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The Hunger Strikes – Fact and Fiction (part 1)
Growing up I only ever had, like most unionists I imagine, a very basic understanding of what the hunger strikes and blanket protests were for, ie the republican terrorists didn't like the thought of being treated like the other criminals in prison at the time. This always struck me as unusual, I mean when you're carrying a gun or shooting at someone, the reason why you're doing it (excluding self-defence) is seldom significant.
In broad terms, that's exactly what they were doing it for. Nevertheless, the details of events between 1976 and 1981 deserve at least a brief look.
Follow up:
Normalisation
Paramilitary prisoners had been, up until 1976, given Special Category status effectively affording them special treatment compared with other prisoners meaning they didn't have to wear prison uniforms or undertake prison work. Effectively, this status would guarantee violent criminals an easier time in prison than "ordinary" criminals, as long as long as they claimed membership of an illegal paramilitary gang.
In 1976, the government ended this special status as part of their "Normalisation" policy, which also saw terrorist cases being dealt with by the courts and the end of internment. Ending this special status would not be retrospective, but would apply to all those convicted from 1976 on. For the paramilitary leaders in prison, this move would make it more difficult to wield the power they were accustomed to exercising over 'their own'.
Malcontent Among The Maladjusted
"The Hunger Strikers" as commonly known were actually those who were taking part in a second hunger strike at the Maze Prison near Lisburn, but even before the first hunger strike there had been other protests. The first protest was the blanket protest, in which IRA and INLA prisoners refused to wear prison uniforms and instead either went naked or used their blankets as clothes. Then came a dirty protest, in which prisoners would refuse to wash, and would smear their excrement on the walls of their cells. These protests were aimed at securing 5 demands:
- The right not to wear a prison uniform
- The right not to do prison work
- The right of free association with other prisoners
- The right to organise their own educational and recreational facilities (read brainwashing other prisoners to further 'the cause')
- The right to regular visits, letters and parcels each week
While this was going on, the IRA shot and killed a number of prison officers and then in October 1980, 7 prisoners in the Maze began refusing food. This strike was called off in December before any prisoners died, under circumstances that are disputed. Many claim the British government offerd to allow the prisoners to wear their own clothes, but after a few weeks it became clear that what the government would actually offer was to allow the prisoners to wear civillian-style clothes supplied by the prison.
In March, the new IRA commander in the Maze, Bobby Sands, began a new hunfer strike by refusing food from 1st March. Over the next 6 months, Sands and 9 others would succeed in starving themselves to death to make their point.