The Hunger Strike of 1981: Historical Discourse and Folk Narratives in Northern Ireland

Richard Alexander Allen, Indiana University Bloomington

Background

•Paper based on MA thesis completed in June at the University of Iceland.

•Based in Iceland, doing research on Northern Ireland.

•Led to Republican.ie, an Irish Republican website.•Research conducted between June 2013 and April 2014.

Republican.ie•Created in 2007 as a place for all kinds of Republicans to come and discuss their issues.

•Partially open.• Certain subforums can be viewed, but others need the person to be a user.

• Only users can post on the website.

•Doesn’t favour any particular Republican group or party.•Far more popular than other Republican websites in terms of number of posts and users.

•Higher on Google search results.•Visited by somewhere between 200 and 400 users a day.

Republican.ie’s DemographicsParty/Organisation 2009 2010 2013 2014

Provisional Sinn Féin/Sinn Féin

79 14 4 6

32 County Sovereignty Movement

85 28 8 0

Republican Sinn Féin 68 28 15 3Irish Republican Socialist Party

36 16 8 6

éirígí 35 17 6 0Republican Network for Unity

41 11 8 0

1916 Societies N/A N/A 4 5Socialist Democratic Labour Party

N/A N/A N/A 0

Independent 46 15 N/A N/AOther 12 5 23 6None N/A 4 N/A 0Do not wish to disclose N/A N/A N/A 2Total number of respondents

402 138 78 28

Threads about the Hunger Strike•2008: 1 thread, 346 replies.•2009: 18 threads, 3,088 replies (1 thread had 2,346 replies).

•2010: 5 threads, 58 replies.•2011-2012: 18 threads, 1,486 replies.•2013: 6 threads, 555 replies.•2014: 4 threads, 49 replies.•All numbers are correct as of 7th May, 2014.

Build-Up to the 1981 Strike•1976 the British government removes Special Category Status for prisoners convicted of Troubles-related crimes.

•Blanket protest starts; prisoners refuse to wear prison uniform.• Blanket protest later becomes the dirty protest, where prisoners refuse to clean out their cells and smear food and faeces on their walls.

•1980 the first hunger strike begins before Christmas, led by Brendan Hughes.• Quickly collapses as Hughes refuses to let anyone die.

1981 Northern Irish Hunger Strike

•Started by Bobby Sands, Officer Commanding of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) prisoners.

•23 men took part from both the IRA and the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).

•Men went on strike one at a time, so that the British would face an ever growing number of deaths.

•Lasted from March until October.•10 men died.

The Five Demands1.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.4.The Right to organize their own educational and

recreational facilities.5.The Right to one visit, one letter and one parcel

per week.

The Ten

• Bobby Sands, IRA. Died 5th May.• Francis Hughes, IRA. Died 12th

May.• Raymond McCreesh, IRA. Died 21st

May.• Patsy O’Hara, INLA. Died 21st

May.• Joe McDonnell, IRA. Died 8th

July.

• Martin Hurson, IRA. Died 13th July.

• Kevin Lynch, INLA. Died 1st August.

• Kieran Doherty, IRA. Died 2nd August.

• Thomas McElwee, IRA. Died 8th August.

• Michael Devine, 20th August.

Sinn Féin’s Version of Events•The ten died because of British intransigence.•After the death of O’Hara, British opened up secret talks with the IRA/Sinn Féin through a contact in Derry/Londonderry.

•Early July, British make an offer in the hopes of ending the strike and saving the other six men.

•Deal collapses because the British refuse to grant the guarantees that the IRA wanted.

•Communication breaks down after that and the strike takes its course.

O’Rawe’s Version•2005 Richard O’Rawe published Blanketmen.•States that the offer from the British basically conceded four of the Five Demands.

•Offer came 5th July, 1981.• The prisoners accepted and communicated this to the outside IRA leadership and Sinn Féin.

• 6th July, they are told their acceptance has been rejected.

•O’Rawe believes the six men were sacrificed to put Sinn Féin into power politically and to lead the Republican cause away from its true goal.

Cultural Heritage•The ten strikers have formed a core part of the cultural heritage for the Catholic/Nationalist/Republican community and the Republican movement.

•Those were but a handful of the murals dedicated to them.•Became folk heroes within one year of their deaths.•Imagined as warriors in Erin’s battle with Britannia.

• Erin’s honour-guard or vanguard.

•The narrative forms a key part of Sinn Féin’s history.• It is highly important to their dominance within the Catholic/Nationalist/Republican community.

Cultural-hegemonic Battle•O’Rawe’s book cuts at the heart of Sinn Féin’s narrative.

• Challenges their position within the community and the Republican movement.

•It is typically supported by those Republicans who disagree with Sinn Féin.• Irish Republican Socialist Party, Republican Sinn Féin and others.• They already believe that Sinn Féin have betrayed Irish Republicanism by working with Unionists and agreeing to the Good Friday Agreement (GFA).• They believe the GFA legitimises and accepts British control over Northern

Ireland.

•O’Rawe’s narrative serves as evidence that Sinn Féin were British agents from the start and have always been misleading Republicans.

