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The conflicts in Northern Ireland
seemed to be just going on and on
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00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:21,880
in a relentless cycle of violence,
and then suddenly, in 1981,
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00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:25,960
it took the strangest, darkest,
most dramatic twist
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00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:29,800
when Bobby Sands
and nine of his young comrades,
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00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:32,680
insisting they be recognised as
political prisoners,
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00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:34,640
went on hunger strike.
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00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:49,160
This was drama
at the absolute rawest edge
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00:00:49,160 --> 00:00:51,240
that it could possibly be.
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00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:56,360
Because for everybody, it was like
there was this clock ticking
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00:00:56,360 --> 00:00:58,880
in people's heads. There was
a sense this wasn't a game.
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00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:04,600
I think it was a very, very
difficult process for most people,
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00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:06,240
and if Bobby Sands did nothing else,
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00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:08,040
he broke through
the mental partition.
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00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,520
I mean, it meant that everybody had
to pay attention to it
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and I don't think there's anybody
on the islands,
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00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:18,080
from whatever perspective,
who lived through that time,
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00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:21,520
who is not in some way
marked by it personally.
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We interrupt our regular programme
schedule to bring you
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the following special report
from ABC News Washington.
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00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:29,120
Here is Ted Koppel.
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Bobby Sands is dead.
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00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:34,280
The 27-year-old member
of the Irish Republican Army,
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00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:38,600
who went on a protest hunger strike
66 days ago, has died.
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Sands, who was serving a 14-year
prison term on a weapons possession
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00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:46,400
charge, had been demanding special
status as a political prisoner.
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00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:48,560
A number of other
Irish Republican Army members
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also imprisoned by the British
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00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:53,720
had joined Sands in his protest,
and several of them
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are also well into a hunger strike.
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00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:52,320
What he did and what he is known for
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is the most individual thing
anybody could possibly do.
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00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:01,360
What more personal thing
could you do than use your own body
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00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:04,560
in the way that he did?
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00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:09,120
This is about
the most intimate kind of pain,
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00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:15,560
and yet, very quickly,
that intimacy, that personality,
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00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:22,560
that sense of one's self is taken
away and is turned into a slogan -
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00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:24,160
a brand.
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00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:34,960
A perfect icon needs to be
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00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:40,200
poised somewhere between knowledge
and vast ignorance.
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00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:42,920
And what we get with Sands, is we
get enough knowledge that we can
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00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:47,680
identify with him as a person,
but also, you know, he's so young,
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00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:49,880
there's so little, really, of
his life,
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00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:54,320
that you could fill in all those
blanks in any way that you want.
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00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:58,280
But that's just the way
mythology works.
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00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:06,400
I'm standing on the threshold of
another trembling world.
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May God have mercy on my soul.
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00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:33,520
The march through West Belfast
was the first major test of
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00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:36,800
public support for this second
Republican hunger strike, which has
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00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:39,760
started against a background
far more bitter than the first.
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00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:43,600
So far, only one prisoner,
Bobby Sands, has refused food.
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00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:47,360
Chosen, apparently, because Sands is
felt to be a particularly hard man,
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00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:49,600
ready to face death alone.
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00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:02,840
My heart is very sore because I know
I've broken my poor mother's heart,
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00:05:02,840 --> 00:05:05,440
and my home is struck with
unbearable anxiety.
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00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:10,640
But I've considered all the
arguments and tried every means
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00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:13,640
to avoid what has become
the unavoidable.
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00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:15,520
It has been forced upon
me and my comrades
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00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:18,200
by four and a half years of
stark inhumanity.
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00:05:24,840 --> 00:05:27,400
I am a political prisoner.
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00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:31,440
I am a political prisoner because
I am a casualty of a perennial war
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00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:35,760
that is being fought between the
oppressed Irish people and an alien,
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00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:40,280
oppressive, unwanted regime that
refuses to withdraw from our land.
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00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:44,360
The Star of the Sea football club
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00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:47,240
was several miles from
where I was living in Rathcoole.
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00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:49,360
We had no proper football team
in Rathcoole
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00:06:49,360 --> 00:06:50,640
for the size of the estate,
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00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:53,520
which at that time was supposed to
be the biggest in Europe.
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00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:56,880
But there was no organised
football team for the kids.
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00:06:56,880 --> 00:07:00,200
To us, it wasn't a Catholic football
club, it wasn't a Protestant -
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00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:04,200
it was a football club,
and they looked after one another.
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00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:08,800
We played at Celtic Park in
a cup final and we beat them five.
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00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:13,000
But when the whistle went, it was
like a free-for-all on the pitch.
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00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:15,600
And I remember Sandsy
with his boot off,
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00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:17,880
hitting somebody over the head
with his boot, you know?
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00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:23,040
The Star of the Sea was something
which was genuinely cross community.
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00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:25,720
You didn't know it was cross
community, you didn't even think it.
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Obviously, it had to come apart. It
couldn't have survived in the '70s.
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Just wasn't going to happen.
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00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:41,040
Gradually, the Protestant guys
sort of drifted away.
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00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:44,200
People were being drawn back into
their two communities at that stage,
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00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:46,200
over those years.
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00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:47,720
DISTANT LAUGHTER
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00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:53,560
We had great days, so we had.
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00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:58,960
The Troubles then really started
happening in Rathcoole.
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00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:01,800
Catholic families were being
driven out of their homes.
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00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:07,720
At times, I tried to stick up
for families,
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00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:10,680
because some of those families were
good friends of mine, their sons.
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00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:15,400
And then we seen Bobby Sands
forced to leave Rathcoole.
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00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:29,600
I've received several notes
from my family and friends.
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00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:32,480
I have only read
the one from my mother.
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00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:37,000
It was what I needed. She has
regained her fighting spirit.
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00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:39,120
I am happy now.
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00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:47,680
From my earliest years,
I recall my mother speaking of
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00:08:47,680 --> 00:08:50,760
the troubled times that occurred
during her childhood.
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Often she spoke of internment on
ships, of gun attacks and death.
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00:08:55,560 --> 00:08:58,880
And of early morning raids when one
lay listening with pounding heart
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00:08:58,880 --> 00:09:01,920
to the heavy clattering of boots
on the cobblestoned streets.
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00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:05,400
When the television arrived,
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00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:09,040
Mother's stories were replaced
by what it had to offer.
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00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:12,200
I became more confused
as the baddies in my mother's tales
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00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:14,280
were also the heroes on TV.
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00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:18,400
The British Army
always fought for the right side
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00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:20,600
and the police
were always the good guys.
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00:09:22,480 --> 00:09:25,440
Then came 1968,
and my life began to change.
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00:09:26,440 --> 00:09:29,520
Regularly, I noticed the specials
attacking and baton-charging
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00:09:29,520 --> 00:09:32,440
the crowds of people who all of
a sudden began marching on streets.
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00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:37,280
I knew that they were our people
who were on the receiving end.
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00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:42,480
My sympathies and feelings
really became aroused
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00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:45,320
after watching the scenes
at Burntollet.
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00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:47,720
That imprinted on my mind
like a scar.
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00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:50,760
I became angry.
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00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:52,200
The whole world exploded,
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00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:54,240
and my own little world
just crumbled around me.
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00:10:04,560 --> 00:10:07,480
There was no-one to save us
except the boys,
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00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:09,800
as my father called the men
who defended our district
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00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:11,880
with a handful of old guns.
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00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:15,800
People had risen
and were fighting back,
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00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:18,480
and my mother and her newly
found spirit of resistance
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00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:23,320
hurled encouragement at the TV,
shouting, "Give it to them, boys!"
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00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:26,000
At 18 and a half I joined the Provos
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00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:29,360
with an M1 carbine and enough hate
to topple the world.
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00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:30,880
DISTANT SINGING
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00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:33,880
# Go home
Yeah, soldiers, go home
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00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:38,400
# Go home
Soldiers, go home. #
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00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:42,200
In many ways, Bobby Sands is not
what you expect when you anticipate
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00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:45,400
an IRA background. He's not someone
whose family is steeped in it.
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00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:46,760
And I think in some ways,
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00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:48,720
that's quite telling
and appropriate,
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00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:51,720
because many of the people who
swelled the ranks of the Provos
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00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:54,240
during the 1970s
were people who were, really,
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00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:56,520
not so much products of
family tradition
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00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:59,400
as they were products of
the escalating violence
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00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:02,360
and inter-communal tensions
in Northern Ireland.
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00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:04,880
When he saw that and saw the
combination between the kind of
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00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:09,160
violence that was happening on the
streets by these kinds of gangs,
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00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:12,280
and also the way in which they were
more or less
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00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:14,320
being sponsored by the state,
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00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:17,720
then that kind of combination
made it political.
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00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:22,360
There were many people who knew him
at that time who told me,
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00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:24,840
"We all became political,
but we didn't really know
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00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:26,720
"why we were political."
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00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:44,840
Fasting in Ireland was rediscovered
in the late 19th century
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00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:47,840
by anthropologists
who were investigating
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00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:49,640
kind of Gaelic history.
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00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:54,320
And for those scholars, who were
trying to revive Irish nationalism,
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00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:57,120
there's an emphasis
on the ancient Gaelic laws,
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00:11:57,120 --> 00:11:58,640
and it became discovered
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00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:01,560
that there was a kind of almost
institutionalised fasting
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00:12:01,560 --> 00:12:03,560
to rectify an injustice.
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00:12:03,560 --> 00:12:07,680
And this became popularised by
the play by WB Yeats
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called The King's Threshold.
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00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:16,320
Hunger striking has very ancient
roots in Irish history.
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00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:21,040
It was tradition that if the poet
wasn't paid by the rich man,
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00:12:21,040 --> 00:12:25,240
he would starve himself
outside his gate.
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00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:27,360
It struck a chord in Irish history -
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00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:29,920
particularly from the Fenians
onwards,
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00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:37,160
hunger striking or forms of protest
in jail began to evolve.
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00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:44,560
I'm feeling exceptionally well
today.
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00:12:44,560 --> 00:12:48,560
It's only the third day, I know,
but all the same, I'm feeling great.
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00:12:48,560 --> 00:12:50,840
I had a visit this morning
with two reporters.
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00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:53,600
Couldn't quite get my flow of
thoughts together.
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00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:56,320
I could have said more
in a better fashion.
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00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:06,400
Firstly, I did not support
the armed struggle,
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00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:09,320
I do not agree with the files.
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00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:13,600
I felt an imperative
to try and get the prisoners,
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00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:15,720
their side of the story.
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00:13:15,720 --> 00:13:18,160
I saw my role as a journalist
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00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:20,760
to afflict the comfortable,
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00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:23,240
and comfort the afflicted.
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00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:29,920
He spoke fluently about
how they felt compelled
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00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:32,680
to start this hunger strike
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00:13:32,680 --> 00:13:38,960
and he made it pretty clear to me
that he was likely to die.
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00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:18,040
The situation in our province would
not be tolerated for one second
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00:14:18,040 --> 00:14:20,160
in any other part of
the United Kingdom.
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00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:28,920
But our political leaders, they
don't know anything about the fear
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00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:32,240
that makes Ulster Protestants tick!
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00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:36,040
They don't know anything about
the real deep convictions
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00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:38,440
of the Protestant people.
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00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:43,080
There are men in Ulster who will
stand to the last man
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00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:45,000
in defence of their heritage.
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00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:50,520
There are men in Ulster who will die
rather than pull down the flag.
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00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:58,080
The Protestant reaction
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00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:02,680
was bewilderment at the scale
of the IRA violence.
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00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:08,640
That something that had begun as
civil rights disturbances and so on,
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00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:13,040
quite quickly, though,
became something else.
