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30 years ago today....

  • 01-03-2011 03:35PM
    #1
    Wolfe Tone
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,670 ✭✭✭✭


    Statement On Behalf Of The Republican POWs In The H-blocks, Long Kesh

    We, the Republican POWs in the H-blocks of Long Kesh, and our comrades in Armagh Prison, are entitled to and hereby demand political status, and we reject today, as we have consistently rejected every day since September 14th 1976, when the Blanket protest began, the British government's attempted criminalisation of ourselves and our struggle.

    Five years ago today' the British government declared that anyone arrested and convicted after March 1 st 1976, was to be treated as a criminal and no longer as a political prisoner.

    Five years later, we are still able to declare that the criminalisation policy, which we have resisted and suffered, has failed.

    If a British government experienced such a long and persistent resistance to a domestic policy in England, then that policy would almost certainly be changed.

    But not so in Ireland, were its traditional racist attitude blinds its judgement to reason and persuasion.

    Only the loud voice of the Irish people and world opinion can bring them to there senses, and only a hunger strike, were lives are laid down as proof of our political convictions, can rally such opinion and present the British with the problem that, far from criminalising the cause of Ireland, their intransigence is actually bringing attention to that cause.

    We have asserted that we are political prisoners and everything about our country, our arrests, interrogations, trials and prison conditions show that we are politically motivated and not motivated by selfish reasons or for selfish ends.

    As a further demonstration of our selflessness and the justness of our cause, a number of our comrades, beginning today with Bobby Sands, will hunger strike to the death unless the British government abandons its criminalisation policy and meets our demand for political status.

    Bobby Sands, poet and soldier, serving 14 years for possession of a firearm, started his hunger strike 30 years ago today . Over the course of the next few weeks and months 9 other equally brave and dedicated men joined him, and subsequently died:


    Francis Hughes (15th March 1981), survived for 59 days

    Raymond McCreesh (22nd March 1981), survived for 61 days

    Patsy O'Hara (22nd March 1981), survived for 61 days

    Joe McDonnell (8th May 1981), survived for 61 days

    Kieran Doherty (22nd May), survived for 73 days

    Kevin Lynch (23rd May), survived for 71 days

    Martin Hurson (28th May), survived for 46 days

    Thomas McElwee (8th June), survived for 62 days

    Michael Devine (22nd June), survived for 60 days
    They have nothing in their whole imperial arsenal that can break the spirit of one Irishman who doesn't want to be broken. - vol Bobby Sands

    Bobby Sands was elected as an MP while on hunger strike, in a resounding endorsement for political status and what he stood for. Do any of our older posters remember the hunger strikes?


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Comments

  • #2
    Jimmy the Wheel
    Closed Accounts Posts: 220 ✭✭Jimmy the Wheel


    That made me hungry, reading that.


  • #3
    HarryPotter41
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,402 ✭✭✭HarryPotter41


    Jimmy the Wheel wrote: »
    That made me hungry, reading that.


    Was it cruel that I laughed at your message??


  • #4
    Sunnyisland
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,562 ✭✭✭✭Sunnyisland


    Remember that time very well and there was an awful cloud of doom hanging over the country a lot worse than the one today.


  • #5
    seamus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 68,190 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    He was convicted for possessing a firearm.

    So tell me again why he deserved not be treated like a common scumbag criminal?


  • #6
    Yakult
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 7,944 Mod ✭✭✭✭Yakult


    So, did they win?!! :eek:


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  • #7
    PeteEd
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 393 ✭✭PeteEd


    Do you want a sausage supper Bobby Sands


  • #8
    AnonoBoy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 22,559 ✭✭✭✭AnonoBoy


    Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play.


  • #9
    Lawrence1895
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,627 ✭✭✭Lawrence1895


    The memory of Bobby Sands and his comrades should never been forgotten.

    But on the other hand, their legacy should never be an excuse for revenge and retribution.


  • #10
    Pherekydes
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,247 ✭✭✭✭Pherekydes


    My parents told me I was named after a hunger striker.

    Terence MacSwiney

    Born 28 March 1879
    Died 25 October 1920 (aged 41)

    After 74 days on hunger strike. 74 ****ing days? Jesus, I can't go without rubbish for lent.


  • #11
    Persiancowboy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 355 ✭✭Persiancowboy


    That reminds me of some popular graffitti at the time:

    1. "We'll never forget you.........Michael Sands"
    2. "Bobby Sands couldn't give ****"


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  • #12
    gigino
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,350 ✭✭✭gigino


    seamus wrote: »
    He was convicted for possessing a firearm.

    So tell me again why he deserved not be treated like a common scumbag criminal?

    Ordinary scumbag criminals were better, they did not belong to terrorist organisations which went around bombing women and children + sniping people in the back while retired.


  • #13
    Seaneh
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,300 ✭✭✭✭Seaneh


    seamus wrote: »
    He was convicted for possessing a firearm.

    So tell me again why he deserved not be treated like a common scumbag criminal?