The Debate•About more than history or facts.•Victor can claim dominance over the Republican movement and Catholic/Nationalist/Republican community.

•Principally fought between the IRSP and Sinn Féin.• The IRSP are the political wing of the INLA.

• Debate also has connotations of ownership over the strikers and who can claim the strike as their own.

• The other Republican groups do play a part too, just not as prominently.

Information Released•Between 2005 and 2009, there was not much information about the strike.•2009:

• Liam Clarke, a journalist, applied under the Freedom of Information Act for documents from 1981. A sample was released to him and he released those to the internet.

• Brendan Duddy, the Irish side of the secret communications, takes part in a public debate about the hunger strike.

•2010:• A second Freedom of Information Act release, but with very little which had not been released before.

•2011:• National University of Ireland, Galway, releases a sample of Duddy’s handwritten notes.• Under the “Thirty Year Rule”, the British Government releases most, if not all, their documents from 1981, including those dealing with the hunger strike.

•2012: • National University of Ireland, Galway, releases all of Duddy’s notes with a transcription.

Post 1,954•Highlights:

• “The statement has now been read and we await provo reactions (we would be willing to allow them a sight of the document just before it is given to the prisoners and released to the press).”

•Ignores:• “The statement contains, except on clothing, nothing of substance which has not been said publicly, and the point on clothing was made privately to the provos on 5 July. The purpose of the statement is simply to give precise clarification to formulae which already exist.”

Post 1,427•Highlights:

• “afternoon’s statement by the PIRA about the need for an official to go to the Maze to meet the hunger strikers.”

• “The official would set out to the hunger strikers what would be on offer if they abandoned their protest. He would do so along the lines discussed with the Prime Minister last week. He would say that the prisoners would be allowed to wear their own clothes, as was already the case in Armagh prison, provided these clothes were approved by prison authorities. (This would apply in all prisons in Northern Ireland.) He would set out the position on association; on parcels and letters; on remission; and on work.”

• “The statement would be spelling out what had been implicit in the Government’s public statement and explicit in earlier communications.”

Post 1,427•Ignores:

• “However following further discussions, in the course of which it was drawn to the Prime Minister’s attention that any approach of the kind outlined above to the hunger strikers would inevitably become public whether or not it succeeded, the Prime Minister reviewed the proposal on the telephone with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Mr Atkins confirmed that it would not be possible to keep the initiative quiet once it had communicated to the hunger strikers. The Prime Minister said that she that thought the approach could be made on the same basis as before and that therefore nothing would be lost by trying. However it seemed that this was not the case. She was more concerned to do the right thing by Northern Ireland, than to try to satisfy international critics. Mr Atkins observed that, from a purely Northern Ireland point of view, he would rather do nothing.”

• “The Prime Minister asked whether it would not be sufficient for the official to repeat the Secretary of State’s previous statement. Mr Atkins said he did not think this would do the trick.”

• “After further discussion, the Prime Minister decided that the dangers in taking an initiative would be so great in Northern Ireland that she was not prepared to risk them. The official who went in to the prison could repeat the Government’s public position but could go no further. The Secretary of State agreed”

Formatting

•Changes the meaning of a text, but still provides the entirety.• Creates the impression of objectivity and truthfulness.

•Formatting draws the eyes away from the undesirable section of the text.

•This technique works even better on longer texts.

Choice of Evidence

•Oral narratives.•Friends of friends.•Blog posts.•Newspaper articles.•Government documents.•Perceived meaning over reliability.

Example•2009, Brendan Duddy provides testimony in a public debate. • Given a document which he confirms as O’Rawe’s offer, but asks that the public verify because he is not so sure.

•Handwritten notes confirm that he was wrong.•Which piece of evidence a user prefers is based on whichever narrative they support.• Memory is preferable for some than handwritten notes from the time.

•Thus perceived meaning and applicability to the chosen narrative are most important.

Folk history versus “History”•Throughout the debate, the users are creating meaningful historical narratives using the evidence.

•These narratives speak to their worldview and personal identity more than they speak to “Historical” facts.

•Yet, for the users, they are creating “Historical” narratives which are “factual”.

•Differences between “History” and folk history are growing ever smaller.• Much like Glassie talks about in Passing the Time in Ballymenone.

The Internet•Not cyberlore, but the internet was integral to the debate.

•More people had access to forums to debate the issue.•Facilitated access to material.•Without the internet, this debate would have primarily been the domain of scholars.

•The internet helps to remove the methodological differences between “History” and folk history.

•Increasing penetration of internet leads to increasing means of folklore transmission.

And Northern Ireland?

•Remembrance, ownership of the past are highly contentious issues in Northern Ireland.

•Republican movement increasingly divided and this is but one symptom of it.

•How can two communities unite when even one community cannot?

Thanks!

•Thesis is available online:• On the University of Iceland’s online repository, Skemman.is: http://skemman.is/item/view/1946/18577;jsessionid=9816A8B1EAF9F761D3C8AD8EA273164E

• On my Academia.edu page: http://www.academia.edu/7230303/The_Hunger_Strike_of_1981_Historical_Discourse_and_Folk_Narratives_about_Northern_Ireland_on_the_Internet