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00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:17,200
It spawned, of course,
a reaction on the Loyalist side,
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00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:19,760
who wished to terrorise Catholics.
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00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:27,480
The IRA would
rationalise its actions
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00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:31,680
in terms of oppression by
the British and so on.
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00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:36,040
And yet ordinary Protestants and
Unionists were on the front line.
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00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:41,400
And one had all kinds of
responses to it,
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00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:45,480
ranging from a kind of
cynical understanding...
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00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:50,520
..and yet at the same time
a sense of outrage.
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00:15:59,960 --> 00:16:01,200
We as a government
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00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:04,680
are concerned with the wellbeing
of all prisoners.
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00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:08,080
We have taken a number of steps to
improve the conditions of those held
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00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:12,280
in custody. But we are not prepared
to give in to blackmail
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00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:16,720
in the form of a hunger strike
or of any other form of pressure.
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00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:22,600
They put a table in my cell
200
00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:26,240
and are now placing my food on it
in front of my eyes.
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00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:29,560
I honestly couldn't give a damn
if they placed it on my knee.
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00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:33,400
It is not damaging me,
because I think
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00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:37,640
human food can never
keep a man alive forever.
204
00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:41,760
And I console myself with the fact
that I'll get a great feed up above.
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00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:43,560
If I'm worthy.
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00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:57,640
The first time I met him
was near the end of 1971.
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00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:00,320
There was a family next door
that was called the Noade family.
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00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:03,360
And the girl called Geraldine
was the daughter.
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00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:05,160
And Bobby was seeing her.
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00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:10,560
Quickly grasped
that he was in the 'RA,
211
00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:15,840
you know, in Fermanagh.
And they also had a lot in common.
212
00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:21,800
Impression I got of Bobby
was that he's a bubbly fella.
213
00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:23,800
We used to slag him
he looked like Rod Stewart.
214
00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:25,520
Used to have big hair.
215
00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:28,240
So we called him Rod Stewart,
you know, he loved it.
216
00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:30,400
With his big hair, like.
217
00:17:30,400 --> 00:17:32,360
Then he got caught.
218
00:17:32,360 --> 00:17:35,240
Geraldine came into
my mother's house.
219
00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:37,880
And said, "Bobby's caught
with parts of a gun."
220
00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:47,840
It was the autumn of '72.
221
00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:50,280
I was charged, and for the first
time I faced jail.
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00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:57,000
I had no alternative but to face up
to the hardship that lay before me.
223
00:17:57,000 --> 00:17:59,360
I ended up sentenced
in a barbed wire cage
224
00:17:59,360 --> 00:18:02,120
where I spent three and a half years
as a prisoner of war
225
00:18:02,120 --> 00:18:05,040
with special category status.
226
00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:12,800
Throughout the history of the state
of the North of Ireland,
227
00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:15,600
the British government
have been well aware
228
00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:17,720
that Irish Republicans
believe themselves
229
00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:19,080
to be political prisoners.
230
00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:21,040
And in 1972,
231
00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:24,640
the British government
basically conceded political status,
232
00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:27,520
although they preferred to call it
Special Category Status.
233
00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:29,680
And there was peace in the prisons.
234
00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:33,120
It gave the prisoners
certain privileges.
235
00:18:33,120 --> 00:18:35,600
They didn't have to work,
they wore their own clothes,
236
00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:38,120
and received regular parcels,
visits and letters.
237
00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:43,080
But there was nothing to say that
they should live in POW compounds
238
00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:45,160
with their military structures
intact.
239
00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:49,080
That came about
because there was no alternative.
240
00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:51,720
At the time, the jails were full.
241
00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:56,280
So, inside the compounds,
you're dealing with an army?
242
00:18:58,240 --> 00:18:59,280
Yes.
243
00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:06,840
The huts were locked up
at nine o'clock at night.
244
00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:11,160
They were unlocked at half seven,
eight o'clock in the morning.
245
00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:15,000
But, basically, you had control
over your own day.
246
00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:21,000
So we got our time in
by developing our own real sense
247
00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:24,560
of the type of Ireland
that we wished to see.
248
00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:32,200
It was the first time I met people
like Bobby Sands, people like that.
249
00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:35,440
And during the debates we would
start looking at other struggles
250
00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:37,800
and similarities,
and trying to find out
251
00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:42,040
what it was that would take our own
struggle that stage further.
252
00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:46,880
It was a very revolutionary period.
253
00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:49,160
We had a vast library,
254
00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:52,560
all political theories
from Stalin to Churchill
255
00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:54,960
to Mao Tse-tung to Ho Chi Minh.
256
00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:58,840
"You want a better understanding
of what's happening here?
257
00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:00,640
"There you go, read that."
258
00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:06,520
A key thing that happened at that
point in time was when Gerry Adams
259
00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:09,400
came into the area known as Cage 11.
260
00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:16,080
In Cage 11, I mean, there was
this new recombination of politics,
261
00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:19,680
where Adams was saying, "Well,
OK, guys, we learned about Marx,
262
00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:21,960
"we learned about Mao,
we've learned about Che.
263
00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:24,200
"But, you know, what about
our own people?"
264
00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:27,000
And he begins to get them to
think about the kinds of things
265
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:29,880
that Connolly wrote about,
that Liam Mellows wrote about.
266
00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:46,520
Well, I met Bobby...
267
00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:51,320
It must have been around 1976
or '77.
268
00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:55,120
I'd say he was quite modest,
but very intense.
269
00:20:55,120 --> 00:21:00,200
He was deeply troubled and
challenged by the sectarian nature
270
00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:01,760
of our society.
271
00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:15,960
He went back to reading Jimmy Hope,
272
00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:18,360
he went back to reading
Mary Ann McCracken,
273
00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:21,360
he went back to reading Wolfe Tone.
274
00:21:21,360 --> 00:21:23,520
You know, the sense of citizenship,
275
00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:26,000
of communities
needing to be empowered.
276
00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:29,280
And how could you develop
277
00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:32,080
in your own neighbourhood
or your own community...
278
00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:34,800
..a Republican ethos?
279
00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:45,440
I was lonely for a while
this evening,
280
00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:47,640
listening to the crows caw
as they returned home.
281
00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:54,200
Now, as I write,
282
00:21:54,200 --> 00:21:56,920
the odd curlew mournfully calls
as they fly over.
283
00:21:58,800 --> 00:21:59,840
I like the birds.
284
00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:06,520
Well, I must leave off,
285
00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:08,000
for if I write more about the birds,
286
00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:11,200
my tears will fall and my thoughts
return to the days of my youth.
287
00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:17,120
Those were the days,
288
00:22:17,120 --> 00:22:18,720
and gone forever now.
289
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:33,520
Between 1917 and 1923,
290
00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:37,240
there were at least 10,000 hunger
strikes by Irish Republicans.
291
00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:42,960
The Irish Republicans were borrowing
a tactic that had been pioneered
292
00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:45,320
by an Englishwoman in 1909.
293
00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:48,400
She was a suffragette who was
fighting for the votes for women.
294
00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:51,880
And her hunger strike showed just
how effective this tactic could be
295
00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:54,560
when fighting against
the Westminster government.
296
00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:09,800
MacSwiney, of course,
being a Lord Mayor,
297
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:12,120
and this extraordinary form
of protest...
298
00:23:12,120 --> 00:23:15,480
Even after a world war,
it caught the imagination,
299
00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:17,960
and particularly
revolutionary-minded people
300
00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:19,080
in the world saw this.
301
00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:23,360
One of their students at the time
in London was Ho Chi Minh.
302
00:23:23,360 --> 00:23:25,680
And he was very impressed
by MacSwiney
303
00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:28,040
and by the Irish struggle generally.
304
00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:35,200
MacSwiney said, "It is not those
who can inflict the most,
305
00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:38,200
"but those who can suffer the most
who will win..."
306
00:23:40,120 --> 00:23:45,200
..which is a very striking
and radical thought.
307
00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:49,880
The whole tradition
of military conflict is,
308
00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:52,080
you've gotta inflict more suffering
on the other guy
309
00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:54,080
in order to win the war.
310
00:23:56,320 --> 00:23:59,640
And what MacSwiney had said was,
actually, you know, by suffering,
311
00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:03,160
and by suffering publicly
and over a long period of time,
312
00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:04,880
you are making a statement.
313
00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:08,560
You're making a statement which was,
you will outlast the others.
314
00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:10,280
No matter what they do to you,
315
00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:12,880
you'll still be there,
or your spirit will still be there
316
00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:15,800
or the people who will follow you
will still be there.
317
00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:17,560
And in the end, you will win.
318
00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:26,520
I have poems in my mind,
mediocre no doubt...
319
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:30,400
Poems of hunger-striking
MacSwiney...
320
00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:34,280
..and everything that this hunger
strike has stirred up in my heart
321
00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:35,560
and in my mind.
322
00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:48,360
Frank has now joined me
on the hunger strike.
323
00:24:48,360 --> 00:24:51,560
I have the greatest respect,
admiration and confidence in Frank,
324
00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:53,280
and I know that I'm not alone.
325
00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:59,640
Now and again I'm struck by
the natural desire to eat,
326
00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:02,320
but the desire to see an end
to my comrades' plight
327
00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:06,560
and the liberation of my people
is overwhelmingly greater.
328
00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:50,040
Well, when he came out of jail
in 1976, I think it was,
329
00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:52,920
he came down to the Republican
press centre on the Falls Road
330
00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:54,960
where I was the editor
of Republican News.
331
00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:02,120
He was setting up a tenants
association in Twinbrook
332
00:26:02,120 --> 00:26:06,840
and also wanted to produce
a community newspaper.
333
00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:10,280
I realised that here was somebody
who was quite progressive,
334
00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:13,720
articulate, left wing, and really
interested in his community.
335
00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:21,520
Bobby had been released
a number of weeks before me...
336
00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:28,680
..and he talked about broadening the
struggle to involve our community
337
00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:32,040
much more in the resistance
to the British.
338
00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:41,080
One of the sort of lessons that we
brought out of Long Kesh was that
339
00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:44,400
if you have an Active Service Unit
in an area...
340
00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:47,840
Come here, mate. ..if the British
manage to take them out,
341
00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:50,760
that kills the Republican presence.
342
00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:58,520
Whereas if you can build different
levels of Republican resistance,
343
00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:02,080
from a youth movement to
a woman's movement to a community...
344
00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:05,160
If you build all these structures,
well, then,
345
00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:08,760
if the Active Service Unit
does fall,
346
00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:11,400
it means they're not leaving
a vacuum.
347
00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:14,400
So we understood the theory of
revolutionary warfare,
348
00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:16,400
and that's the way we came at it.
349
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:22,160
Many prisoners, they come out of
prison and they've been reading Che,
350
00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:23,760
they've been reading Ho Chi Minh.
351
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:26,800
And basically they're saying,
"This is what we need to be doing,
352
00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:28,880
"is being like Ho or Che."
353
00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:30,560
But Bobby wasn't like that.
354
00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:33,120
What Bobby began to think was,
355
00:27:33,120 --> 00:27:35,520
"We have British imperialism
all around us.
356
00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:38,120
"We don't wait until we send
the British Army out of Ireland.
357
00:27:38,120 --> 00:27:42,040
"What we do now is we begin to build
the kind of society we want."
358
00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:12,840
He was married
while he was in prison.
359
00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:16,720
So, the fact of having a wife
and having a child
360
00:28:16,720 --> 00:28:20,960
and having to support all that
was very new to Bobby...
361
00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:28,600
..which meant that he always had the
tension of an activist and a father.
362
00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:33,240
Then Geraldine got pregnant.
