March 2nd, 1981
Belfast march backs protest
By Fionnuala O Connor
A MARCH by about 4,000 people along the Falls Road yesterday marked the beginning of the second H-Block hunger-strike. Demonstrations were also held in New York and London.
A statement read on behalf of the Republican prisoners in the Maze-Prison, Long Kesh demanded political status and said “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 demands for political status.”
The statement also pointed out that yesterday was the second anniversary of the British Government’s declaration of their intention to phase out political status.
Interviewed after condemning hunger-strikes yesterday, Bishop Daly of Derry said he did not want to see young people used. He went on: “And I don’t want to see myself used as I was by both sides last time.”
It is believed that Dr Daly and Cardinal O Fiaich recently met Northern Ireland Office representatives in an effort to avert the new strike.
The protest began yesterday morning with 26-year-old Provisional IRA prisoner, Bobby Sands, refusing breakfast. Sands, leader of the H-Blocks Provisionals from the start of the last hunger-strike, has now been replaced as “officer commanding” by another prisoner, as yet unnamed.
Sands is serving a 14-year sentence for firearms offences. He was first charged when he was 18 with possession of found handguns and sentenced in early 1973 to five years imprisonment which he served as a “special category” prisoner with political prisoner privileges in the Long Kesh Compound.
He was released in April, 1976, but rearrested six months later after a gunbattle with the RUC, who arrived on the scene of a bombing at a furniture store in South Belfast. Six in all were sentenced in September, 1977 to 14 years each for possession of a gun found in their car, after the judge said there was not enough evidence to convict them on the explosive charge.
Sands was moved from Crumlin Road jail to the H-blocks in late September, 1977, and immediately joined the blanket protest. Last October, he succeeded Brendan Hughes as officer commanding the Provisional prisoners when Hughes with six others, went on hunger-strike. Sands, who has spent almost eight years in all in jail, will be 27 next Monday.
From the Twinbrook area of Belfast, Sands was Provisional representative in repeated talks with the Maze Governor about possible arrangements to end the blanket and no-wash protests in the wake of the ending of last year’s hunger strike.
He is known to have been critical of the way in which the last hunger-strike ended and is believed to have considered that insufficient concessions had been won by the seven protesters. Provisional sources describe him as “very determined” and “a romantic”.
It is thought that the idea behind a solo hunger-striker beginning the protest is that his determination will carry him through the initial stages on his own, and will then be bolstered by a number of other prisoners joining the protest. But Sands’ determination apart, the Provisional leadership will also be hoping for large numbers on the streets to back up the prison fast.
A small picket was held yesterday outside Downing Street in London to urge the British Government to concede the five demands of the Maze prisoners.
A letter from the H-Blocks/Armagh committee was handed in, addressed to Mrs Thatcher, which said the Prime Minister must be “aware of the world-wide support there was for the implementation of prisoners’ five demands during the previous hunger-strike, and how your Government stood isolated in its treatment of the prisoners at Maze and Armagh jails.”
In New York, about 3,000 demonstrators paraded outside the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Saturday night, when Mrs Thatcher was given the US “Medal of Freedom”, by the head of the CIA, Mr William Casey. They were organised by Irish Northern Aid, and a spokesman said the demonstration was timed not merely to protest against the award to the British Prime Minister, but to inform Americans of the start of the new hunger strike.
Pressure
It is believed in Belfast that only considerable numbers in continuous street demonstrations are likely to bring sufficient pressure to bear on a British Government apparently deteremined not to budge on the question of political status.
Some observers feel that the Provisionals cannot hope to bring people out in anything like the same numbers as the early marches during the last strike, and it has even been suggested that only a hunger-strike death could produce an increased level of support.
Another factor to be considered is the degree to which support has been affected by resumed Provisional violence – a number of people who supported the last strike on humanitarian grounds may be less enthusiastic this time, since during the last strike, Provisional violence was considerably reduced.
The main factor, however, in creating the low-key atmosphere in which this strike has begun is the continuing confusion and disillusionment about the way in which the last one ended, with early Provisional claims of a “secret deal” and “secret assurances” fading quickly into reports of internal prison recrimination and even accusations of a sell-out.
It is understood that in Government circles, there is a widespread feeling that increased violence is likely as alternative method of pressuring the Secretary of State, Mr Atkins, who also faces the progress of Rev Ian Paisley’s “Carson Trail” rallies.
Bishop Daly intervenes as new Maze fast begins
By Patrick Nolan
THE BISHOP of Derry, said yesterday he did not believe a prison hunger-strike was morally justified “in present circumstances”.
His statement was made some hours after Bobby Sands, a leading, Provisional Republican prisoner in the Maze Prison, Long Kesh, went on hunger-strike in support of demands for political status. Demonstrations in Belfast, New York, London marked the start of the new prison fast.