    Does the same apply to Nelson Mandella? Or other people in the world who fought back against oppression and denial of human rights when peaceful protests were met with violence?


  • #14
    Wolfe Tone
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,670 ✭✭✭✭Wolfe Tone


    Jimmy the Wheel wrote: »
    That made me hungry, reading that.
    I find it rather sad that you didnt even read what I wrote and fired that in here as quick as possible to get the first post and prime positioning for thanks whoring, well played son.


  • #15
    Notorious97
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,479 ✭✭✭Notorious97


    “I’ll wear no convicts uniform nor meekly serve my time that Britain might brand Irelands fight 800 years of crime.."- Bobby Sands RIP


  • #16
    Jimmy the Wheel
    Closed Accounts Posts: 220 ✭✭Jimmy the Wheel


    Wolfe Tone wrote: »
    I find it rather sad that you didnt even read what I wrote and fired that in here as quick as possible to get the first post and prime positioning for thanks whoring, well played son.

    That's AH for ya.


  • #17
    arybvtcw0eolkf
    Closed Accounts Posts: 24,608 ✭✭✭✭arybvtcw0eolkf


    Wolfe Tone wrote: »
    Do any of our older posters remember the hunger strikes?

    Yes, I remember them very well. Is there anything you'd like me to recount for the forum?.


  • #18
    Wolfe Tone
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,670 ✭✭✭✭Wolfe Tone


    Pherekydes wrote: »
    My parents told me I was named after a hunger striker.

    Terence MacSwiney

    Born 28 March 1879
    Died 25 October 1920 (aged 41)

    After 74 days on hunger strike. 74 ****ing days? Jesus, I can't go without rubbish for lent.
    He was the Mayor of Cork I believe.


  • #19
    Sunnyisland
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,562 ✭✭✭✭Sunnyisland


    Jimmy the Wheel wrote: »
    That's AH for ya.


    That's ignorance for ya


  • #20
    Fittle
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,775 ✭✭✭Fittle


    In fairness WT, AH is possibly the worst place you could have started this thread. I'd ask the mods to move it if I was you.

    I remember the hunger strikers well - and the previous poster was right when he said that there was a definite cloud of doom in during that period. That movie 'Some mother's son' had me in tears - no matter what they'd done, they were all some mothers sons.


  • #21
    Sunnyisland
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,562 ✭✭✭✭Sunnyisland


    Hunger strikes have deep roots in Irish society and in the Irish psyche. Fasting in order to bring attention to an injustice which one felt under his lord, and thus embarrass him into a solution, was a common feature of society in Early Irish society and this tactic was fully incorporated into the Brehon legal system. The tradition is ultimately most likely part of the still older Indo-European tradition of which the Irish were part.[8]
    The tactic was used by Irish republicans from 1917 and, subsequently, during the Anglo-Irish War, in the 1920s. Early use of hunger strikes by republicans had been countered by the British with force-feeding, which culminated in 1917 in the death of Thomas Ashe in Mountjoy Prison.
    In October 1920, the Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney, died on hunger strike in Brixton prison. Two other Cork IRA men, Joe Murphy and Michael Fitzgerald, also died on hunger strike in this protest along with Monaghan native, Conor McElvaney who lasted 79 days before death. The Guinness Book of Records lists the world record in hunger strike (without forced feeding) as 94 days, which was set from August 11 to November 12, 1920 by John and Peter Crowley, Thomas Donovan, Michael Burke, Michael O'Reilly, Christopher Upton, John Power, Joseph Kenny and Seán Hennessy at the prison of Cork. Arthur Griffith called off the strikes after the deaths of MacSwiney, Murphy and Fitzgerald.
    After the end of the Irish Civil War in October 1923, up to 8000 IRA prisoners went on hunger strike to protest their continued detention by the Irish Free State (a total of over 12,000 republicans had been interned by May 1923). Two men, Denny Barry and Andrew O'Sullivan, died on the strike. The strike, however, was called off before any more deaths occurred. The Free State subsequently released the women republican prisoners. Most of the male Republicans were not released until the following year.
    Under the de Valera Fianna Fáil government three hunger strikers died in the Republic of Ireland in the 1940s. They were Sean McCaughey, Tony d'Arcy and Sean (Jack) McNeela. Hundreds of others carried out shorter hunger strikes during the de Valera years with no sympathy from the Government.
    The tactic was revived by the Provisional IRA in the early 1970s, when several republicans such as Sean MacStiofain successfully used hunger strikes to get themselves released from custody without charge in the Republic of Ireland. Michael Gaughan died after being force-fed in a British prison in 1974. Frank Stagg, an IRA member being held in a British jail, died after a 62-day hunger strike in 1976 which he began as a campaign to be repatriated to Ireland.This all happened before the 1981 hunger strikes, From wikipedia.


