Bobby Sands

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Robert Gerard Sands (Irish: Roibeárd Gearóid Ó Seachnasaigh,^[1] commonly known as Bobby Sands; 9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981) was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and member of the United Kingdom Parliament who died on hunger strike while in HM Prison Maze.

He was the leader of the 1981 hunger strike in which Irish republican prisoners protested against the removal of Special Category Status. During his strike he was elected as a member of the United Kingdom Parliament as an Anti H-Block/Armagh Political Prisoner candidate.^[2][3] His death resulted in a new surge of IRA recruitment and activity. International media coverage brought attention to the hunger strikers, and the Republican movement in general, attracting both praise and criticism.^[4]

Life

Early years and family

Sands was born into a Catholic family^[5][6] in Abbots Cross, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and lived there until 1960^[7] whereupon the family were forced to move to Rathcoole, Newtownabbey.^[7] His first sister, Marcella, was born in April 1955 and second sister, Bernadette, in November 1958. His parents, John and Rosaleen, had another son, John, in 1962. On leaving school, he became an apprentice coach-builder until he was forced out at gunpoint by loyalists.^[8]

In June 1972, at the age of 18, Bobby moved with his family to the Twinbrook housing estate in west Belfast, being obliged to leave Rathcoole due to loyalist intimidation.^[9]

He married Geraldine Noade. His son, Gerard, was born 8 May 1973. She soon left to live in England with their son.^[10]

Sands' sister Bernadette Sands McKevitt is also a prominent Irish Republican. Along with her husband Michael McKevitt she helped to form the 32 County Sovereignty Movement and is accused of involvement with the Real Irish Republican Army.^[11] Sands McKevitt is opposed to the Belfast Agreement, stating that "Bobby did not die for cross-border bodies with executive powers. He did not die for nationalists to be equal British citizens within the Northern Ireland state."^[12]

IRA activity

In 1972, Sands joined the IRA.^[13] He was arrested and charged in October of that year with possession of four handguns which were found in the house in which he was staying—for which he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment.^[14]

On his release from prison in 1976, he returned to his family home in West Belfast, and resumed his active role in the IRA's campaign. He was charged with involvement in the October 1976 bombing of the Balmoral Furniture Company in Dunmurry, although he was never convicted, with the presiding judge stating that there was no evidence to support the assertion that he had taken part.^[15] After the bombing, Sands and at least five others in the bomb team were alleged to have been involved in a gun battle with the Royal Ulster Constabulary, although he was not convicted due to lack of evidence. Leaving behind two of their wounded friends, Seamus Martin and Gabriel Corbett, Sands, Joe McDonnell, Seamus Finucane and Sean Lavery tried to make their escape in a car, but were apprehended. Later, one of the revolvers used in the attack was found in the car in which Sands had been travelling.^[16] His trial in September 1977 saw him being convicted of possession of firearms (the revolver from which the prosecution alleged bullets had been fired at the RUC after the bombing) and Sands was sentenced to fourteen years imprisonment within HM Prison Maze, also known as Long Kesh.^[17]

Long Kesh

In prison, Sands became a writer both of journalism and poetry—being published in the Irish republican newspaper An Phoblacht. In late 1980 Sands was chosen as Officer Commanding of the IRA prisoners in Long Kesh, succeeding Brendan Hughes who was participating in the first hunger strike.

Republican prisoners had organised a series of protests seeking to regain their previous Special Category Status and not be subject to ordinary prison regulations. This began with the "blanket protest" in 1976, in which the prisoners refused to wear prison uniform and wore blankets instead. In 1978, after a number of attacks on prisoners leaving their cells to "slop out" (i.e. empty their chamber pots), this escalated into the dirty protest, wherein prisoners refused to wash and smeared the walls of their cells with excrement.^[18]

Published works

While in prison Sands had several letters and articles published in the Republican paper An Phoblact (en: Republican News) under the pseudonym "Marcella". Other writings attributed to him are: Skylark Sing Your Lonely Song ^[19] and One Day in My Life.^[20] Sands also wrote the lyrics of "Back Home in Derry" and "McIlhatton", which were both later recorded by Christy Moore; and he wrote "Sad Song For Susan" which was later recorded.