A prison hunger strike was not morally justified in present circumstances said Dr Daly. Neither did he believe it was right to continue the ‘dirty protest’ in the Maze.
Cardinal O Fiaich and Dr Daly played a leading part last year in trying to settle the prolonged ‘dirty’ protest by Republican prisoners and later in trying to aver the hunger strike in which some of them engaged.
The bishop said he believed that prison conditions could and should be improved, and that all prisoners in Northern Ireland should be allowed to wear their own clothes at all times. Further, he believed that the inflexibility for which the British Government had been criticised by the European Court was still in evidence. More flexibility on both sides in late December and early January could have made a solution possible, he felt. Failure to reach a solution was not the fault of one side only.
“Having said that,” he continued, “I do not believe that it is morally justified to endanger health or life by hunger-strike in the present circumstances, nor do I believe that it is right to risk one’s mental and physical health by living in cells fouled by one’s own excrement. This, to my mind, degrades the dignity of the individual.”
Speaking at Thornhill College, Derry, Dr Daly said that protest activity in the prison, allied to activities going on outside- glorification and false justification of violence and of the most dreadfully degrading acts – was spawning and generating a frightening erosion of morality in society in Derry.
He warned 1,500 members of the Renewal, Action and Youth movement against involving themselves with violent groups. Some of them were being challenged to support groups which had a policy of guerrilla warfare, of bombing, murder, intimidation and cruelty of all kinds, he said.
They had grown up in a period dominated by violence and injustice. Some had experienced the humiliation of being searched by soldiers, of having their homes raided, of being questioned by the police and of being intimidated by paramilitaries of various kinds.
“You have heard the bigoted rantings of those who preach hatred and profess simultaneously to be followers of Jesus Christ,” he said.
It was wrong and sinful to be a member of a violent organisation, he stressed. The Pope’s appeal for the ending of violence had been rejected. The Cardinal and the Bishops had spoken against it, yet the violence continued.
Dr Daly advised members of the RAY movement, which is closely associated with the Pioneers’ Total Abstinence association, not to associate themselves with any group supporting a hunger-strike unless it publicly rejected violence.
March 3rd, 1981
‘Dirty Protest’ ended by 400 Republican prisoners
By David McKittrick, Northern Editor
MORE THAN 400 Republican prisoners in Northern jails yesterday unexpectedly announced the end of their so-called “dirty protest” – a move which, it seems certain, will increase the pressure on the Provisional hunger strikers, Bobby Sands, to cary his fast through to death if necessary.
The surprise development came yesterday morning with 411 Republican prisoners at the Maze Pirson, Long Kesh, and 28 women in Armagh jail suddenly calling off their 3 ½ year cell-smearing protest.
They made it clear, however, that they were going to remain “on the blanket” – that is, refusing to wear prison clothes and refusing to take part in prison work. Provisional Sinn Fein described the move as a tactical one, its spokesman, Mr Danny Morrison, saying it threw the onus on the prison authorities.
Mr Morrison said that it was intended to demonstrate that the issue involved was political status and not any disputes about prison furniture or access to toilets.
The Provisionals have clearly adopted different tactics from those employed during the unsuccessful hunger strike which was called off after 53 days at the end of last year. On that occasion some Republicans who had not been taking part in the “dirty protest” joined in bringing the number involved to more than 500.
One effect of yesterday’s move will be to concentrate attention on Bobby Sands, the 26-year-old Republican who began refusing food on Sunday. The psychological pressure on Mr Sands not to end his fast prematurely has obviously been heightened: he must now feel that not just the Provisionals outside the prison but also his colleagues inside are now entirely dependent on him to win concessions from the British Government.
Editorial: Another Level
The Provisionals shift ground by calling off the dirty protest. This, they say, is to concentrate interest on the newly-started hunger-strike.
It may be coincidence that this is announced on the morning after Dr Edward Daly, Bishop of Derry, issued a clear statement of the Church’s attitude to the current hunger-strike. Dr Daly did more. In simple and unrhetorical manner he told the congregation at a Mass for some 1,500 young people that they must not become involved with groups that have murder and destruction as a policy; that it is wrong and sinful to be a member of such a body; that the young people should have nothing to do with any campaign with which the violent groups were associated.
He did say that a major opportunity was missed when a chance to improve prison conditions was given recently; but the major burden of his homily was directed against the Provisionals and other paramilitaries.
Father Piaras O Duill, speaking at a National H-Block Committee meeting yesterday in Dublin said that he, too, was against the hunger-strike, personally that is, and that supporters of the committee need not support the thinking of the motives of the prisoners.
That is fair enough, and many who gave assent to the marches and meetings over the last hunger-strike, did so purely on humanitarian grounds and have been disappointed to see that the pre-Christmas settlement is no settlement at all. Mr Atkins is not the brightest thing Britain has sent us.
