Today, May 5, 1992, marks 11 years since the death of Irish
Republican Army Volunteer Robert Sands. Bobby Sands died in the hospital
wing of Long Kesh (Maze) Prison after a 66 day hunger strike.
             Sands, who had won election to the British Parliament while in
prison,, had started his fast to dramatize the demands of IRA inmates to be
treated as political prisoners, not criminals. The IRA volunteers were joined in
the Hunger Strike by three volunteers from the Irish National Liberation Army-
the INLA. Sands and the other republican prisoners wanted to be allowed to
wear civilian clothes, associate freely with other prisoners, receive more mail
and visits, be excused from routine prison chores and be given full remission
(i.e. a 50% reduction in length of sentence.) In other words, the Strikers
demanded prisoner of war status in recognition of the nature of the conflict in
Northern Ireland.
             Sands was followed by Patsy O'Hara, Francis Hughes, Ray
McCreesh, Kiernan Doherty, Kevin Lynch, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson,
Thomas McElwee and Mick Devine, making in all ten prisoners who died during
the Hunger Strike. Other than McElwee, who was serving a life sentence, I
believe all of the Strikers would have been released by this time if they had
served out their sentences.
             The Hunger Strike did not bring about an immediate recognition of
the prisoners demands by the British Government, headed at that time by
Margaret Thatcher. However, the Hunger Strike served to focus world-wide
attention on the conflict in Ireland. In time, the prisoners received their
demands on an incremental basis, although official prisoner of war status,
which the Republican prisoners had received up to 1976, was not restored. 
             On September 15, 1981, Cuban President Fidel Castro gave the
opening speech at the 63rd conference of the Interparliamentary Union which
was held in Havana that year. The following are Castro's remarks on the
Hunger Strike. Rather than listen to the truth, the British delegation walked
out of the conference, joined by representatives of the U.S., China and the
Salvadorean governments:
             "In speaking of international politics, we cannot ignore what is
happening in Northern Ireland; I feel it is my duty to refer to this problem. In
my opinion, Irish patriots are writing one of the most heroic chapters in human
history. They have earned the respect and admiration of the world, and
likewise they deserve its support. Ten of them have already died in the most
moving gesture of sacrifice, selflessness and courage one could ever imagine.
Humanity should feel ashamed that this terrible crime is committed before its
very eyes. These young fighters do not ask for independence nor make
impossible demands to put an end to their strike; they ask only for something
as simple as the recognition of what they actually are: political prisoners. The
men for whom we ask solidarity in this conference are neither Marxist-Leninists
nor Communists; they are militant Catholics. How can such a cold and dramatic
holocaust be tolerated in the very heart of the West?
             We can never get used to crime, be it in Ireland, El Salvador,
Angola, Namibia, South Africa, Lebanon or elsewhere.
             The stubbornness, intrangience, cruelty and insensitivity of the
British Government before the international community concerning the problem
of the Irish patriots and their hunger strike reminded us of Torquemada and
the atrocities committed during the apogee of the Middle Ages.
             According to legend, in its early days, Rome was once besieged.
Two young Romans had been taken prisoner. When in an attempt at breaking
them, the besiegers threatened to burn them alive, they spontaneously put
their hands in the flame to show their contempt. It is said that their gestures
impressed the enemy so much that the siege of Rome was lifted.
             Let tyrants tremble before men who are capable of dying for their
ideals after 60 days of hunger strike! What were Christ's three days in
Calvary, an age old symbol of human sacrifice, compared to that example?
             It is high time for the world community to put an end to this
repulsive atrocity through denunciation and pressure!"
                                       **********
             

note: I am sure that in referring to the Hunger Strikers as 'militant Catholics',
Fidel was not attempting to characterize the Strikers or the Irish Republican
movement as some sort of Irish Catholic version of Huzbollah or Islamic Jihad.
They were all young men from urban working class (make that 'non-working'
class in the case of Northern Ireland's Nationalist community which experiences
unemployment rates as high as 75-80% in some areas.) or rural small farmer
backgrounds who's involvement in the struggle was in response consequences of
discrimination, oppression and British imperialism as they experienced it in
their own lives. 
        For biographies and descriptions of the political motivations of the
Hunger Strikers, please refer to Peter Beresford Ellis' book "Ten Men Dead".
As for the Catholic Church, especially the Hierarchy, it has been the historic
enemy of the Irish republican movement down through the centuries. For a
description of its role in Irish history and its role in attempting to undermine
the Hunger Strike, please consult Beresford's book, John Feeney's "Bobby
Sands and the Tragedy of Northern Ireland" and Joe McViegh's "The Wounded
Church."