. The concessions are exactly the same as those
offered on 5 July.
In other
words, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch, Kieran Doherty, Tom
McElwee, and Mickey Devine died because Adams and his Kitchen Cabinet
(McGuinness, Morrison, Hatley, and Gibney) were more interested in ephemeral
political gain than in the health, welfare, and lives of republican prisoners.
Hunger
strike in Irish culture
The idea
of hunger strike in Irish culture is sacred. Its roots as a form of protest
against transgression or for compensation of a grievance go back 2500 years. The
practice was even codified into the system of ancient Irish law that later
known as the Brehon Laws.
The Brehon
Laws survived in parts of Ireland until 1625, mostly in the west (Connaught)
and the north (Ulster). In the Highlands and the Isles of Scotland, the Brieve
Laws (as they were called there) survived until 1746.
The only
other culture known to have codified laws governing hunger striking is that of
ancient India, where its roots go as far back as those in Ireland.
Hunger
striking has been a form of republican protest since the early 20th (late 12th)
century, and several republicans have died. The Irish, especially republicans
and even loyalists, consider faking a hunger strike or bluffing about one an
extremely grave transgression.
When Sean
MacStiofain, chief of staff of the Provisional IRA and one of its founders, was
arrested in Dublin and brought before the Special Criminal Court in November 1972,
he defiantly told the judge that within six days he would be dead. Placed in
jail, he immediately began a hunger and thirst strike. Under pleas from the
Catholic Church, he ended his thirst strike, accepting juice and soup but no
solid food.
MacStiofain
remained on what he was calling a hunger strike for 57 days, when he was
ordered off by the army council for bringing the IRA into disrepute by cheating
on his fake hunger strike. After his release from jail, he found he had lost
all credibility and status over the matter. He never again held a position of
any rank with the republican movement.
Similarly,
a former commander from the loyalist UDA imprisoned in the H-Blocks declared a
hunger strike and was found to actually be gaining weight. He likewise lost all
prestige and credibility with his organization.
During the
Irish War for Independence, Thomas Ashe (1917), Terence McSwinney (1920), Joe
Murphy (1920), Michael Fitzgerald (1920), and Conor McElvaney (1920) died on
hunger strike.
According
to the Guinness Book of World Records, the longest hunger on record without
force-feeding lasted 94 days. It was carried out in 1920 at Cork Prison by John
Crowley, Peter Crowley, Thomas Donovan, Michael Burke, Michael O'Reilly,
Christopher Upton, John Power, Joseph Kenny, and Seán Hennessy.
The men
were striking in support of Terence McSwinney, the lord mayor of Cork, who had
been striking in Brixton Prison in England for repatriation. After he died,
Arthur Griffith, acting Priomh Aire (Prime Minister) for the nationalist
government, ordered the men in Cork Prison to cease their strike on 12 November.
After the
Irish Civil War, Denny Barry and Andrew O’Sullivan died on a mass hunger strike
by over 8000 IRA prisoners across the Irish Free State in 1923 in
protest against their continued imprisonment. After their deaths, the strikers
ended their protest.
During The
Emergency, Ireland’s name for World War II, Tony D’Arcy (1940), Sean McNeela
(1940), and Sean McCaughery (1946) died on hunger strike.
Sean
McCaughey was the first blanket man. Imprisoned in Ireland for membership in
the IRA in 1941 , he refused to wear a prison uniform and lived in a blanket
for five years. In April 1946, he went on hunger strike, and after 16 days
refused water. He died on 11 May at the age of 30 after 23 days of hunger then
thirst strike.
Prior to
the big one in 1981, two IRA volunteers died on hunger strike during The
Troubles.
From 14
November 1974 through 7 June 1975, Marion Price and Dolores Price, along with
Gerry Kelly, Hugh Feeney, Michael Gaughan, Frank Stagg, and Paul Holme refused
food for 205 days and were force-fed 170 times. They were being held in English prisons and
were striking to be repatriated to Ireland.
After one
of these force-feedings, Michael Gaughan died on 2 June at the age of 24. They
ended their strike when the British promised repatriation; the British reneged
on their deal.
Two years
later, Frank Stagg began another hunger strike demanding an end to his solitary
confinement, no prison work, and repatriation to Ireland. He died on 12
February 1976 at the age of 33 after 62 days.