But how many will give the same backing to the renewed hunger-strike? Mr Gerry Adams, a member of the Committee and a Vice-President of Provisional Sinn Fein, accused Bishop Daly of never having stood up publicly for the five demands of the prisoners and prophesied that “as tension is raised, as people go back on to the streets in force, the Bishop Dalys of this world and everybody, including ourselves, will be completely irrelevant.”
Will it be so? For something new is in the air to take attention away from the Provisionals.
It would require a considerable scepticism or detachment to ignore the fact that the British/Irish question is now widely being looked at from an entirely different angle. Some of the talk of defence pacts and neutrality may be reading too much into the strategic importance of this island, too much into European or American interest in bases or communications centres; but the important thing is that, within these islands, the situation is being looked at as a question for the whole of the peoples who live here and not as something on which only Unionists have a determining say.
* * *
Bombs, bodies dumped into ditches, have been characteristics of the warfare to date. The initiative is now on another plane. Generals, it is said, always fight the last war. All those now fighting on the ground may have been relegated to being yesterday’s men.
H-Block group priest opposes hunger-strike
By Maev-Ann Wren
THE MORALITY of going on hunger-strike had nothing to do with the National H-Block Committee’s campaign for the resolution of the prison issue in Northern Ireland, the chairman of the committee, the Rev Piaras O’Duill, said in Dublin yesterday.
Father O’Duill told a press conference called to discuss the new hunger-strike in Long Kesh that he himself was personally against the strike. Explaining his attitude to the recent statement of the Bishop of Derry, Dr Edward Daly, that a hunger-strike was not morally justifiable to present circumstances, Father O’Duill said that the committee members were not judges of the morality of the hunger-strike.
“We are campaigning on the resolution of the hunger-strike and blanket protest. This is our work to demand that this protest be ended. As far as the rights and wrongs of the hunger-strike are concerned, every member of our committee is free to make judgement; it has nothing to do with our campaign on the resolution of the prison issue. Members of the committee may be against the hunger-strike, as indeed I am myself personally.”
Father O’Duill described as “very positive”, “comments from the bishop that prison conditions could and should be improved, that prisoners should be allowed to wear their own clothes at all times, and that he believed in the inflexibility of the British Government was still evident”.
In answer to Dr Daly’s advice to young people not to associate themselves with any group supporting a hunger-strike unless it publicly rejected violence, Father O’Duill said that it was the policy of the committee not to make statements on any aspects of the troubles in the north, including violence.
“We encourage our action committees not to take in violent people. We try to keep all our marches and protests peaceful. Supporters of the committee need not support the thinking or the motives of the prisoners”.
IRRELEVANT
Mr Gerry Adams, a member of the national committee and vice-president of Provisional Sinn Fein, said: “Bishop Daly has never stood up categorically and unequivocally and stated his support for the five demands of the prisoners. He has never publically come out in active support for the prisoners.”
“As the hunger-strike continues, as tension is raised, as people go back on to the streets in force, the Bishops Dalys of this world and everybody including ourselves, will be completely irrelevant”.
Bishop Daly’s statement was a distraction from the central issue, which was “that hundreds of men and women are being held in deplorable conditions in British prisons in Ireland. The last hunger-strike was the ultimate in passive resistance, the demonstrations in the 26 and six counties were passive.
“In the course of that campaign armed attacks were carried out on this same committee. It was the only national organisation to lose so many of its executive members in the last year”.
Mr Adams said that the prisoners expected a death to result from this hunger-strike. The committee’s campaign was intended to make a death unnecessary. Father O’Duill said that there was a general feeling that fewer people would be involved in this hunger-strike than the previous one.
Mr Vincent Doherty read a statement on behalf of the national committee which said that the silence of those who had called for the ending of the last hunger-strike, saying that it would facilitate the British to move without duress, had greatly aggravated the issue. Mr Doherty said that he had in mind “in particular people like John Hume, Cardinal O Fiaich and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
“A follow up call for movement by the British could have avoided another hunger-strike, but their silence was a bitter disappointment, especially for the prisoners who came so near to death”.
He was calling on these people “now publicly to call on the British”.
Mr Doherty said that the most significant part of Dr Daly’s statement was that the British Government had continued to be inflexible.
FIVE CONDITIONS
“If the life of Bobby Sands and the lives of those joining him later in the hunger-strike are to be saved the British Government must be forced to restore the conditions required to resolve the protest and which were available to the prisoners prior to March 1st, 1976”, according to the national committee’s statement.
The committee had reason to believe that the prison protest would immediately be ended “on the granting of the five reasonable conditions that would eliminate the trappings of the symbols of criminality”.
These conditions were: “The right not to wear prison uniform; the right not to do prison work; freedom of association amongst political prisoners; the right to organise recreational facilities, to one weekly visit, one letter in and out per week and to receive one parcel per week; restoration of full remission”.
