20 May 2021 Edition
A library of the Hunger Strikes
20 May 2021
The struggle in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh and in Armagh Women’s Prison, culminating in the Hunger Strikes of 1980 and 1981, has produced a library that, 40 years on, continues to grow. This article takes a look at just some of those books and is not intended to be a comprehensive survey but is a personal perspective. Free article
The impact of the hunger strike in Britain
20 May 2021
The 1980 and 1981 hunger-strikes were international events with expressions of support for the republican prisoners carried out around the world. Joe Dwyer looks at how the support for the Hunger Strikers in Britain interacted with the London Marathon, the Brixton Riots, People’s March for Jobs, a Royal Wedding, a Deputy Leadership Contest, and a proposed Papal visit. Free article
Fleet Street and the hunger strikes
20 May 2021
Roy Greenslade looks back at the British media newspaper coverage of the 1981 hunger strike Free article
A watershed year in the freedom struggle
20 May 2021
On the 40th anniversary of the elections of Bobby Sands, Kieran Doherty, Paddy Agnew, and Owen Carron, Jim Gibney looks back at the emerging Sinn Féin electoral strategy. Free article
And still, they couldn’t break us
20 May 2021
I was released from Armagh Gaol on 5 August 1981, three days before the death on hunger strike of Thomas McElwee. I left behind some of the bravest and best friends and comrades I have met during my long involvement in republicanism. The years leading up to and after the hunger strikes of 1980 and 1981 will forever be a part of me and what shapes me to this day. Free article
The harvest Britain has sown
20 May 2021
Former 'An Phoblacht' journalist Chrissie McAuley remembers the 1981 hunger strike Free article
A united, independent Ireland is within touching distance
20 May 2021
It was early August 1981 in H Block 3, Long Kesh. I don’t remember the precise date. Nor do I remember how I came into possession of the small, cling film-wrapped comm in my hand, or who gave it to me, but I knew what the comm was about and with my heart in my mouth and shaky hands I unwrapped the tiny letter. It was the most important letter I would ever receive in my life. Free article
Time to build a new Ireland, one without walls
20 May 2021
Filmmaker Seán Murray considers the impact of a centenary of Partition from the shadow of Belfast’s ‘Peace Wall’ in Clonard Free article
The Road to Partition
20 May 2021
Tom Hartley outlines the keys steps in how Partition came to be a dreaded reality in 1921 Free article