Bobby Sands

Robert Gerard Sands (Irish: Roibeard Gearóid Ó Seachnasaigh), commonly known as Bobby Sands, (9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981), was a Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteer who died on hunger strike whilst in HM Prison Maze (also known as Long Kesh) for the possession of firearms.

He was the leader of the 1981 Hunger Strike, in which Irish Republican prisoners were seeking to regain status as political prisoners, and had been elected as a Member of the United Kingdom Parliament as an Anti H-Block/Armagh Political Prisoner candidate during his fast. His death resulted in a new surge of IRA recruitment and activity. The international media coverage sparked a significant wave of support and sympathy around the world for Sands, the other hunger strikers, and the republican movement in general, and it also attracted much criticism.

Family and early life

File:Bobby sands mural in belfast320.jpg

A mural depicting Bobby Sands, on the gable wall of the Sinn Féin headquarters on the Falls Road, Belfast.

Sands was born into a Catholic familyin Abbots Cross, Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and lived there until 1960 and then moved to Rathcoole, Newtownabbey. 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. Sands' family had moved due to intimidation by loyalists. On leaving school, he became an apprentice coach-builder until he was forced out at gunpoint by loyalists. In June 1972, at the age of 18, his family moved to the Twinbrook housing estate.

IRA activity

In 1972, the year of the Troubles with the highest death toll, he joined the IRA. In October of that year, Sands was arrested and charged with possession of four handguns which were found in the house in which he was staying. In April 1973 he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment.

On his release in 1976, he returned to his family in Twinbrook in west Belfast. Sands returned to active service in the PIRA. It was claimed that in October 1976 he was involved in the bombing of the Balmoral Furniture Company in Dunmurry, although he was never convicted of this bombing, and at the trial the judge said there was no evidence to support the assertion that he had taken part in it. After the bombing, Sands and at least five others in the bomb team were allegedly involved in a gun battle with the police, although he was also never convicted of this for lack of evidence. Abandoning two of their wounded friends, Seamus Martin and Gabriel Corbett, Sands with Joe McDonnell, Seamus Finucane and Sean Lavery tried to escape in a car, but were caught. One of the revolvers used in the operation was found in the car in which Sands was travelling.

His trial (in September 1977) saw him convicted of possession of firearms (the revolver from which bullets had been fired at the police after the bombing), and Sands was sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment.

Prisoner

He served his prison term at HM Prison Maze, also known by Irish republicans as Long Kesh. After internment a series of buildings known from their floor plans as 'H-Blocks' were built to make the prison suitable for the large number of inmates belonging to paramilitary organisations; each block contained members of the same organisation.

In prison, Sands became a writer both of journalism and poetry which was 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.

Political status protests

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 started with the "blanket protest" in 1976, when the prisoners refused to wear uniform and wore blankets instead. Attempts to break the protest by brutalisation of prisoners saw the escalation to the "dirty protest" of 1978 when repeated beatings during "slop-out" led to prisoners living in squalor by smearing excrement on the walls. There had been an earlier hunger strike in Autumn 1980, which had ended when the British Government appeared to concede the prisoners' demands. When that strike was over, the Government reverted to its previous stance.

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.

The significance of the hunger strike was to be declared as political prisoners not as criminals, POW's (prisoners of war). However, it was often regarded that the primary purpose of the exercise was to gain international publicity rather than political prisoner status.

Election

File:Sands election poster.jpg

A poster from the election campaign encouraging people to vote for Bobby Sands.

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

The sudden vacancy in a seat with a small Roman Catholic majority was a valuable opportunity for Sands' supporters to unite the nationalist community behind their campaign. Pressure not to split the vote led other nationalist parties, notably the Social Democratic and Labour Party, to withdraw 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, incidentally also becoming the youngest MP at the time.

Following Sands' success the Government introduced to Parliament the Representation of the People Act 1981 which prevents convicted prisoners serving jail terms of more than one year in either the UK or the Republic of Ireland, or unlawfully at large when they should be serving such a sentence, from being nominated as candidates in U.K. elections. This law was quickly introduced so as to prevent the other hunger strikers from being nominated to his vacant seat after his death.

Death

Three weeks later, Bobby Sands MP died from starvation in the prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27. The announcement of his death prompted several days of riots in nationalist areas of Northern Ireland. Over 100,000 people lined the route of his funeral. Sands was a Member of the Westminster Parliament for twenty-five days, though he never took his seat or oath.

In response to a question in the House of Commons on 5 May, 1981, 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".

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

Political impact

Nine other IRA and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) members who were involved in the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike also died after Bobby Sands. Many people regard Bobby Sands and the other nine men as martyrs who stood firm against the intransigence of the British Government, and many Irish nationalists who abhorred the IRA were outraged at the British government's stance. On the other hand, there was concern that there could be a backlash from the Unionist majority in Northern Ireland. 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.

The media coverage that surrounded the death of Bobby 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 fundraising capability. Both nationalists and unionists began to harden their attitudes and move towards political extremes. Sands' Westminster seat was taken by his election agent, Owen Carron standing as 'Anti H-Block Proxy Political Prisoner' with an increased majority.

Reactions

United Kingdom

• At Old Firm football matches in Glasgow, Scotland, some Rangers F.C. fans have been known to sing songs mocking Bobby Sands to taunt fans of Celtic F.C. Rangers fans are more likely to be sympathetic to the Unionist community and see Sands as a Republican terrorist; Celtic fans are more likely to support the Republican community and thus view him as a hero and martyr.
• 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.

