Bobby Sands and the 1981 Hungerstrike (Documentary)
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- Опубліковано 26 лис 2013
- The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during "the Troubles" by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special Category Status for convicted paramilitary prisoners.
In 1978, after a number of attacks on prisoners leaving their cells to "slop out", the dispute escalated into the dirty protest, where prisoners refused to leave their cells to wash and covered the walls of their cells with excrement. In 1980, seven prisoners participated in the first hunger strike, which ended after 53 days.
The second hunger strike took place in 1981 and was a showdown between the prisoners and the Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. One hunger striker, Bobby Sands, was elected as a Member of Parliament during the strike, prompting media interest from around the world. The strike was called off after ten prisoners had starved themselves to death-including Sands, whose funeral was attended by 100,000 people. The strike radicalised Irish nationalist politics, and was the driving force that enabled Sinn Féin to become a mainstream political party.
BBC Documentary
RTE Documentary
I was brought up in a Protestant home , indeed it was an orange order home , I’ve never forgotten the sacrifices of those brave men , no matter where your aligencies lie , courage and strength were apparent , I left the orange order at 13 , much to the dissatisfaction of my family , I was very affected by the hunger strikes
Joke
‘A nation that has such citizens will never surrender’
Thank you for sharing this
there are protestants who believe in a united ireland and dislike the way irish people have been persecuted by the crown for hundreds of years,Wolfe tone was one of them.RIP Bobby sands mp tiocfaidh ar la.
I’m a mixed race man from London half black and white born and raised on a council estate , I stumbled across this story and it haunted me .. for a man to go through so much torture pain and death for his own people is truly remarkable… I’ll never be half the man he ever was , and I want to pay my homage to him … if I ever go to Ireland I’d like to visit his grave and pay my respects ✊🏾
UP THE FUCKIN RAAAAAAAAAAAHH🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪
It's interesting to listen to the unionist politicans criticise the Catholic community for supporting the hunger strikers when they themselves had no comment to make when it came to the Loyalist community treating serial killers like the Shankill butchers as heroes. Bit of a double standard there don't you think.
40 years ago today, Wed 5th May 2021.
“One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”
whenever the hunger strike is mentioned n even in most comments, it's Bobby sands, it's like people forget the others who died. RIP ALL ✌️💚
+Bobby Sands; +Francis Hughes; +Raymond McCreesh; +Patsy O´Hara; +Joe McDonnell; +Martin Hurson; +Kevin Lynch; +Kieran Doherty; +Thomas McElwee; +Michael Devine; RIP
Although totally opposed to the hunger strikers ideology, politics and cause as a man I respect and admire their resolve and courage to give the ultimate sacrifice massively. I'm not here to argue tit for tat about the Troubles and their outcome,start or warring factions. I'm just glad this generation doesn't have to face the trauma and utterly depressing life we had to endure. Peace is precious and priceless...
My daughter attends terrence macsweny community college. Terrence macsweny died after 74 day on hunger strike. The same day as terrace macsweny in Brixton prison died Joe Murphy died after 75 day on hunger strike in Cork goal.
James,I read Trinity in 1977 and have had my Irish Up ever since.Well said>
RIP and big respect for these men who fought for the reunification of their country
My Grandparents were Irish and never wanted to speak about "home" so watching things like this brings a tear to my eye and makes me imensly proud of my Irish heritage
It was actually a valid point the hunger strikers were making. They fought for their rights as POWs, under the Geneva Convention which put them under a whole separate "rule of law". The struggle against British rule in Ireland has always been a military struggle, it's prisoners are POW's, nationalist and loyalist alike. Suddenly Margaret Thatcher, under suggestion from an American - Ronald Reagan, decided to treat the prisoners as common criminals (Reagan's own bonehead idea), and deny them POW status yet still use the army to enforce the law and not the police. How the fuck does that work? If you use the army to enforce some arbitrary law instead of the police, then the people that resist the enforcement are NOT criminals, they are resistance fighters. Seems the label of terrorist and criminal is used only against the resistance fighters that are opposed to American and British empire building. You cannot use military troops as police, and then act like the people you are fighting against are common criminals, that's not how it works. The IRA prisoners were right to fight for their dignity against the status and label of criminal, I would. They are no more criminals than the Brit troops that were trying to enforce their will on them, American and British troops are bigger terrorists than any of them. WTF was "shock and awe" ?? Sounds like state-sponsored terrorism to me.
Never a true saying you’ll never beat the Irish !! god bless you Bobby the laughter of children will be our victory 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪
Whether or not you agree with the reason, the bravery and resolve these men showed simply amazes me . To believe in something so much that you are willing to not only die for it, but suffer slowly is really fascinating . I wonder if any of todays keyboard warriors with all their big talk would have the courage to back up their ideas this way? I highly doubt it.