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  • #22
    Wolfe Tone
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,670 ✭✭✭✭Wolfe Tone


    Yisroel Handsome Preschooler wrote: »
    Yes, I remember them very well. Is there anything you'd like me to recount for the forum?.
    I think your general memories, and the attitudes displayed by those around you towards them at the time would be cool. Anything that comes to mind really.


  • #23
    Wolfe Tone
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,670 ✭✭✭✭Wolfe Tone


    Fittle wrote: »
    In fairness WT, AH is possibly the worst place you could have started this thread. I'd ask the mods to move it if I was you.

    I remember the hunger strikers well - and the previous poster was right when he said that there was a definite cloud of doom in during that period. That movie 'Some mother's son' had me in tears - no matter what they'd done, they were all some mothers sons.
    I was well aware of the reaction it would get from some quarters, but it is the most widely read forum, much more people will read it here than elsewhere on the site.


  • #24
    Jimmy the Wheel
    Closed Accounts Posts: 220 ✭✭Jimmy the Wheel


    realies wrote: »
    That's ignorance for ya

    I reserve the right to joke if and when I want, especially in AH, and if that upsets the Holy Grail of republicanism hero-worship, so be it.


  • #25
    Buceph
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,059 ✭✭✭Buceph


    realies wrote: »
    The Guinness Book of Records lists the world record in hunger strike (without forced feeding) as 94 days, which was set from August 11 to November 12, 1920 by John and Peter Crowley, Thomas Donovan, Michael Burke, Michael O'Reilly, Christopher Upton, John Power, Joseph Kenny and Seán Hennessy at the prison of Cork.

    One of them is my Great-Granddad. We have the Guinness Book of Records that features him, press clippings from international newspapers (including the NY Times) and his pocket book that has messages from all the other prisoners, including poetry and well-wishes.

    My big claim to fame.


  • #26
    Wibbs
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,320 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    seamus wrote: »
    He was convicted for possessing a firearm.

    So tell me again why he deserved not be treated like a common scumbag criminal?
    Pretty much every single nation you can name was founded and defended by people convicted of possessing firearms. The difference between scumbag and hero is whether they won or not. Michael collins, DeValera and all the rest were common scumbag crims by that definition. Idiotic comparison TBH.
    Wolfe Tone wrote: »
    He was the Mayor of Cork I believe.
    He was. Interesting story his. Many English people supported and admired the man.
    Fittle wrote: »
    no matter what they'd done, they were all some mothers sons.
    Like all the folks blown up or shot or "disappeared" on all sides. People just tend to cry more about the mothers and sons on their side.

    Many worry about Artificial Intelligence. I worry far more about Organic Idiocy.



  • #27
    mickrock
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,021 ✭✭✭mickrock


    Fittle wrote: »
    That movie 'Some mother's son' had me in tears - no matter what they'd done, they were all some mothers sons.

    Yeah, Frank Spencer cracks me up as well!


  • #28
    seamus
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 68,190 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    Seaneh wrote: »
    Does the same apply to Nelson Mandella? Or other people in the world who fought back against oppression and denial of human rights when peaceful protests were met with violence?
    Well that depends. I asked a legitimate question - why did he deserve special treatment? He was convicted for a simple crime. Nothing contrived there, though the sentence seems very harsh. If they were convicted for being members of the IRA, you might have something.

    You see, I've taken to questioning Irish history rather than swallowing hook, line & sinker the anti-british republican propaganda that was (and probably still is) pushed as "history" in Irish schools.

    We were given the impression that these men were jailed for nothing and were innocent. Well...they weren't.


  • #29
    Wibbs
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,320 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    seamus wrote: »
    You see, I've taken to questioning Irish history rather than swallowing hook, line & sinker the anti-british republican propaganda that was (and probably still is) pushed as "history" in Irish schools.
    I'm with you 100% on that score.

    Many worry about Artificial Intelligence. I worry far more about Organic Idiocy.



  • #30
    Wolfe Tone
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,670 ✭✭✭✭Wolfe Tone


    You see, I've taken to questioning Irish history rather than swallowing hook, line & sinker the anti-british republican propaganda that was (and probably still is) pushed as "history" in Irish schools.

    No, its very balanced these days, I studied the north for my LC, was very airbrushed, focused heavily on SDLP, left out huge swathes of what happened.


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  • #31
    IITYWYBMAD
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,035 ✭✭✭IITYWYBMAD


    seamus wrote: »
    Well that depends. I asked a legitimate question - why did he deserve special treatment? He was convicted for a simple crime. Nothing contrived there, though the sentence seems very harsh. If they were convicted for being members of the IRA, you might have something.

    You see, I've taken to questioning Irish history rather than swallowing hook, line & sinker the anti-british republican propaganda that was (and probably still is) pushed as "history" in Irish schools.

    We were given the impression that these men were jailed for nothing and were innocent. Well...they weren't.

    I suppose when you grow up in an atmosphere where gerrymandering, internment and prejudice is your daily diet it's not surprising that you rebel against "the man". The comparison with Mandela is a very valid one, and only one of many.


This discussion has been closed.
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