363
00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:35,400
She wanted Bobby to spend more time
in the house.
364
00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:38,320
She wanted Bobby
to pay more attention to her.
365
00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:41,720
You were committed
to the armed struggle,
366
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:44,000
and committed to your comrades,
367
00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:47,800
and your personal relationships
took second place.
368
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:52,600
As happened in hundreds of cases,
it just didn't work out for them.
369
00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:22,840
NEWS PRESENTER: Bombers had attacked
a warehouse in Belfast.
370
00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:25,520
As the police moved in,
there was a gun battle.
371
00:29:25,520 --> 00:29:29,000
Mr Sands was charged
with possession of a gun nearby.
372
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:31,800
At his trial, although he couldn't
be connected with the bombing,
373
00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:33,840
he was given 14 years.
374
00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:50,600
NEWS PRESENTER: The government ruled
on March the first
375
00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:52,800
that terrorists convicted
of crimes after that date
376
00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:55,160
would no longer get
Special Category Status
377
00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:59,000
but must wear prison uniform
just like ordinary criminals.
378
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:01,320
Anybody who was arrested
after midnight
379
00:30:01,320 --> 00:30:04,320
on the first of March 1976
would be a criminal.
380
00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:07,480
But if you were arrested with
a nuclear bomb
381
00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:09,560
at five to 12, you were political.
It was absurd.
382
00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:15,040
They had special interrogation
centres, special courts,
383
00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:18,360
and they built a special jail,
the H-Blocks of Long Kesh.
384
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:25,080
NEWS PRESENTER: This is a normal
prison, not a prisoner of war camp.
385
00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:27,360
Here, the prison officers
are in control.
386
00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:30,880
The facilities are excellent.
387
00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:33,480
Trades and skills are taught
to persuade the inmates
388
00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:36,200
that there is more to life
than shooting and bombing.
389
00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:40,720
So, they didn't conform.
390
00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:43,880
They went to their compounds,
they went to Freedom Association,
391
00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:47,240
and above all they weren't allowed
to wear their own clothes.
392
00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:49,880
That was the spark
that lit the fuse.
393
00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:53,800
What they didn't calculate,
394
00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:58,080
and none of us could have, because
there was no Republican plan...
395
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:03,000
..was Kieran Nugent.
396
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:07,200
They said, "Right, take your clothes
off and put this uniform on."
397
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:11,120
He said that the only way that they
would get him to wear the uniform
398
00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:13,120
was if they nailed it to his back.
399
00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:16,200
At that, he lifted a blanket,
400
00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:19,840
wrapped it round himself,
and the blanket protest was born.
401
00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:28,080
The administration took away
their clothes, took away their beds,
402
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:30,520
took away lockers,
took away books, radios,
403
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:31,840
toothbrushes,
404
00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:33,480
blocked up their windows,
405
00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:34,960
wouldn't give them exercise,
406
00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:38,400
wouldn't let them have
weekly visits.
407
00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:45,120
You have to remember that
the situation in the jails
408
00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:47,720
was like a pressure cooker.
It was boiling up.
409
00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:49,360
So, the prisoners would tell you,
410
00:31:49,360 --> 00:31:52,240
the warders began kicking over
their commodes.
411
00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:54,840
Then they, in retaliation,
412
00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:57,680
began throwing their faeces
out the window,
413
00:31:57,680 --> 00:32:00,680
and the warders apparently began
throwing it back in again.
414
00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:04,120
So there was no place else to put it
except on the walls.
415
00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:07,240
Literally, the most fundamental
method of warfare ever
416
00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:09,440
was carried on in the jails.
417
00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:17,640
At the start
it was indescribably horrible.
418
00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:21,040
There was the excreta on the walls,
419
00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:22,880
there was urine being thrown out
every night
420
00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:24,480
and getting washed back in again.
421
00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:27,640
You were lying on a mattress on
the floor which was getting smaller
422
00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:30,800
because you were pulling bits
of the mattress off
423
00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:33,960
to smear your excretion
on the walls.
424
00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:38,800
But after a month or so, it became
just a normal way of living.
425
00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:46,240
When one spends each day naked and
crouching in the corner of a cell
426
00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:47,360
resembling a pigsty...
427
00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:51,800
..staring at such eyesores
as piles of putrefying rubbish,
428
00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:54,400
infested with maggots and flies,
429
00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:57,240
a disease-ridden chamber pot
or a blank,
430
00:32:57,240 --> 00:32:58,920
disgusting scarred wall...
431
00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:02,800
..it is to the rescue of one's
sanity to be able to rise
432
00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:04,600
and gaze out of the window
at the world.
433
00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:10,320
Today, the screws began blocking up
434
00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:12,400
all the windows with sheets
of steel.
435
00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:17,560
To me, this represents the further
torture of the tortured -
436
00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:21,280
blocking out the very essence
of life, nature.
437
00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:26,720
Here, my torturers
have long ago started,
438
00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:30,160
and still endeavour,
to block up the window on my mind.
439
00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:37,520
It was very hostile.
440
00:33:37,520 --> 00:33:40,240
You couldn't ask for
a more hostile environment.
441
00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:45,640
We were working in an open sewer
442
00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:48,200
with 40 people
who wanted to kill us.
443
00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:51,680
Basically, that's what it is.
444
00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:54,040
You have 40 people down there
who wanted you dead.
445
00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:59,000
You were reasonably safe in work,
but then you were driving home.
446
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:02,000
You didn't know what was meeting you
there, which happened quite a lot.
447
00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:04,720
A knock on the door,
nine mil in the head.
448
00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:09,200
NEWS PRESENTER: The Provisional IRA
gunned down on his own doorstep
449
00:34:09,200 --> 00:34:11,760
Albert Miles, the deputy governor
of the Maze prison.
450
00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:14,240
This killing was followed by
the murder...
451
00:34:14,240 --> 00:34:18,320
Between 1979 and 1982, there were
14 prison officers murdered,
452
00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:20,120
ten of them in one year.
453
00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:24,400
They were sending letter bombs
to our houses.
454
00:34:24,400 --> 00:34:27,160
They were addressing them
to their wives.
455
00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:31,280
There were putting plastic boxes
under the cars.
456
00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:33,240
They didn't care
who was driving the car.
457
00:34:33,240 --> 00:34:36,120
They didn't care whether you were
taking your kids to school.
458
00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:39,320
They didn't give a toss, so why
should I give a toss about them?
459
00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:44,000
But everybody wanted these people
locked up.
460
00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:46,920
"That's OK," I said. "Lock them up
and throw away the key,
461
00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:48,920
"but somebody has to unlock
that door."
462
00:34:49,960 --> 00:34:52,400
And I am the poor sucker
that had to open the door.
463
00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:03,120
The British government have said
they won't concede political status,
464
00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:05,160
and the prisoners,
in their statement today,
465
00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:07,600
have repeated their intention
of fasting to the death
466
00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:09,560
in order to obtain it.
467
00:35:09,560 --> 00:35:11,800
If Bobby Sands continues his fast,
468
00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:14,960
then the crisis in this hunger
strike will come around Easter.
469
00:35:18,600 --> 00:35:21,920
Foremost in my tortured mind is
the thought there can never be peace
470
00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:23,480
in Ireland until the foreign,
471
00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:25,480
oppressive British presence
is removed,
472
00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:27,200
leaving all the Irish people
as a unit
473
00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:28,720
to control their own affairs
474
00:35:28,720 --> 00:35:31,680
and determine their own destinies
as a sovereign people.
475
00:35:34,240 --> 00:35:36,280
There is a tradition
in republicanism
476
00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:38,080
of a rising in every generation,
477
00:35:38,080 --> 00:35:40,200
no matter how hopeless.
478
00:35:40,200 --> 00:35:42,320
That was very much to the fore
in 1916.
479
00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:44,880
They hadn't a hope of winning,
and they knew it. But they did it.
480
00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:02,080
Fire!
481
00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:08,000
1916, to Republicans,
is a bit like High Mass.
482
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:11,000
It was the executions
and the creation of martyrs
483
00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:12,880
that changed, in 1916,
484
00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:16,200
into a right-angled turning point
in Ireland.
485
00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:19,240
It changed into
the willingness to endure.
486
00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:24,360
Bobby Sands was deeply aware of
the fact
487
00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:27,040
that he wasn't just
this isolated individual
488
00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:28,720
at a particular point in time.
489
00:36:28,720 --> 00:36:32,240
He very consciously saw himself
in a tradition,
490
00:36:32,240 --> 00:36:34,120
which was the 1916 tradition.
491
00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:40,080
The only way we can win
is emotional and metaphorical,
492
00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:42,440
and we can win by sacrifice.
493
00:36:44,560 --> 00:36:47,520
So he knows enough about the culture
that he comes from
494
00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:51,760
to know that this is going to hit
certain nerve endings
495
00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:54,240
within the collective psyche.
496
00:36:54,240 --> 00:36:56,280
It's going to connect
with Irish republicanism
497
00:36:56,280 --> 00:36:57,480
and its martyr traditions,
498
00:36:57,480 --> 00:36:59,720
but it's also going to connect
with Catholicism.
499
00:36:59,720 --> 00:37:01,800
It's going to connect
with the idea of Christ.
500
00:37:07,720 --> 00:37:12,760
Protestants would have found
incomprehensible...
501
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:16,760
..that notion that young men
could contemplate
502
00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:19,600
starving themselves to death
503
00:37:19,600 --> 00:37:23,720
for what were
quite modest political aims.
504
00:37:23,720 --> 00:37:27,440
But in fact those modest,
quantifiable demands...
505
00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:30,160
..were actually enveloped by...
506
00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:35,880
..the much bigger demand
that Irish republicanism
507
00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:38,800
requires of its participants.
508
00:37:55,560 --> 00:37:59,080
It is the declared wish
of these people to see humane
509
00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:01,600
and better conditions
in these blocks.
510
00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:05,400
But the issue at stake
is not humanitarian.
511
00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:08,800
It is purely political, and only
a political solution will solve it.
512
00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:13,880
We wish to be treated
not as ordinary prisoners,
513
00:38:13,880 --> 00:38:18,440
for we are not criminals -
we admit no crime unless
514
00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:22,360
the love of one's people
and country is a crime.
515
00:38:35,240 --> 00:38:38,720
Where there is discord,
may we bring harmony.
516
00:38:38,720 --> 00:38:41,840
Where there is error,
may we bring truth.
517
00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:44,720
Where there is doubt,
may we bring faith.
518
00:38:44,720 --> 00:38:47,480
And where there is despair,
may we bring hope.
519
00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:54,440
Well, quite clearly the election
of Margaret Thatcher
520
00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:59,720
by an extraordinary majority
was an enormous achievement.
521
00:38:59,720 --> 00:39:03,280
And we all knew
that British politics
522
00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:06,680
was not going to be the same again,
523
00:39:06,680 --> 00:39:10,080
that many things were going to
change in the field of industry,
524
00:39:10,080 --> 00:39:12,840
of industrial relations,
and, of course,
525
00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:17,120
we had the problems
of Northern Ireland.
526
00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:24,480
Her views on Northern Ireland
were mainstream Unionist views -
527
00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:27,080
a sort of general feeling
that people who want to be British
528
00:39:27,080 --> 00:39:30,040
should be,
and they should be defended.
529
00:39:30,040 --> 00:39:33,160
And above all, the thing which
excited her deepest emotion
530
00:39:33,160 --> 00:39:35,760
was support for the Armed Forces
and the police,
531
00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:40,040
and the idea that they were being
targeted and killed by enemies
532
00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:42,400
of Britain was abhorrent to her.