Europe

• In Milan, 5,000 students burned the Union Flag and shouted "Freedom for Ulster" during a march.
• In Ghent, students invaded the British Consulate.
• In Paris, thousands marched behind huge portraits of Sands, to chants of 'The IRA will conquer'.
• In Oslo, demonstrators threw a balloon filled with tomato sauce at Elizabeth II, the Queen of the United Kingdom.
• In the Soviet Union, Pravda described it as 'another tragic page in the grim chronicle of oppression, discrimination, terror and violence' in Ireland.
• In France, many towns and cities have named streets for Sands. Examples include Nantes, St Etienne, Le Mans and St Denis.
• In the Republic of Ireland, IRA members unsuccessfully attempted to coerce shopkeepers into closing for a national day of mourning.
• Some publications such as the Soviet Pravda took a positive view of Sands, whilst others, such as the West German newspaper Die Welt, took a negative view.

USA and Cuba

• 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."
• The Longshoremen's Union in New York announced a twenty-four-hour boycott of British ships.
• The Boston Globe commented that "The 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."
• Over 1,000 people gathered in New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral to hear Cardinal Terence Cooke offer a Mass of reconciliation for Northern Ireland. Irish bars in the city were closed for two hours in mourning.
• 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."
• 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.
• 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."
• The New Jersey State legislature voted 34-29 for a resolution honouring his 'courage and commitment.'
• In 2001 a memorial to Sands and the other hunger strikers was unveiled in Havana, Cuba.
• The Grateful Dead played the Nassau Coliseum on the night Sands died and guitarist Bob Weir dedicated the song "He's Gone" to Sands. It was notable as the band made a conscious effort throughout their career to be apolitical. The concert was later released as Dick's Picks Volume 13, part of the Grateful Dead's programme of live concert releases.
• Some American critics and journalists suggested that some American press coverage was a "melodrama" which had "given nearly exclusive coverage to pro- I.R.A. spokesmen". One journalist in particular criticised the large pro-IRA Irish-American contingent which "swallow IRA propaganda as if it were taffy", and concluding that IRA "Terrorist propaganda triumphs".

Asia and Oceania

• In Tehran, Iran revolutionaries sympathising with Sands renamed the street on which the British embassy was located from Winston Churchill street to Bobby Sands street. There have recently been claims that the British foreign secretary has pressured Iranian authorities to change the name, but this is denied.
• 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".
• In India, opposition members of the Upper House stood for a minute's silence in tribute. The ruling Congress Party refused to join in.
• The Hong Kong Standard said it was 'sad that successive British governments have failed to end the last of Europe's religious wars.'

Family

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 the Real Irish Republican Army.

Music

Songs written in response to the hunger strikes and Sands death include (in alphabetical order):

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

• 10 Years On - Blaggers I.T.A.
• Bobby Sands - Christy Moore
• Bobby Sands - Soldat Louis (French group)
• Bobby Sands - Meic Stevens
• Bobby Sands MP - Black 47
• Bobby Untitled - Nicky Wire of the Manic Street Preachers on his solo album "I Killed The Zeitgeist"
• Death Before Revenge - Shebeen
• Inspiration - Easterhouse
• It's gonna happen - The Undertones
• Sands - 286
• Song For Marcella - Terry O'Neill & Bik McFarlane
• The Ballad of Joe McDonnell - The Wolfe Tones
• The Ghosts of Long Kesh - Crimson Spectre
• The H Block Song - Francie Brolly
• The People's Own MP - Christy Moore
• American rock band Rage Against the Machine have listed Sands as an inspiration in the sleeve notes of their self titled debut album and as a "political hero" in media interviews .
• The Roll of Honour - Gerry O'Glacain (The Irish Brigade)
• The Sign - Eric Bogle
• The Story of Thomas McElwee - The Crucifucks
• The Time Has Come - Christy Moore (although written specifically after the death of Patsy O'Hara)

Film

• Bobby Sands was played by John Lynch in the 1996 film Some Mother's Son.
• Bobby Sands was played by Mark O'Halloran in the 2001 film H3.
• The last weeks of the life of Bobby Sands are due to be made into a film production, known as Hunger, which will be broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK in 2008.

Published works

While in prison Sands had several letters and articles published in the Republican paper An Phoblact/Republican News under the pseudonym "Marcella".

Other writings attributed to him include:

• Skylark Sing Your Lonely Song, 1989, Mercier Press, ISBN 0-85342-726-7
• One Day in My Life, 2001, Mercier Press, ISBN 1-85635-349-4

Sands also wrote the words of the songs "Back Home in Derry" and "McIllhatton" which were both later recorded by Christy Moore. He also wrote "Sad Song For Susan" which was later recorded.

See also

• Terence MacSwiney - Lord Mayor of Cork in 1920 who died in Brixton Prison after a hunger strike lasting 74 days.

External links

• Biography from Irish Republican website
• Bobby Sands Trust: established to publish and promote Sands' poetry and writing
• Bobby Sands diary entries & biographies of the ten hunger strikers
• Bobby Sands' Photo, Memorial & Gravesite

http://martindardis.com/id384.html Song, Bobby Sands From Belfast, lyrics chords and video by The Irish Brigade