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18 March 2011

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National Hunger Strike Exhibition launched in Omagh by Danny Morrison

THE Strule Arts Centre in Omagh was packed to capacity on Monday evening for the Tyrone launch of the National Hunger Strike Exhibition.

The launch was chaired by the vice-chair of Omagh District Council, Ann Marie Fitzgerald, and addressed by former Assembly member for the constituency, Danny Morrison.

During her opening remarks, Councillor Fitzgerald said:

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike and many initiatives are planned to mark this historic event.

Our guest speaker for this evening, Danny Morrison, is no stranger to this part of Tyrone having served as Assembly member for the constituency from 1982 until 1986.

He is no stranger to the prison struggle and was deeply involved as a negotiator during the strike and then served a term of imprisonment himself in the 1990s.

During a very personal address, Danny Morrison said:

Meeting members of the Hurson family here tonight and many other friends and comrades from Tyrone has brought back both sad and happy memories. Sad, because I vividly remember the hurt and anguish of the families who were hoping and praying that their sons' lives would be saved; happy memories of the solidarity and friendship I experienced when based here in the early 1980s.

The spark which caused the strike was the British Government’s attempt to label republican prisoners of war as common criminals. Obviously, they considered imprisoned comrades to be the ‘soft underbelly’ of the IRA and any attempt to criminalise the prisoners would, in turn, lead to the criminalisation and defeat of the wider republican struggle for independence from Britain.

This was a hugely emotive time and I have poignant memories of visiting Bobby Sands in Long Kesh and Mairéad Farrell in Armagh Jail.  I remember Joe McDonnell, who was well advanced on the strike and had gone blind, yet was concerned about my welfare.

These were hugely honourable and noble people who displayed incredible courage and conviction to line up, one after another, to lay down their lives in defiance of the Thatcher Government’s attempt to label them and their community as criminals.

At one stage, Thatcher famously said that the hunger strike was the IRA’s last card.  How wrong she was and this was brought home to her within a few short years after the Hunger Strike when the IRA narrowly missed assassinating her at the Tory Party conference in Brighton in 1983.

In the end, it was republicans who broke Thatcher and not vice versa. This is perhaps best demonstrated when the remaining republican prisoners were released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

The courage and sacrifice of the Hunger Strikers has left a lasting legacy. It has inspired, re-energised and lifted the morale of a new generation of nationalists. We must use this confidence to strive towards total freedom and independence.

It is simply beyond words what the Hunger Strikers and their families came through but their sacrifice and selfless courage has enabled us to become a stronger, resolute and risen people.

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Contributions from key figures in the churches, academia and wider civic society as well as senior republican figures

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