533
00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:49,000
She understood there were injustices
to the nationalist population,
534
00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:51,160
but she didn't equate
Irish republicanism
535
00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:53,800
with the nationalist population.
536
00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:57,120
It wasn't,
"They're Irish, who cares?"
537
00:39:57,120 --> 00:40:01,960
It was, "These are terrorists trying
to undermine the rule of law."
538
00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:04,720
And with that,
there should be no compromise.
539
00:40:07,480 --> 00:40:10,440
We knew that particularly,
of course,
540
00:40:10,440 --> 00:40:14,760
because on the eve of the election,
Airey Neave,
541
00:40:14,760 --> 00:40:18,120
who would have been her Secretary
of State for Northern Ireland,
542
00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:22,560
had been murdered
by Irish republicans.
543
00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:25,280
So we knew
times were not going to be easy.
544
00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:32,280
Once we came out of '78,
towards the end of '79,
545
00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:35,320
we realised that
the no-wash protest,
546
00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:38,520
it wasn't enough to break the will
of the Brits
547
00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:41,480
to negotiate for
some sort of settlement.
548
00:40:41,480 --> 00:40:46,040
So in the middle of 1979, the idea
of hunger strike was broached.
549
00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:50,040
We targeted late September
as the date.
550
00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:54,480
We asked for volunteers
around the blocks, for people.
551
00:40:54,480 --> 00:40:56,600
And the names came flooding in.
552
00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:05,000
Seven convicted IRA terrorists at
the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland
553
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:07,840
began their threatened hunger strike
this morning.
554
00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:09,800
Later, another 142 men joined
555
00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:13,320
the existing so-called
dirty no-wash protest.
556
00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:16,960
This means that nearly half the
prisoners here live in conditions
557
00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:19,120
of self-imposed filth.
558
00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:22,400
The decision of seven men
to go on hunger strike is seen as
559
00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:26,400
a last-ditch attempt to gain
political status for these men.
560
00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:30,520
Bobby Sands was livid
that he wasn't on it.
561
00:41:30,520 --> 00:41:34,760
The argument was that
you can't put everybody on this.
562
00:41:34,760 --> 00:41:37,640
And they said, "Bobby Sands,
you're taking over as OC.
563
00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:38,880
"That's it."
564
00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:43,280
NEWS PRESENTER: A year ago,
only the relatives
565
00:41:43,280 --> 00:41:45,480
and few hundred republican diehards
566
00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:48,560
could be expected to turn up
at an H-Block rally.
567
00:41:48,560 --> 00:41:51,320
Now, under a constant barrage
of propaganda,
568
00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:53,200
there are several thousands.
569
00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:57,440
The British knew that they were
in a struggle,
570
00:41:57,440 --> 00:41:58,680
they were in a battle here,
571
00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:02,800
because in terms of hearts and minds
they were losing this campaign.
572
00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:08,480
At the beginning of the hunger
strike, they underestimated
573
00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:10,080
the determination of Mrs Thatcher.
574
00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:12,520
Here was a Prime Minister
under massive pressure.
575
00:42:12,520 --> 00:42:17,160
The economy was tanking at the time,
there was mass unemployment.
576
00:42:17,160 --> 00:42:22,320
So the impression was, here was
somebody who could be broken.
577
00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:27,840
But what boxed her in was that
she inherited this policy,
578
00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:31,120
she inherited this policy
from the Labour government.
579
00:42:31,120 --> 00:42:34,520
It was the Labour government
who ended Special Category Status.
580
00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:38,080
And once you inherit that policy,
you couldn't back down.
581
00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:43,120
Morally, the hunger strike
was very simple in her mind.
582
00:42:43,120 --> 00:42:46,240
These people had committed these
crimes and they should be punished
583
00:42:46,240 --> 00:42:48,560
for them, and they should have
no special rights.
584
00:42:48,560 --> 00:42:52,800
And the hunger strike
was a way of blackmailing her.
585
00:42:52,800 --> 00:42:55,960
It was a sort of completely
unacceptable form of leverage.
586
00:42:59,360 --> 00:43:02,240
After 54 days, with one
of the strikers close to death,
587
00:43:02,240 --> 00:43:05,400
the IRA's Commanding Officer
in the H blocks, Brendan Hughes,
588
00:43:05,400 --> 00:43:08,000
took the decision
to call off the hunger strike.
589
00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:10,480
The prisoners believed
through intermediaries
590
00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:13,640
that the British government
was about to make concessions.
591
00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:15,200
But they misread the signals.
592
00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:22,760
It quickly became apparent
that they had no deal.
593
00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:26,160
The arrangement was that Britain
wasn't to call off the hunger strike
594
00:43:26,160 --> 00:43:27,720
without consulting Bobby Sands,
595
00:43:27,720 --> 00:43:29,760
because Bobby was the OC
of the prisoners.
596
00:43:29,760 --> 00:43:31,000
He had succeeded Brendan.
597
00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:33,400
Bobby was one of the boys, you know.
598
00:43:33,400 --> 00:43:36,800
Which is why, when he was made OC,
we were thinking,
599
00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:41,240
"Bobby's a nice guy and he's
talented and all the rest of it..."
600
00:43:41,240 --> 00:43:45,280
But to me the most fascinating thing
is how the person in a moment
601
00:43:45,280 --> 00:43:48,000
becomes a leader
in all intents and purposes
602
00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:49,880
and says to Brendan,
"You fucked up."
603
00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:55,960
I think in the end they realised
that the government was simply
604
00:43:55,960 --> 00:43:58,560
not going to give them
what they had been demanding,
605
00:43:58,560 --> 00:44:00,840
and that therefore
they had the choice
606
00:44:00,840 --> 00:44:02,840
either of dying or of living.
607
00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:08,000
As soon as the strike ended,
608
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:11,760
one of the problems that Bobby Sands
had as Officer Commanding
609
00:44:11,760 --> 00:44:14,040
was the morale of the prisoners.
610
00:44:14,040 --> 00:44:17,360
So it was an absolute period
of crisis
611
00:44:17,360 --> 00:44:22,760
in trying to keep the protest going
after so many years.
612
00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:26,520
Then he realised that what happened
in the jail was important
613
00:44:26,520 --> 00:44:29,040
for what was happening
on the outside.
614
00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:32,760
Bobby immediately said,
"There's only one thing for it.
615
00:44:32,760 --> 00:44:34,720
"We're going back on hunger strike."
616
00:44:37,520 --> 00:44:40,840
The leadership sent in word -
617
00:44:40,840 --> 00:44:45,640
"Under no circumstances will we
sanction a second hunger strike."
618
00:44:45,640 --> 00:44:47,360
And Bobby fought with them.
619
00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:54,040
And in the end he said, "Look,
you either sack me or back me."
620
00:44:58,200 --> 00:45:01,880
Some people, I think, referred to it
as a kind of a tunnel vision,
621
00:45:01,880 --> 00:45:08,520
that Bobby at this point became
so concentrated on this one thing.
622
00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:12,840
This is something that we can't even
understand unless we see it
623
00:45:12,840 --> 00:45:14,720
in the context of the whole group.
624
00:45:14,720 --> 00:45:18,040
They weren't just facing
the world alone.
625
00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:20,680
They were facing the future
as a collectivity...
626
00:45:21,800 --> 00:45:27,240
..and the sole criterion for getting
on the second hunger strike was,
627
00:45:27,240 --> 00:45:29,480
"Would you be willing to die?
628
00:45:29,480 --> 00:45:33,920
"Because if you don't die, this
is going to hurt the rest of us."
629
00:45:35,320 --> 00:45:38,720
And Bobby said, "That's the reason
I'm going on first,
630
00:45:38,720 --> 00:45:40,240
"is because I will die."
631
00:45:55,800 --> 00:45:58,040
He has, first of all,
a certain sense of guilt.
632
00:45:58,040 --> 00:46:01,520
People like MacSwiney had a sense of
guilt that they hadn't taken part
633
00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:03,480
in the 1916 rising, for example.
634
00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:06,480
And therefore, when the opportunity
came to do something,
635
00:46:06,480 --> 00:46:09,880
they felt this extra burden, that
they had to take it on themselves.
636
00:46:11,360 --> 00:46:13,000
And I think Bobby Sands maybe felt
637
00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:15,200
after the first
failed hunger strike,
638
00:46:15,200 --> 00:46:19,240
and him having been the OC,
felt this sense of duty.
639
00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:24,320
And he comes across...
640
00:46:24,320 --> 00:46:26,600
What's moving is he comes across
as a very young man,
641
00:46:26,600 --> 00:46:31,600
and with all of the intact idealism
that the young can have.
642
00:46:32,960 --> 00:46:36,400
He sees his own actions
as being moral actions,
643
00:46:36,400 --> 00:46:37,840
as being good and righteous.
644
00:46:37,840 --> 00:46:39,440
That's why he is challenging,
I think,
645
00:46:39,440 --> 00:46:41,720
particularly for people
who don't agree with him,
646
00:46:41,720 --> 00:46:43,640
don't agree with
where he is coming from -
647
00:46:43,640 --> 00:46:49,040
you still can't deny,
from the writings, the sincerity.
648
00:46:58,320 --> 00:47:00,200
This guy, you get a sense
when you read him,
649
00:47:00,200 --> 00:47:03,040
is absolutely conscious
of his place in history.
650
00:47:03,040 --> 00:47:05,520
But he is not indulging it.
651
00:47:05,520 --> 00:47:09,000
It's not as if he is driven by
a megalomaniacal idea that,
652
00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:11,400
"I'm going to be
this godlike figure."
653
00:47:11,400 --> 00:47:13,240
You don't get that
from his writings.
654
00:47:13,240 --> 00:47:17,320
What you get from his writings
is a very old-fashioned,
655
00:47:17,320 --> 00:47:19,760
almost Victorian sense of duty.
656
00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:26,320
I have always taken a lesson from
something that was told to me
657
00:47:26,320 --> 00:47:28,320
by a sound man.
658
00:47:28,320 --> 00:47:31,320
That is that everyone,
659
00:47:31,320 --> 00:47:34,560
republican or otherwise,
660
00:47:34,560 --> 00:47:36,400
has his own particular part to play.
661
00:47:37,520 --> 00:47:40,200
No part is too great or too small.
662
00:47:40,200 --> 00:47:43,600
No-one is too old or too young
to do something.
663
00:47:59,440 --> 00:48:03,000
Just a normal day, I open the cell,
the prisoner said to me,
664
00:48:03,000 --> 00:48:05,040
"I'm refusing food."
665
00:48:05,040 --> 00:48:07,200
"OK, no problem."
666
00:48:07,200 --> 00:48:09,360
The food was left in the cell.
667
00:48:10,520 --> 00:48:15,840
It was two scoops of potato,
fish, one ladleful of peas,
668
00:48:15,840 --> 00:48:19,200
two slices of bread with butter,
and tea.
669
00:48:19,200 --> 00:48:22,520
It's like I said to them,
"I'm putting the food into you.
670
00:48:22,520 --> 00:48:25,360
"If you don't want to eat it,
that's up to you.
671
00:48:25,360 --> 00:48:28,000
"We'll put the food in,
we'll take the food out.
672
00:48:28,000 --> 00:48:30,240
"And we'll do that
three times a day."
673
00:48:30,240 --> 00:48:32,240
And that was their choice.
674
00:48:32,240 --> 00:48:35,400
If they wanted to commit suicide,
that was their choice.
675
00:48:47,760 --> 00:48:50,080
Tonight's tea was pie and beans,
676
00:48:50,080 --> 00:48:52,720
and although hunger
may fuel my imagination,
677
00:48:52,720 --> 00:48:56,600
I don't exaggerate - the beans
were nearly falling off the plate.
