28 June 2001 Edition

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Dublin debates the hunger strike

BY CRIOSTÓIR DE RÁLAIGH

``History will elevate them to a status that some sections of our people did not'' said Phoenix magazine editor Paddy Prendiville, chairperson of the Dublin 1981 Committee, as he opened a weekend seminar on the political legacy of the Hunger Strikers with these poignant word.

Throughout the course of the afternoon, upward of 250 people visited the various workshops and listened to public speakers representing a broad spectrum of Irish political life. Labour and Fianna Fáil representatives mingled and expressed views, at times quite varying, with trade union representatives, journalists and ex-POWs, both on the hunger strike itself and the present-day state of the peace process.

The afternoon was divided into four workshops, delving into the role played by the Trade Union movement, Youth culture, Women and the Media during the hunger strike.

The role of women proved most informative, with Mary McConville, an ex-POW herself at the time of the hunger strike, giving a moving account of conditions in Armagh gaol. On the outside, she spoke of how many women, both north and south, took it upon themselves to restart the campaign in support of the prisoners, and described this as a turning point where republican women began to become more confident within themselves.

Damien Kiberd of the Sunday Business Post led the media workshop. He cautioned against underestimating the residual hostility faced by republicans, announcing that, when faced with an `advancing republican agenda' the media became defensive. To reinforce his message, the audience was reminded of the fact that as Bobby Sands was being elected in Fermanagh/South Tyrone, RTÉ did not even have a camera crew present at the count.

A recurring theme addressed by all of the main speakers throughout the workshops was the lack of understanding of the north in the 26 Counties until the 1981 hunger strike, which forced the northern issue into the 26-County consciousness and politicised a broad cross section of young people, emphasised speaker Joe Duffy in the youth seminar.

After the workshops, a panel of three addressed the audience. Sinn Féin MP Pat Doherty, Fianna Fáil's Martin Mansergh and Labour TD Tommy Broughan. And this proved to be the most informative and controversial of the afternoons events.

Mansegh's address was fairly judicious, given his continuing role as government advisor on the Six Counties, focusing on the increasingly political role played by republicans and emphasising his belief that the hunger strike was the catalyst for this move. Predictably, he attempted to play the `Haughey card', claiming that the Taoiseach's office worked `very hard to defuse the hunger strike', citing Fianna Fáil's wafer thin parliamentary majority of the time and Thatcher's obduracy as excuses for their political cowardice. Mansergh asserted that an `open standoff ( between Haughey and Thatcher) would probably have wiped away whatever potential progress that was achieved in 1980'.

Tommy Broughan unfortunately used his opportunity on stage as a more of a party platform than anything else. He attempted to elevate Labour's role within the peace process and the attempted resolution of the H-Block crisis. Despite his own not inconsiderable personal contribution to the peace process, a number of comments at the seminar left the audience in wonder at his choice of analogies. His assertion that his former colleague Dick Spring had `resumed the mantle of James Connolly' in regard to his contribution to the peace process left listeners open mouthed.

Pat Doherty, speaking in public about the hunger strikes for the first time, expressed his belief that the sacrifice of the ten men had a massive impact on not only republican politics but also that of the British and Irish governments: ``The POWs were at the coalface of the struggle... it was they who collectively smashed the British policy of criminalisation.'' Doherty said the legacy of the years of prison protest led republicans to the realisation that there was more than one way to face a system of tyranny. The result of this had manifested itself with the recent election results, north and south.

Overall, the afternoon's events proved educational and entertaining, providing a unique opportunity to investigate the legacy of the 1981 hunger strike.

An Phoblacht
44 Parnell Sq.
Dublin 1
Ireland