Election

Shortly after the beginning of the strike, Frank Maguire, the Independent Republican MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, died suddenly of a heart attack, precipitating the April 1981 by-election.

The sudden vacancy in a seat with a Roman Catholic majority of about five thousand was a valuable opportunity for Sands' supporters to unite the nationalist community behind their campaign.^[10] Pressure to not split the vote led other nationalist parties, notably the Social Democratic and Labour Party, to withdrawal, and Sands was nominated on the label "Anti H-Block / Armagh Political Prisoner". After a highly polarised campaign, Sands narrowly won the seat on 9 April 1981, with 30,493 votes to 29,046 for the Ulster Unionist Party candidate Harry West—and also becoming the youngest MP at the time.^[21]

Following Sands' success, the British Government introduced the Representation of the People Act 1981 which prevents prisoners serving jail terms of more than one year in either the UK or the Republic of Ireland from being nominated as candidates in UK elections.^[22][23] This law was introduced so as to prevent the other hunger strikers from being elected to the British parliament.^[24]

Hunger strike

The 1981 Irish hunger strike started with Sands refusing food on 1 March 1981. Sands decided that other prisoners should join the strike at staggered intervals in order to maximise publicity with prisoners steadily deteriorating successively over several months.

The hunger strike centred around five demands:

1. 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, and to organise educational and recreational pursuits;
4. the right to one visit, one letter and one parcel per week;
5. full restoration of remission lost through the protest.^[25]

The significance of the hunger strike was the prisoners' aim of being declared as political prisoners (or prisoners of war) and not to be classed as criminals. The Washington Post however, reported that the primary aim of the hunger strike was to generate international publicity.^[26]

Death

Bobby Sands' grave in Milltown Cemetery

Sands died in the prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27. The original pathologist's report recorded Sands' and the other hunger strikers' causes of death as "self-imposed starvation", later amended to simply "starvation" after protests from the dead strikers' families.^[27] The coroner recorded verdicts of "starvation, self-imposed".^[27]

The announcement of his death prompted several days of riots in nationalist areas of Northern Ireland. A milkman and his son, Eric and Desmond Guiney, died as a result of injuries sustained when their milk float crashed after being stoned by rioters in a predominantly nationalist area of north Belfast.^[28][29] Over 100,000 people lined the route of Sands' funeral and he was buried in the 'New Republican Plot' alongside 76 others. Their grave is maintained and cared for by the National Graves Association, Belfast.^[30] Sands was a Member of the Westminster Parliament for 25 days, though he never took his seat or the oath.

In response to a question in the House of Commons on 5 May 1981, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said, "Mr. Sands was a convicted criminal. He chose to take his own life. It was a choice that his organisation did not allow to many of its victims".^[31] The official announcement of Sands' death in the House of Commons omitted the customary expression of sense of loss and sympathy with the family of the member.^[32]

He was survived by his parents, siblings, and a young son (Gerard) from his marriage to Geraldine Noade.

Reaction to death

Europe

In Europe, there was widespread protests after Sands' death. Five thousand Milanese students burned the Union Flag and shouted 'freedom for Ulster' during a march.^[4] The British Consulate at Ghent was raided.^[4] Thousands marched in Paris behind huge portraits of Sands, to chants of 'the IRA will conquer'.^[4] In Oslo, demonstrators threw a balloon filled with tomato sauce at Elizabeth II, the Queen of the United Kingdom.^[4] In the Soviet Union, Pravda described it as 'another tragic page in the grim chronicle of oppression, discrimination, terror and violence' in Ireland.^[4] Many French towns and cities have streets named after Sands, including in Nantes, St Etienne, Le Mans, Vierzon, and Saint-Denis.^[33] In the Republic of Ireland, his death led to riots and bus burning. IRA members allegedly unsuccessfully attempted to coerce shopkeepers into closing for a national day of mourning.^[34] The West German newspaper Die Welt took a negative view of Sands.^[4]

