Bobby Sands was the first to start the hunger strike in 1981, he had originally lived in Rathcoole in Northern Ireland but after loyalist intimidation they were forced to move to a catholic area in West Belfast. He had been a member of the IRA since he was 18 years old and was in prison for possession of firearms and explosives, he was also an IRA leader in Long Kesh. He was also the first man to die, his funeral was attended by 100,000 people, and the nine men to die after were also mourned across Ireland and the world too. , was elected as a during the strike, prompting media interest from around the world, after the hunger strike created world recognition, streets were named after the hunger strikers, there were worldwide protests and the Indian government even had a minute’s silence. The republic of Ireland’s public showed widespread support also for the Hunger Strikers.
The strike was called off after 10 prisoners had starved themselves to death, some of the families were not happy to see their sons becoming martyrs, so much so that one hunger-striker was taken off the strike by his family, there was high pressure for many of the other strikers who’s families weren’t willing to let them die, even the IRA initially were not sure if they should or shouldn’t support the strike and then soon changed their minds and supported the strike when they realised the hugeness of this event and the attention and support it was receiving from people who had previously grown tired of the IRA. The whole thing was stage managed, one person a week died and following the death there were high tensions between the people and police; there were riots from people who had clear views and attitude changes each time there was another death and each time there was a death huge masses of people attended the funerals.
The strike was originally only republican but as there was more and more press coverage it became supported by many people and radicalised politics, and was the driving force that enabled to become a mainstream political party. and the IRA took full advantage of the media and attention of the hunger strike; they were now popular with the people, recruitment had risen to an all time high and convinced them that ballot boxes were a great thing. and the IRA used the attention created by the 10 hunger strikers and added them to their image of Irishness. It is commemorated annually in home towns, lots of statues and murals all over Northern Ireland.
Moderate Catholics and nationalists were not sure if the Hunger strike was good or bad when it first began; the SDLP later saw that and the IRA’s popularity had risen considerably; they initially admired the hunger strikers bravery but, they were definitely in favour of ending the Hunger Strike, they didn’t like what the effect had been on the public, causing riots, people had died (including 61 catholic peace campaigners) and the bin-lid banging which occurred after one of the hunger strikers had died. Protests saw how moderate Catholics were supporting the Hunger Strikes and how the nationalists stood down to allow him to be elected as a PM. Protestants and Unionists had no doubt, they straight away believed that the Hunger strikers were criminal terrorists; they were certainly not going to support them, even though there was so much support for the hunger strikers from the rest of the world, protestants hated how the media made them appear as heroes and how popular the media made them in the USA. Bobby Sands said ‘Our revenge is our children’s laughter’, the Unionists did not like this because it was the IRA who were the people carrying out bombings across the UK and who caused the deaths of so many men, women and children as a result.