678
00:48:56,600 --> 00:48:59,760
If I say this all the time to
the lads, they would worry about me.
679
00:48:59,760 --> 00:49:01,200
But I'm all right.
680
00:49:02,920 --> 00:49:04,200
One of the big difficulties
681
00:49:04,200 --> 00:49:06,440
that the support movement
for the prisoners
682
00:49:06,440 --> 00:49:10,480
on the inside faced
was a lack of publicity.
683
00:49:12,520 --> 00:49:17,200
There was practically no publicity
in advance of it starting,
684
00:49:17,200 --> 00:49:21,760
and practically no publicity while
the hunger strike was unfolding
685
00:49:21,760 --> 00:49:23,760
and Bobby Sands was leading it.
686
00:49:23,760 --> 00:49:26,720
There had been so much attention
given to the first one
687
00:49:26,720 --> 00:49:30,400
that the view from the leadership
outside was it would be difficult
688
00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:32,640
to attain the same level
of mobilisation
689
00:49:32,640 --> 00:49:34,920
due to the fact that didn't work.
690
00:49:36,000 --> 00:49:41,000
The first few weeks was pretty flat
in terms of protest on the streets.
691
00:49:41,000 --> 00:49:43,560
The Frank Maguire thing
was the catalyst.
692
00:49:44,680 --> 00:49:48,880
Frank Maguire, who had been
the MP for Fermanagh South Tyrone...
693
00:49:48,880 --> 00:49:51,520
About two weeks
into Bobby's hunger strike,
694
00:49:51,520 --> 00:49:54,800
Frank Maguire collapsed
and died of a heart attack.
695
00:49:54,800 --> 00:49:59,560
I immediately thought to myself,
if it was possible,
696
00:49:59,560 --> 00:50:01,280
and if there was a by-election,
697
00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:03,720
we should put Bobby Sands's
name forward
698
00:50:03,720 --> 00:50:05,640
to stand in Fermanagh South Tyrone.
699
00:50:08,680 --> 00:50:10,520
We had major worries about it,
of course.
700
00:50:10,520 --> 00:50:13,240
We would have to get the agreement
of Bobby Sands,
701
00:50:13,240 --> 00:50:18,080
and even if Bobby lost by one vote,
Thatcher would have crowed,
702
00:50:18,080 --> 00:50:19,960
"Even your own people rejected you."
703
00:50:22,800 --> 00:50:24,760
Within the provisional
republican movement
704
00:50:24,760 --> 00:50:27,360
there had been a deep scepticism
about electoral politics,
705
00:50:27,360 --> 00:50:30,320
because there was a notion that
the North was a place in which
706
00:50:30,320 --> 00:50:33,680
the electoral maths
was against you by design,
707
00:50:33,680 --> 00:50:37,200
so when you put someone up for
election to the House of Commons,
708
00:50:37,200 --> 00:50:40,840
this in itself is a change
of approach of a dramatic kind.
709
00:50:40,840 --> 00:50:43,720
But it was a risk, because it was
breaking with the instincts
710
00:50:43,720 --> 00:50:45,400
of provisional republicanism,
711
00:50:45,400 --> 00:50:47,440
which had been hostile
towards the compromises
712
00:50:47,440 --> 00:50:51,240
which they saw as being involved
in electoral politics.
713
00:50:51,240 --> 00:50:53,480
At the time I think people saw it
714
00:50:53,480 --> 00:50:58,120
as a politicisation
of the hunger strike itself.
715
00:50:58,120 --> 00:51:00,760
And some people saw that
as a great thing,
716
00:51:00,760 --> 00:51:03,240
as a way of kind of
democratising that struggle.
717
00:51:03,240 --> 00:51:04,920
And some people saw it
as a cynical move.
718
00:51:04,920 --> 00:51:07,240
This was Sinn Fein
trying to take advantage
719
00:51:07,240 --> 00:51:10,760
of this extraordinary situation
that was going on within the prison.
720
00:51:19,040 --> 00:51:21,560
My body is broken and cold.
721
00:51:21,560 --> 00:51:23,520
I'm lonely and I need comfort.
722
00:51:25,360 --> 00:51:29,280
From somewhere afar I hear those
familiar voices which keep me going.
723
00:51:29,280 --> 00:51:30,880
"We're with you, son.
724
00:51:30,880 --> 00:51:32,880
"We are with you."
725
00:51:34,480 --> 00:51:37,840
I went in to get him to sign papers.
726
00:51:37,840 --> 00:51:40,760
At the time I was only 26, 27,
727
00:51:40,760 --> 00:51:42,360
and obviously didn't realise
728
00:51:42,360 --> 00:51:45,800
what maybe I was getting into.
729
00:51:45,800 --> 00:51:47,680
But, however,
730
00:51:47,680 --> 00:51:53,120
I said to him, I remember, and he
was a bit offended, I said to him,
731
00:51:53,120 --> 00:51:57,120
"If you ever think of changing
your mind about this, tell me."
732
00:51:57,120 --> 00:52:00,800
He says,
"That doesn't arise at all."
733
00:52:02,200 --> 00:52:05,920
I noticed that his dinner
was sitting on the tray.
734
00:52:07,160 --> 00:52:10,200
I did obviously realise
that this was a very serious place,
735
00:52:10,200 --> 00:52:13,160
and that this man meant business,
you know.
736
00:52:13,160 --> 00:52:15,760
And he did say to me,
he said he would die.
737
00:52:15,760 --> 00:52:18,040
He said, "I know that I will die."
738
00:52:30,240 --> 00:52:34,000
Hunger strikes
are a peculiarly modern tactic.
739
00:52:34,000 --> 00:52:35,680
They fit in two ways
with developments
740
00:52:35,680 --> 00:52:37,360
in the contemporary world,
741
00:52:37,360 --> 00:52:39,640
one of which is the power
of the media,
742
00:52:39,640 --> 00:52:42,920
which means that somebody suffering
in one place in the world
743
00:52:42,920 --> 00:52:45,240
can be accessible
to everybody in the world.
744
00:52:45,240 --> 00:52:49,320
So states become more and more
reluctant to create victims
745
00:52:49,320 --> 00:52:51,360
or create martyrs,
at least publicly.
746
00:52:51,360 --> 00:52:53,840
And therefore, if the state
is not going to create martyrs,
747
00:52:53,840 --> 00:52:56,280
people will have to make martyrs
of themselves.
748
00:52:58,600 --> 00:53:00,000
So in 1963,
749
00:53:00,000 --> 00:53:01,880
we saw the incredibly potent image
750
00:53:01,880 --> 00:53:04,000
of the Buddhist monk
from South Vietnam
751
00:53:04,000 --> 00:53:05,800
who set himself on fire.
752
00:53:05,800 --> 00:53:09,160
And that became an image
that was beamed around the world,
753
00:53:09,160 --> 00:53:12,600
and became crucial in undermining
the American regime
754
00:53:12,600 --> 00:53:14,640
in South Vietnam.
755
00:53:14,640 --> 00:53:18,760
And that's an example of the kind of
power of self-inflicted suffering
756
00:53:18,760 --> 00:53:22,320
to move people, even people who have
no connection with the struggle.
757
00:53:27,760 --> 00:53:31,400
So we were very conscious,
if we were to achieve anything
758
00:53:31,400 --> 00:53:33,480
within our own publicity,
759
00:53:33,480 --> 00:53:38,160
that the imagery of our prisoners...
We had to humanise them.
760
00:53:38,160 --> 00:53:41,120
Bobby had went into prison
very early,
761
00:53:41,120 --> 00:53:43,480
so there weren't really
any great photographs of him.
762
00:53:43,480 --> 00:53:45,000
I remember the ones we had taken,
763
00:53:45,000 --> 00:53:47,040
that's the ones when we were
in the prison.
764
00:53:49,280 --> 00:53:55,720
That particular one was Tomboy,
myself, Bobby and Denis.
765
00:53:55,720 --> 00:53:57,640
I don't know where the camera
came from.
766
00:53:57,640 --> 00:53:59,920
I still don't know where it came
from or who owned it
767
00:53:59,920 --> 00:54:01,560
and the photo was taken.
768
00:54:04,120 --> 00:54:07,840
The image doesn't give you any
deep reading of the expression
769
00:54:07,840 --> 00:54:09,240
or of that person.
770
00:54:09,240 --> 00:54:14,320
So the sort of ambiguity of
the image itself is crucial
771
00:54:14,320 --> 00:54:18,040
to the projection of martyrdom
onto the figure...
772
00:54:22,680 --> 00:54:25,880
..and it's really
this kind of dialogue
773
00:54:25,880 --> 00:54:28,240
between the image and the viewer,
774
00:54:28,240 --> 00:54:30,160
the viewer thinking of
the suffering,
775
00:54:30,160 --> 00:54:34,800
or the kind of otherworldliness
of what they've done.
776
00:54:37,960 --> 00:54:40,560
And images have a certain impact,
777
00:54:40,560 --> 00:54:43,400
or a certain potency, you could say.
778
00:54:43,400 --> 00:54:48,240
But it takes events
outside of the image to create
779
00:54:48,240 --> 00:54:52,200
the full kind of fusion,
if you like, of that iconography.
780
00:55:06,160 --> 00:55:08,120
NEWS PRESENTER:
After the First World War,
781
00:55:08,120 --> 00:55:11,160
Churchill wrote that entire
countries had been swept away,
782
00:55:11,160 --> 00:55:15,360
but the dreary spires of Fermanagh
and Tyrone still stood intact.
783
00:55:15,360 --> 00:55:19,240
There are 5,000 more nationalist
voters than unionist voters here,
784
00:55:19,240 --> 00:55:24,000
and only the unwillingness to elect
an IRA man will cut into that.
785
00:55:24,000 --> 00:55:29,400
Well, it's a terrible choice between
a provisional IRA man on one hand,
786
00:55:29,400 --> 00:55:33,040
and a reactionary
discredited unionist.
787
00:55:33,040 --> 00:55:37,480
So it is an acute dilemma for
a large number of Catholics
788
00:55:37,480 --> 00:55:39,640
in the constituency.
789
00:55:39,640 --> 00:55:41,720
People are not being asked
to come out
790
00:55:41,720 --> 00:55:43,760
and make any decision
in opposition to
791
00:55:43,760 --> 00:55:47,120
or in favour of violence
or armed struggle or anything else.
792
00:55:47,120 --> 00:55:50,320
Bobby Sands is the single
anti-unionist candidate
793
00:55:50,320 --> 00:55:53,040
in this election,
standing on a single issue.
794
00:56:00,320 --> 00:56:04,760
A lot of what Bobby Sands was doing
in a way was taking one truth
795
00:56:04,760 --> 00:56:07,520
and making a different truth.
796
00:56:07,520 --> 00:56:09,080
The truth he was taking
797
00:56:09,080 --> 00:56:13,040
was the truth that actually
the IRA was not suffering.
798
00:56:13,040 --> 00:56:16,320
The IRA was not a victim
in the Troubles.
799
00:56:18,600 --> 00:56:23,520
The vast majority of IRA killings
were pretty safe for the killer.
800
00:56:23,520 --> 00:56:26,200
Their classic weapon
was the car bomb.
801
00:56:26,200 --> 00:56:29,720
You set the bomb, you walked away
from the carnage, you were safe.
802
00:56:29,720 --> 00:56:32,400
You walked up to somebody's door,
you knocked on the door,
803
00:56:32,400 --> 00:56:34,760
you shot somebody in the head,
you walked away.
804
00:56:36,480 --> 00:56:39,480
You placed a mine on a road
when a British Army convoy
805
00:56:39,480 --> 00:56:42,560
was coming along,
and you did it by remote control.