The Americas

The US media expressed a range of opinions on Sands' death. The Boston Globe commented that "[t]he slow suicide attempt of Bobby Sands has cast his land and his cause into another downward spiral of death and despair. There are no heroes in the saga of Bobby Sands."^[35] The Chicago Tribune wrote that "Mahatma Gandhi used the hunger strike to move his countrymen to abstain from fratricide. Bobby Sands' deliberate slow suicide is intended to precipitate civil war. The former deserved veneration and influence. The latter would be viewed, in a reasonable world, not as a charismatic martyr but as a fanatical suicide, whose regrettable death provides no sufficient occasion for killing others."^[36]

The New York Times wrote that "Britain's prime minister Thatcher is right in refusing to yield political status to Bobby Sands, the Irish Republican Army hunger striker," but that by appearing "unfeeling and unresponsive" the British Government was giving Sands "the crown of martyrdom."^[37] The San Francisco Chronicle argued that political belief should not exempt activists from criminal law: "Terrorism goes far beyond the expression of political belief. And dealing with it does not allow for compromise as many countries of Western Europe and United States have learned. The bombing of bars, hotels, restaurants, robbing of banks, abductions and killings of prominent figures are all criminal acts and must be dealt with by criminal law."^[38]

Some American critics and journalists suggested that American press coverage was a "melodrama"^[39] which had "given nearly exclusive coverage to pro-I.R.A. spokesmen."^[40] One journalist in particular criticised the large pro-IRA Irish-American contingent which "swallow IRA propaganda as if it were taffy," and concluded that IRA "terrorist propaganda triumphs."^[41]

Archbishop John R. Roach, president of the US Catholic bishops, called Sands' death "a useless sacrifice".^[42] The Ledger of May 5, 1981 under the headline “To some he was a hero, to others a terrorist” claims that the hunger strike made Sands "a hero among Irish Republicans or Nationalists seeking the reunion of Protestant-dominated and British-ruled Northern Ireland with the predominantly Catholic Irish Republic to the south."^[43]

The Ledger cited Sands as telling his friends: “If I die, God will understand," and one of his last messages to them being, “Tell everyone I’ll see them somewhere, sometime.” ^[43]

Some political, religious, union and fund-raising institutions chose to honour Sands. The International Longshoremen's Association in New York announced a twenty-four-hour boycott of British ships.^[34][44] Over 1,000 people gathered in New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral to hear Cardinal Terence Cooke offer a Mass of reconciliation for Ireland. Irish bars in the city were closed for two hours in mourning.^[4] In Hartford, Connecticut a memorial was dedicated to Bobby Sands and the other hunger strikers in 1997, the only one of its kind in the United States. Set up by the Irish Northern Aid Committee and local Irish-Americans, it stands in a traffic circle known as "Bobby Sands Circle," at the bottom of Maple Avenue near Goodwin Park.^[45]

The New Jersey General Assembly, the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature, voted 34-29 for a resolution honouring his "courage and commitment."^[4]

In 2001, a memorial to Sands and the other hunger strikers was unveiled in Havana, Cuba.^[46]

Asia

• In Tehran, Iran, President Bani-Sadr sent a message of condolence to the Sands family.^[47] The government renamed Winston Churchill Boulevard, the location of the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Tehran, to Bobby Sands Street, prompting the embassy to move its entrance door to Ferdowsi Avenue to avoid using Bobby Sands Street on its letterhead.^[48] A street in the Elahieh district is also named after Sands.^[49] An official blue and white street sign was affixed to the rear wall of the British embassy compound saying (in Persian) "Bobby Sands Street" with three words of explanation "militant Irish guerrilla".^[47][50] The official Pars news agency called Bobby Sands' death "heroic".^[47] There have recently been claims that the British foreign secretary has pressured Iranian authorities to change the name of Bobby Sands Street but this is denied.^[51][52][53]
• The Hindustan Times said Margaret Thatcher had allowed a fellow Member of Parliament to die of starvation, an incident which had never before occurred "in a civilised country."^[4]
• In the Indian Parliament, opposition members in the upper house Rajya Sabha stood for a minute's silence in tribute. The ruling Congress Party refused to join in.^[4]
• The Hong Kong Standard said it was 'sad that successive British governments have failed to end the last of Europe's religious wars.'^[4]
• A large monument dedicated to Irish protagonists for independence from Britain, including Bobby Sands, stands in the Waverley Cemetery in Sydney, Australia.

