THE death of IRA Volunteer Martin Hurson on 13 July 1981, after 46 days on the Hunger Strike, was unexpected. The suddenness of his death, coming only five days after that of Joe McDonnell, came as a shock since two other Hunger Strikers – Kieran Doherty and Kevin Lynch – had been almost a week on hunger strike ahead of Martin. Free article

JOE McDONNELL was the fifth Hunger Striker to die due to the intransigence of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her government. Free article

Writing in his latest blog, Declan Kearney national self-determination is the only way forward for Palestine. Free article

Martina Anderson gave the funeral oration for Volunteer Ella O’Dwyer who died last week. Anderson described her friend and comrade as ‘a soldier, a revolutionary, a loving, dedicated Irish Republican’, whose life was ‘a testament to the struggle for Irish reunification’. Free article

In 2007, for a Christmas edition An Phoblacht sat down with Ella O’Dwyer and Martina Anderson to capture their prison Christmas experiences. It is a great insight into the comradery among prisoners at the time, and crucially into the wit and humour of Ella, who will be greatly missed by all who knew her. Free article

Writer, journalist, political activist, IRA volunteer and former prisoner Ella O’Dwyer who died suddenly this week is remembered in a personal tribute by her close friend and comrade Martina Anderson. Free article

IN JUNE 1974, Ireland was in turmoil as the Troubles were in their fifth year. In the Six Counties, internment without trial was in force and the British Army was on the rampage throughout nationalist areas. Free article

THURSDAY, 21 MAY 1981, witnessed the deaths of two more Hunger Strikers. Raymond McCreesh passed away at 2:30am. That evening, Patsy O’Hara died. The deaths of Raymond and Patsy – who had started the strike on the same day, died on the same day and were born within a fortnight of each other in February 1957 – marked a critical escalation in the prison struggle as well as the struggle outside the prisons walls. Free article

Film review: ‘May-17-74 Anatomy of a Massacre’. Directed by Joe Lee, produced by Fergus Dowd with Justice for the Forgotten. Free article

The death of Francis Hughes at the age of 25 on hunger strike in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh saw not the end of a legend but a new chapter in what was, by any measure, the story of one of the most fearless and tenacious guerrilla fighters of the 20th Century and of the Irish Republican Army. Free article