806
00:56:44,280 --> 00:56:47,360
And remote control
is not the warrior's honour.
807
00:56:48,680 --> 00:56:52,920
What the hunger strikes did partly
for the IRA, I think,
808
00:56:52,920 --> 00:56:54,800
was reversed that truth.
809
00:56:56,000 --> 00:56:59,520
They couldn't do their courage
in the usual way that soldiers do,
810
00:56:59,520 --> 00:57:00,840
so how could you do it?
811
00:57:00,840 --> 00:57:02,280
You could do it by dying.
812
00:57:03,600 --> 00:57:06,200
Here was someone on their behalf,
almost, who was saying,
813
00:57:06,200 --> 00:57:08,320
"I will show exemplary courage,"
814
00:57:08,320 --> 00:57:10,800
and therefore somehow change
in people's heads
815
00:57:10,800 --> 00:57:13,320
the idea of what this movement
is about.
816
00:57:14,480 --> 00:57:17,920
He was only a child in '68 when
the civil rights movement started.
817
00:57:19,040 --> 00:57:22,440
But the IRA really didn't understand
what Bobby Sands was doing.
818
00:57:25,280 --> 00:57:27,360
What does the IRA go and do?
819
00:57:27,360 --> 00:57:31,000
Right in the heart of
the election campaign, they murder,
820
00:57:31,000 --> 00:57:34,440
in the most grotesque way,
Joanne Mathers, mother of two,
821
00:57:34,440 --> 00:57:37,800
for the awful crime
of collecting census forms.
822
00:57:40,720 --> 00:57:42,160
So they're saying, "You know what?
823
00:57:42,160 --> 00:57:44,680
"It still is about killing
and we're going to keep doing it."
824
00:57:44,680 --> 00:57:48,600
And for the voters in
Fermanagh South Tyrone,
825
00:57:48,600 --> 00:57:50,400
you have this awful dilemma.
826
00:57:50,400 --> 00:57:52,400
What are they actually voting for?
827
00:57:56,920 --> 00:58:00,080
Joanne Mathers is buried
on the day of the election results.
828
00:58:01,080 --> 00:58:04,600
So are they voting compassionately
to save a life
829
00:58:04,600 --> 00:58:07,080
or are they voting
for an organisation
830
00:58:07,080 --> 00:58:09,320
which is in the business
of taking life?
831
00:58:17,600 --> 00:58:20,440
The count took place in the
technical college in Enniskillen.
832
00:58:20,440 --> 00:58:24,520
I've never seen so many cameramen,
press, from Radio Moscow,
833
00:58:24,520 --> 00:58:29,320
Radio Prague, Australia, Japan,
all there because they saw this,
834
00:58:29,320 --> 00:58:32,480
I think, in terms of
David versus Goliath.
835
00:58:32,480 --> 00:58:34,680
There was Bobby Sands,
there was Thatcher.
836
00:58:36,000 --> 00:58:41,200
Sands, Bobby, Anti H-Block, Armagh,
837
00:58:41,200 --> 00:58:48,600
political prisoner - 30,492.
CHEERING
838
00:58:48,600 --> 00:58:52,800
West, Henry W, Ulster Unionist -
839
00:58:52,800 --> 00:58:56,640
29,046.
840
00:58:56,640 --> 00:59:01,600
And I declare that Bobby Sands
has been duly elected
841
00:59:01,600 --> 00:59:04,880
to serve as a member
for this constituency.
842
00:59:04,880 --> 00:59:07,360
CHEERING
843
00:59:07,360 --> 00:59:11,480
I always remember the smile on
his mother and his sister's face.
844
00:59:11,480 --> 00:59:14,800
I presume they would have believed
and hoped
845
00:59:14,800 --> 00:59:17,680
that it would have saved his life.
846
00:59:17,680 --> 00:59:20,920
I went in to see him the next day
and he was pleased,
847
00:59:20,920 --> 00:59:23,960
but he said to me, he says,
"It makes no difference."
848
00:59:23,960 --> 00:59:26,000
He said, "It will make
no difference to me."
849
00:59:26,000 --> 00:59:28,680
He knew. He seemed to have it
worked out, you know?
850
00:59:28,680 --> 00:59:31,840
It is a tremendous boost
for the H-Block campaign,
851
00:59:31,840 --> 00:59:34,160
but it's bound to be regarded
throughout the world
852
00:59:34,160 --> 00:59:35,960
as much more than that -
853
00:59:35,960 --> 00:59:38,520
as a victory for the IRA.
854
00:59:38,520 --> 00:59:42,280
NEWS PRESENTER: Sands's election to
parliament embarrassed the British
855
00:59:42,280 --> 00:59:45,640
and it has made Sands more than the
folk hero he had already become.
856
00:59:45,640 --> 00:59:49,400
This 11-year-old boy sitting
on the debris of a recent riot
857
00:59:49,400 --> 00:59:51,800
says Sands is dying for him.
858
00:59:51,800 --> 00:59:54,160
POLICE OFFICER: You are causing
an obstruction.
859
00:59:54,160 --> 00:59:56,160
You are required to disperse.
860
00:59:57,880 --> 01:00:00,280
I have no doubts or regrets
about what I am doing
861
01:00:00,280 --> 01:00:03,240
for I know what I have faced
for eight years,
862
01:00:03,240 --> 01:00:06,760
and in particular for the last four
and a half years, others will face.
863
01:00:09,280 --> 01:00:11,600
All men must have hope
and never lose heart...
864
01:00:13,520 --> 01:00:16,600
..but my hope lies in the ultimate
victory for my poor people.
865
01:00:18,000 --> 01:00:19,840
Is there any hope greater than that?
866
01:00:31,960 --> 01:00:35,400
England was the big fish
in the small pool,
867
01:00:35,400 --> 01:00:41,840
and then suddenly the big whale
of America swims in.
868
01:00:41,840 --> 01:00:45,920
If America gets involved,
everything changes.
869
01:01:01,800 --> 01:01:03,360
They are political prisoners,
870
01:01:03,360 --> 01:01:05,280
whether the British
say they are or not.
871
01:01:05,280 --> 01:01:07,080
And let's pray for a united Ireland.
872
01:01:07,080 --> 01:01:10,520
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
INDISTINCT CHEERING
873
01:01:15,000 --> 01:01:17,720
We are screaming
that the British Government
874
01:01:17,720 --> 01:01:19,520
has to end the war.
875
01:01:21,240 --> 01:01:25,000
I believed that the solution
was getting America involved.
876
01:01:25,000 --> 01:01:29,000
The more people who put pressure
on the American government
877
01:01:29,000 --> 01:01:30,520
to do something, the better.
878
01:01:34,360 --> 01:01:36,360
It was a difficult one
879
01:01:36,360 --> 01:01:40,320
to explain to an Irish-American
audience.
880
01:01:40,320 --> 01:01:46,040
This is being used to whip up
support for a violent movement.
881
01:01:47,600 --> 01:01:50,760
But when you are conveying
a complex message
882
01:01:50,760 --> 01:01:56,920
against the Provos' simple message -
"Brits out" - our job was not easy.
883
01:02:00,240 --> 01:02:02,040
Here we were in America at the time,
884
01:02:02,040 --> 01:02:05,840
and the narrative that we had come
to accept about the Troubles
885
01:02:05,840 --> 01:02:09,320
in Northern Ireland
was a romantic group of victims,
886
01:02:09,320 --> 01:02:11,760
that when they went to the streets,
887
01:02:11,760 --> 01:02:17,640
they were doing it out of a sense
of pride and desperation.
888
01:02:17,640 --> 01:02:20,440
It was a romanticised version
of the problem.
889
01:02:22,760 --> 01:02:26,840
And in comes this character
named Bobby Sands,
890
01:02:26,840 --> 01:02:31,320
and what he did
was a brilliant political move.
891
01:02:31,320 --> 01:02:35,920
There was a sense here of people
ready to transcend the past.
892
01:02:36,960 --> 01:02:40,520
There were voices, including,
most prominently, Senator Kennedy's,
893
01:02:40,520 --> 01:02:43,120
that found a way of saying,
894
01:02:43,120 --> 01:02:48,040
"We must help the British appreciate
that they should meet the conditions
895
01:02:48,040 --> 01:02:51,600
"Bobby and the other hunger strikers
had set forth."
896
01:02:52,880 --> 01:02:56,640
And I think something
we didn't quite appreciate
897
01:02:56,640 --> 01:02:59,080
was just how stubborn the British
could be,
898
01:02:59,080 --> 01:03:01,120
even against their own interests.
899
01:03:01,120 --> 01:03:03,680
Oh, no. I mean, nobody would suggest
for a moment, would they,
900
01:03:03,680 --> 01:03:06,160
that an MP who commits an offence
and is sentenced to prison
901
01:03:06,160 --> 01:03:08,240
should be treated differently
from anybody else?
902
01:03:08,240 --> 01:03:11,040
I'm not suggesting it, and I don't
think anybody else is either.
903
01:03:11,040 --> 01:03:13,360
That's where the diplomatic effort
comes in.
904
01:03:13,360 --> 01:03:15,480
They have to up their
counter-propaganda efforts,
905
01:03:15,480 --> 01:03:17,000
and it is counter-propaganda.
906
01:03:17,000 --> 01:03:20,320
It is about an image of what you're
trying to project to the world.
907
01:03:23,240 --> 01:03:25,480
Sinn Fein rejected
the British Parliament anyway,
908
01:03:25,480 --> 01:03:27,240
so it was a sort of publicity stunt,
909
01:03:27,240 --> 01:03:30,160
but it was a publicity stunt
with the power of votes.
910
01:03:30,160 --> 01:03:33,520
And that was alarming.
911
01:03:35,200 --> 01:03:38,640
Mrs Thatcher was a very conscious of
the propaganda battle in Washington
912
01:03:38,640 --> 01:03:39,760
and she fought it back.
913
01:03:39,760 --> 01:03:43,840
Irish-Americans, including
Teddy Kennedy, God bless him,
914
01:03:43,840 --> 01:03:47,280
were scared off,
because criticise the British,
915
01:03:47,280 --> 01:03:50,240
and you'll be seen as
supporting the IRA.
916
01:03:50,240 --> 01:03:55,360
And that was the simple tactic of
both the British and Irish embassy,
917
01:03:55,360 --> 01:03:59,560
and it worked. While we might ask
the American administration
918
01:03:59,560 --> 01:04:02,280
to ask Thatcher
to soften her stance,
919
01:04:02,280 --> 01:04:06,720
we were not going to ask them to
intervene in an active sense
920
01:04:06,720 --> 01:04:08,480
in the affairs of another country.
921
01:04:08,480 --> 01:04:14,200
They had larger concerns involving
the IRA as a troublesome element,
922
01:04:14,200 --> 01:04:16,240
and a criminal element,
in many eyes,
923
01:04:16,240 --> 01:04:20,040
and I think that just trumped
the issue.
924
01:04:20,040 --> 01:04:22,880
But of course, not that long after
the start of the hunger strike,
925
01:04:22,880 --> 01:04:24,320
President Reagan is shot.
926
01:04:24,320 --> 01:04:27,600
He's out of action
for about ten days in the hospital,
927
01:04:27,600 --> 01:04:30,960
and we were about to break
diplomatic relationships
928
01:04:30,960 --> 01:04:33,720
with Libya on the issue
of terrorism.
929
01:04:35,880 --> 01:04:37,040
At the end of the day,
930
01:04:37,040 --> 01:04:39,760
the view of the White House
was that while, in a sense,
931
01:04:39,760 --> 01:04:43,720
you could say that a man like
Bobby Sands was a prisoner
932
01:04:43,720 --> 01:04:49,040
of conscience,
that cause and that organisation
933
01:04:49,040 --> 01:04:51,160
is also a terrorist organisation.