United Kingdom

At Old Firm football matches in Glasgow, Scotland, some Rangers fans have been known to sing songs mocking Bobby Sands to taunt fans of Celtic. Rangers fans are predominantly sympathetic to the Unionist and Loyalist community; Celtic fans are traditionally more likely to support the Nationalist and Republican community.^[54] These taunts have since been adopted by the travelling support of other UK clubs, particularly those with strong British ties, as a form of anti-IRA sentiment.^[55] The 1981 British Home Championship football tournament was cancelled following the refusal of teams from England and Wales to travel to Northern Ireland in the aftermath of his death due to security concerns.

Cardinal Basil Hume, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, condemned Sands, describing the hunger strike as a form of violence. However he noted that this was his personal view. The Roman Catholic Church's official stance was that ministrations should be provided to the hunger strikers who, believing that their sacrifice to be for a higher good, were acting in good conscience.^[43]

Political impact

Nine other IRA and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) members who were involved in the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike also died after Sands. On the day of Sands' funeral, Unionist leader Ian Paisley held a memorial service outside of Belfast city hall to commemorate the victims of the IRA.^[34] In the Irish general elections held the same year, two anti H-block candidates won seats on an abstentionist basis.

The media coverage that surrounded the death of Sands resulted in a new surge of IRA activity and an immediate escalation in the Troubles, with the group obtaining many more members and increasing its fund-raising capability. Both nationalists and unionists began to harden their attitudes and move towards political extremes.^[56] Sands' Westminster seat was taken by his election agent, Owen Carron standing as 'Anti H-Block Proxy Political Prisoner' with an increased majority.^[57]

Music and film

Éire Nua flute band inspired by Bobby Sands, commemorate the Easter Rising on the 91st anniversary.

The Grateful Dead played the Nassau Coliseum the following night after Sands died and guitarist Bob Weir dedicated the song "He's Gone" to Sands.^[58] The concert was later released as Dick's Picks Volume 13, part of the Grateful Dead's programme of live concert releases.

Songs written in response to the hunger strikes and Sands' death include songs by Black 47, Nicky Wire, The Undertones,^[59] Bik McFarlane and Eric Bogle. Christy Moore's song, "The People's Own MP", has been described as an example of a rebel song of the "hero-martyr" genre in which Sands' "intellectual, artistic and moral qualities" are eulogised.^[60] American rock band Rage Against the Machine have listed Sands as an inspiration in the sleeve notes of their self titled debut album.^[61][62] and as a "political hero" in media interviews ^[63]

• Bobby Sands was played by John Lynch in the 1996 film Some Mother's Son. It was directed by Terry George and written by George and Jim Sheridan.^[64]
• Bobby Sands was played by Mark O'Halloran in the 2001 film H3.^[65]
• A movie called Il Silenzio dell'Allodola (2005, aka The Silence of the Skylark) by Italian film director and scriptwriter David Ballerini features Ivan Franek as Bobby Sands. It won awards and was premiered in Ireland at the Cork Film Festival, screened at Rotterdam Int. Film Festival and several other festivals.^[66]
• A film called Hunger, by artist Steve McQueen, about the last six weeks of Bobby Sands' life in the context of the 1981 Irish hunger strike, premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.^[67] It starred Michael Fassbender and won for McQueen the prestigious Caméra d'Or award for first-time filmmakers.^[68] It was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK for the first time on 15 December 2009.^[69]

See also

• Hunger (2008 film)
• List of United Kingdom MPs with the shortest service
• Terence MacSwiney - Lord Mayor of Cork in 1920 who died in Brixton Prison after a hunger strike lasting 74 days.

External links

• Bobby Sands Trust - Official website of poetry and writings by Bobby Sands MP
• Biography from Irish Republican website
• Bobby Sands diary entries & biographies of the ten hunger strikers
• Timewatch: Hunger Strike - a Hidden History (Otmoor Productions/BBC 1993.)
• The Diary of Bobby Sands secret diary written during the first seventeen days of his hungerstrike, before being moved to the prison hospital.

References