934
01:04:57,840 --> 01:05:00,160
I was thinking today
about the hunger strike.
935
01:05:01,520 --> 01:05:04,360
People say a lot about the body.
I don't trust it.
936
01:05:05,480 --> 01:05:08,040
I consider
there is a kind of fate indeed.
937
01:05:09,680 --> 01:05:12,400
Firstly, the body doesn't accept
the lack of food...
938
01:05:14,560 --> 01:05:16,960
..and it suffers from
the temptation of food.
939
01:05:19,320 --> 01:05:21,000
The body fights back, sure enough...
940
01:05:22,120 --> 01:05:25,000
..but at the end of the day,
everything returns
941
01:05:25,000 --> 01:05:28,080
to the primary consideration -
that is, the mind.
942
01:05:34,120 --> 01:05:36,640
So loss of weight the first month
is gradual,
943
01:05:36,640 --> 01:05:39,280
and it's not as catastrophic
as one would imagine.
944
01:05:39,280 --> 01:05:43,480
And during that month the body
is not yet digesting itself.
945
01:05:43,480 --> 01:05:46,280
It's not the weight change
which radically changes.
946
01:05:46,280 --> 01:05:49,120
It's the effects of the whole
fasting which kicks in.
947
01:05:50,320 --> 01:05:54,360
Between 35 and 45 days is what
the Chief Medical Officer told me...
948
01:05:54,360 --> 01:05:56,960
What he called
the ocular motor phase.
949
01:05:56,960 --> 01:06:00,000
The muscles in your eyes don't work
as well as they should
950
01:06:00,000 --> 01:06:01,640
and you get nystagmus.
951
01:06:01,640 --> 01:06:04,680
You get these rapid eye movements
which are uncontrollable,
952
01:06:04,680 --> 01:06:06,240
and it's extremely unpleasant.
953
01:06:06,240 --> 01:06:09,040
It causes vomiting, and it was
the phase that hunger strikers
954
01:06:09,040 --> 01:06:11,440
who were beginning to strike
feared the most.
955
01:06:14,000 --> 01:06:16,760
After day 45, all of a sudden
the vertigo stops.
956
01:06:19,680 --> 01:06:20,960
After the vertigo ends,
957
01:06:20,960 --> 01:06:24,360
the person comprehends everything
and he can make a rational decision.
958
01:06:24,360 --> 01:06:27,240
But this is not going to last
very long, and you have this entity
959
01:06:27,240 --> 01:06:29,400
called anosognosia
which means the person
960
01:06:29,400 --> 01:06:33,800
does no longer realise exactly how
serious the situation is.
961
01:06:38,560 --> 01:06:41,000
Maggie! Out! Maggie! Out!
962
01:06:41,000 --> 01:06:43,120
Maggie, Maggie, Maggie!
Out, out, out!
963
01:06:48,000 --> 01:06:50,280
You could very quickly see
on the streets of Dublin,
964
01:06:50,280 --> 01:06:51,360
on the streets of Cork,
965
01:06:51,360 --> 01:06:54,080
that the emotional power
was beginning to draw in people
966
01:06:54,080 --> 01:06:57,080
who had not previously been
involved in Republican politics
967
01:06:57,080 --> 01:06:59,560
and had probably not even been
involved in politics at all.
968
01:07:00,760 --> 01:07:03,120
And that's what terrified
the southern government.
969
01:07:03,120 --> 01:07:05,680
I mean, they were really
very, very scared by this.
970
01:07:09,720 --> 01:07:11,720
You've got to remember,
in the Republic,
971
01:07:11,720 --> 01:07:14,120
most people didn't want to know
about the North.
972
01:07:14,120 --> 01:07:17,480
You know, they had been
psychologically prepared
973
01:07:17,480 --> 01:07:20,760
to wake up in the morning
and hear the latest atrocity
974
01:07:20,760 --> 01:07:22,840
and then try to get on with
the rest of the day
975
01:07:22,840 --> 01:07:24,320
without paying any attention to it.
976
01:07:24,320 --> 01:07:26,360
There was this terror
that the Troubles
977
01:07:26,360 --> 01:07:28,960
were going to spill
across the border.
978
01:07:30,200 --> 01:07:32,600
But Fianna Fail, which was
the dominant political party
979
01:07:32,600 --> 01:07:33,840
in the south,
980
01:07:33,840 --> 01:07:35,400
was particularly sensitive to this
981
01:07:35,400 --> 01:07:38,880
because it had put itself forward
as being the real Republican party
982
01:07:38,880 --> 01:07:40,640
on the islands of Ireland.
983
01:07:40,640 --> 01:07:45,160
In my view, a declaration by the
British Government of their interest
984
01:07:45,160 --> 01:07:47,200
in encouraging the unity
of Ireland...
985
01:07:47,200 --> 01:07:50,840
CHEERING DROWNS SPEECH
986
01:07:50,840 --> 01:07:52,760
And then, with the hunger strikes,
987
01:07:52,760 --> 01:07:58,880
you had Sinn Fein and the IRA making
a really vivid claim to saying,
988
01:07:58,880 --> 01:08:01,560
"You are not the Republicans,
we are the Republicans."
989
01:08:01,560 --> 01:08:03,080
You can pull up your rhetoric,
990
01:08:03,080 --> 01:08:05,840
we can pull up the bodies
of starving men.
991
01:08:05,840 --> 01:08:10,040
I'm continually... I'm still very
deeply concerned and anxious
992
01:08:10,040 --> 01:08:13,320
about the H-Block situation.
993
01:08:13,320 --> 01:08:16,040
And the British Government
fully understand that concern.
994
01:08:16,040 --> 01:08:18,120
An election is pending.
995
01:08:18,120 --> 01:08:20,560
Now, that is what worries
Mr Haughey,
996
01:08:20,560 --> 01:08:22,600
that he is going to lose power.
997
01:08:22,600 --> 01:08:26,200
The electoral arithmetic
is very tight
998
01:08:26,200 --> 01:08:29,000
and any growth in support
for H-Block supporters
999
01:08:29,000 --> 01:08:32,880
could be translated into elections
to the Dail,
1000
01:08:32,880 --> 01:08:36,240
and you see an increasing number
of desperate attempts
1001
01:08:36,240 --> 01:08:39,000
to try and produce some sort
of initiative - anything.
1002
01:08:42,640 --> 01:08:45,360
Mr Bobby Sands,
the IRA hunger striker,
1003
01:08:45,360 --> 01:08:47,920
has been given the last rites
by a Roman Catholic priest
1004
01:08:47,920 --> 01:08:50,960
in the hospital of the Maze prison
near Belfast.
1005
01:08:50,960 --> 01:08:53,400
The Northern Ireland Office
has granted his request
1006
01:08:53,400 --> 01:08:56,960
for a special visit from the Dublin
MPs Sile de Valera, Neil Blaney
1007
01:08:56,960 --> 01:08:58,120
and John O'Connell,
1008
01:08:58,120 --> 01:09:01,560
in the hope that they can persuade
him to give up his seven-week fast.
1009
01:09:04,240 --> 01:09:06,720
It was a very, obviously,
emotional meeting.
1010
01:09:06,720 --> 01:09:08,920
Dr John O'Connell,
who was Health Minister,
1011
01:09:08,920 --> 01:09:11,880
he says to Neil Blaney,
"I'm going to ask him to come off."
1012
01:09:11,880 --> 01:09:14,080
And Blaney says, "Don't.
You can't do that."
1013
01:09:14,080 --> 01:09:15,360
He says, "I am. I have to."
1014
01:09:18,120 --> 01:09:21,080
He was very ill.
He was blind in one eye,
1015
01:09:21,080 --> 01:09:23,040
because I always remember him
rubbing his eye.
1016
01:09:23,040 --> 01:09:25,040
And Sile de Valera was crying.
1017
01:09:26,880 --> 01:09:30,600
O'Connell pressed Bobby to come off
but he said he wasn't
1018
01:09:30,600 --> 01:09:32,600
and he told him about
all the suffering
1019
01:09:32,600 --> 01:09:36,080
that they had done in the H-Blocks.
1020
01:09:36,080 --> 01:09:39,840
And that only exacerbated
the situation with Sile de Valera,
1021
01:09:39,840 --> 01:09:42,520
because she was actually crying
into an awful state then
1022
01:09:42,520 --> 01:09:44,880
when she heard
all that was going on, you know?
1023
01:09:47,480 --> 01:09:49,520
I found that I could not
persuade him.
1024
01:09:49,520 --> 01:09:51,720
I emphasised how important
his own life was.
1025
01:09:51,720 --> 01:09:53,560
I didn't think a life
was worth that.
1026
01:09:53,560 --> 01:09:54,920
But he was very determined
1027
01:09:54,920 --> 01:09:58,160
and I got the impression he was
fully resigned to die.
1028
01:09:58,160 --> 01:10:00,600
I've saw in this man
more determination
1029
01:10:00,600 --> 01:10:04,760
than I've ever seen
in any person before.
1030
01:10:04,760 --> 01:10:08,520
He now weighs 47kg.
1031
01:10:08,520 --> 01:10:12,160
He cannot read and he cannot focus
his eyesight
1032
01:10:12,160 --> 01:10:14,880
and believes he is going blind.
1033
01:10:14,880 --> 01:10:18,600
Himself thinks he has possibly
three or four days left to live.
1034
01:10:22,600 --> 01:10:26,280
There can be no possible concessions
on political status.
1035
01:10:26,280 --> 01:10:31,640
To do that, in fact, would put
many, many people into jeopardy.
1036
01:10:33,200 --> 01:10:36,880
If everyone said that a crime
which you and I regard as a crime,
1037
01:10:36,880 --> 01:10:39,560
described as a crime,
and which is a crime,
1038
01:10:39,560 --> 01:10:42,480
if ever there was an attempt to say
it is not a crime, it's political,
1039
01:10:42,480 --> 01:10:45,040
then everyone, I'm afraid,
would go in fear.
1040
01:10:45,040 --> 01:10:48,360
The prisoners are clearly recognised
as political prisoners.
1041
01:10:48,360 --> 01:10:52,000
It is stupid of Mrs Thatcher,
and it's idiotic of her,
1042
01:10:52,000 --> 01:10:54,680
to turn around and say,
"A crime is a crime is a crime."
1043
01:10:58,840 --> 01:11:02,120
When you have both protagonists
taking public stances,
1044
01:11:02,120 --> 01:11:04,960
what is lacking is trust.
1045
01:11:04,960 --> 01:11:08,880
The Government's position is there
will be no negotiations before
1046
01:11:08,880 --> 01:11:13,200
the end of the strike. Of course,
the prisoners didn't believe them,
1047
01:11:13,200 --> 01:11:15,800
and neither side wants to lose face,
1048
01:11:15,800 --> 01:11:17,520
and that's the tragedy of it.
1049
01:11:46,880 --> 01:11:48,680
NEWS PRESENTERS:
The IRA's Bobby Sands,
1050
01:11:48,680 --> 01:11:50,480
nearly blind and close to death,
1051
01:11:50,480 --> 01:11:53,360
today refused to meet with
two human rights mediators who went
1052
01:11:53,360 --> 01:11:56,640
to Maze Prison to try to persuade
Sands to end his hunger strike.
1053
01:11:56,640 --> 01:11:59,080
The authorities would not agree
to Mr Sands's conditions,
1054
01:11:59,080 --> 01:12:01,800
that his friends would be with him
when he met the delegation,
1055
01:12:01,800 --> 01:12:05,280
and the commissioners will not
now be taking up his case.
1056
01:12:05,280 --> 01:12:07,960
Outside the prison,
a group of loyalist protesters
1057
01:12:07,960 --> 01:12:09,120
angrily put the point
1058
01:12:09,120 --> 01:12:11,480
that the people in real need of
human rights justice
1059
01:12:11,480 --> 01:12:14,720
are those who'd suffered
as a result of IRA killings.
1060
01:12:14,720 --> 01:12:17,600
Bobby Sands is putting on
a performance for the world.
1061
01:12:17,600 --> 01:12:22,200
He is trying to get the maximum
publicity possible for his cause.
1062
01:12:22,200 --> 01:12:23,880
That is a cause
that has murdered people,
1063
01:12:23,880 --> 01:12:26,240
that has murdered children
in my constituency.
1064
01:12:26,240 --> 01:12:28,600
That's the cause
that Bobby Sands represents.
1065
01:12:30,520 --> 01:12:33,280
The Protestants are delighted that
Sands chose not to let
1066
01:12:33,280 --> 01:12:37,040
the Human Rights Commission
intervene to stop the hunger strike,
1067
01:12:37,040 --> 01:12:40,000
and ironically,
many Irish Republican sympathisers
1068
01:12:40,000 --> 01:12:44,080
are also happy that apparently Sands
still chooses death.
1069
01:12:44,080 --> 01:12:47,680
One said, "The IRA needs a martyr,
and Sands is a good one."
1070
01:12:54,600 --> 01:12:57,440
It has been some time since
Republican sympathisers
1071
01:12:57,440 --> 01:13:00,080
marched through Belfast
with quite this degree of support
1072
01:13:00,080 --> 01:13:02,120
and this degree
of emotional intensity,
1073
01:13:02,120 --> 01:13:04,960
and it took place in a mood of
bitterness and confusion
1074
01:13:04,960 --> 01:13:07,680
generated by the breakdown
of the mediation effort
1075
01:13:07,680 --> 01:13:09,400
by the human rights commissioners.
1076
01:13:09,400 --> 01:13:11,400
The Irish Prime Minister,
Mr Haughey,
1077
01:13:11,400 --> 01:13:14,840
came in for as much hostility
from the marchers as Mrs Thatcher.
1078
01:13:19,720 --> 01:13:23,720
We were helpless in terms of getting
the administration to intervene.
1079
01:13:23,720 --> 01:13:27,720
Ed Meese at that stage
was his chief of staff.
1080
01:13:27,720 --> 01:13:28,960
So I went to see Meese
1081
01:13:28,960 --> 01:13:32,560
and he started the conversation
by telling me
1082
01:13:32,560 --> 01:13:35,280
that, "We've had to deal with
difficult prison situations
1083
01:13:35,280 --> 01:13:37,680
"in California.
In dealing with prisoners,
1084
01:13:37,680 --> 01:13:41,920
"they only understand one thing,
and that's toughness.
1085
01:13:41,920 --> 01:13:45,400
"So I'm not going to advise
the President to phone
1086
01:13:45,400 --> 01:13:49,120
"the British Prime Minister
to dilute her toughness."
1087
01:13:49,120 --> 01:13:51,920
But it was a gift to the Provos.
1088
01:14:09,760 --> 01:14:12,600
Bobby Sands was reported
closer to death today...
1089
01:14:12,600 --> 01:14:15,560
Tension increased throughout Belfast
and there was more violence...
1090
01:14:15,560 --> 01:14:17,720
At the Vatican, Pope John Paul
begged the world...
1091
01:14:17,720 --> 01:14:20,680
NEWSREADER SPEAKS FRENCH
1092
01:14:24,320 --> 01:14:27,480
I believe I am but another
of those wretched Irishmen
1093
01:14:27,480 --> 01:14:30,280
born of a risen generation
1094
01:14:30,280 --> 01:14:33,360
with a deeply rooted and
unquenchable desire for freedom.
1095
01:14:35,760 --> 01:14:39,160
I may be a sinner, but I stand,
1096
01:14:39,160 --> 01:14:40,720
and if it so be will die...
1097
01:14:42,560 --> 01:14:44,840
..happy knowing
that I do not have to answer
1098
01:14:44,840 --> 01:14:47,800
for what these people have done
to our ancient nation.
1099
01:14:59,760 --> 01:15:02,280
I was in the prison hospital.
1100
01:15:02,280 --> 01:15:04,880
The scene that greeted my eyes,
I couldn't believe.
1101
01:15:06,800 --> 01:15:10,040
He was lying on his back.
There was a cage.
1102
01:15:10,040 --> 01:15:12,240
The blankets were covering the cage
1103
01:15:12,240 --> 01:15:14,920
because they couldn't touch
his body.
1104
01:15:14,920 --> 01:15:16,840
And he said, "Who's that?"
1105
01:15:16,840 --> 01:15:19,120
And I said, "It's Jim, Bobby."
1106
01:15:19,120 --> 01:15:22,200
He said, "I can't see. I'm blind."
1107
01:15:24,520 --> 01:15:26,000
HE EXHALES SHAKILY
1108
01:15:28,760 --> 01:15:30,360
He reached out his hand.
1109
01:15:36,040 --> 01:15:37,080
We touched...
1110
01:15:39,200 --> 01:15:40,440
..we said goodbye...
1111
01:15:42,000 --> 01:15:46,840
..and he said,
"Tell the lads I'm hanging in."
1112
01:15:47,920 --> 01:15:50,240
This is the last visit
you'll have with him.
1113
01:15:50,240 --> 01:15:52,680
That's right.
Did you say goodbye to Bobby?
1114
01:15:52,680 --> 01:15:54,000
Yeah, we said goodbye.
1115
01:15:54,000 --> 01:15:56,520
And he just asked me,
"Was there any change?"
1116
01:15:56,520 --> 01:15:58,200
I told him there wasn't.
1117
01:15:58,200 --> 01:15:59,880
And he just said, "That's it, then."
1118
01:15:59,880 --> 01:16:02,040
He says, "Look after me ma.
1119
01:16:02,040 --> 01:16:04,120
"Go and see me ma."
1120
01:16:04,120 --> 01:16:05,640
So...
1121
01:16:05,640 --> 01:16:07,640
I would like to appeal
to the people...
1122
01:16:09,320 --> 01:16:12,360
..to remain calm
and have no fighting
1123
01:16:12,360 --> 01:16:14,880
or cause no death or destruction.
1124
01:16:14,880 --> 01:16:18,560
My son's offered his life
for better conditions in prison,
1125
01:16:18,560 --> 01:16:22,320
but not to cause
further death outside.
1126
01:16:22,320 --> 01:16:24,760
That's all I can say.
How is he today?
1127
01:16:24,760 --> 01:16:26,680
He's dying.
1128
01:16:37,120 --> 01:16:39,520
I can hear the curlew
passing overhead.
1129
01:16:44,480 --> 01:16:45,880
Such a lonely cell.
1130
01:16:47,120 --> 01:16:48,680
Such a lonely struggle.
1131
01:16:53,000 --> 01:16:55,240
But, my friend...
1132
01:16:56,760 --> 01:17:01,880
..this road is well trod,
and he, whoever he was
1133
01:17:01,880 --> 01:17:05,200
who first passed this way...
1134
01:17:05,200 --> 01:17:07,320
deserves the salute of the nation.
1135
01:17:11,520 --> 01:17:13,200
I am but a mere follower...
1136
01:17:14,680 --> 01:17:18,840
..and I must say oiche mhaith.
1137
01:17:18,840 --> 01:17:20,680
Goodnight.
1138
01:17:29,520 --> 01:17:32,400
NEWS PRESENTER: Bobby Sands's death
by hunger strike guarantees him
1139
01:17:32,400 --> 01:17:33,920
a place in the Republican pantheon,
1140
01:17:33,920 --> 01:17:36,280
an assured estimation
as an IRA martyr,
1141
01:17:36,280 --> 01:17:39,360
and one of the small but select
group whose self-inflicted deaths
1142
01:17:39,360 --> 01:17:42,880
have punctuated Irish history
during the 20th century.
1143
01:17:42,880 --> 01:17:44,800
Now, it's too soon to say,
and no-one knows...
1144
01:17:44,800 --> 01:17:46,080
SPEECH FADES OUT
1145
01:17:53,080 --> 01:17:56,600
I was actually home
when the word came through.
1146
01:17:56,600 --> 01:17:59,040
It was weird, because no-one spoke.
1147
01:18:04,800 --> 01:18:05,880
And...
1148
01:18:07,280 --> 01:18:10,400
They just walked down the street.
1149
01:18:10,400 --> 01:18:12,200
INDISTINCT SPEECH
1150
01:18:12,200 --> 01:18:14,760
And someone started singing
Faith Of Our Fathers.
1151
01:18:16,400 --> 01:18:18,480
And as they walked round
the neighbourhood,
1152
01:18:18,480 --> 01:18:21,880
it was one of the most spiritual
experiences ever.
1153
01:18:21,880 --> 01:18:25,280
Bearing in mind Bobby had gone,
it was almost as if...
1154
01:18:26,520 --> 01:18:30,880
..he has given us something new,
the strength of these people.
1155
01:18:30,880 --> 01:18:33,400
INDISTINCT SPEECH
1156
01:18:40,520 --> 01:18:42,960
NEWS PRESENTER: In Moscow,
the Soviet news agency Tass
1157
01:18:42,960 --> 01:18:45,440
described Bobby Sands
as a fighter for civil liberties
1158
01:18:45,440 --> 01:18:48,520
and the Maze Prison
as a concentration camp.
1159
01:18:48,520 --> 01:18:52,120
Tass said Sands had been condemned
to death by the government's refusal
1160
01:18:52,120 --> 01:18:53,920
to meet his demand
for political status.
1161
01:18:58,040 --> 01:19:00,560
The British Government's failure
to even attempt
1162
01:19:00,560 --> 01:19:04,560
to work for humanitarian resolution
reflects the moral bankruptcy
1163
01:19:04,560 --> 01:19:07,280
of their policies
in Northern Ireland.
1164
01:19:08,360 --> 01:19:12,920
It is my hope that the call of
Bobby Sands's mother for nonviolence
1165
01:19:12,920 --> 01:19:16,080
will be followed,
so that the British Government
1166
01:19:16,080 --> 01:19:17,440
can suffer the glare
1167
01:19:17,440 --> 01:19:20,680
of a much-deserved negative
world reaction.
1168
01:19:39,520 --> 01:19:44,280
One of the grim features of Irish
political history is it often seems
1169
01:19:44,280 --> 01:19:48,360
impaled by terrible events, by
catastrophe, down the centuries.
1170
01:19:51,720 --> 01:19:57,160
The death of Sands cast a foreshadow
of uncertainty and apprehension
1171
01:19:57,160 --> 01:19:58,840
on the island.
1172
01:20:00,560 --> 01:20:03,560
Was it one of those events
that changed things utterly,
1173
01:20:03,560 --> 01:20:08,200
to adapt William Butler Yeats,
speaking as he was of Easter 1916?
1174
01:20:14,160 --> 01:20:20,040
Certainly power beyond the facts
of some sort was going on.
1175
01:20:21,680 --> 01:20:26,560
Some seductive mystique
was once again being generated -
1176
01:20:29,680 --> 01:20:34,520
that curious mystique
of Irish republicanism,
1177
01:20:34,520 --> 01:20:36,720
physical-force Irish republicanism.
1178
01:21:01,000 --> 01:21:05,640
One of the great strengths
of Irish nationalism as a force
1179
01:21:05,640 --> 01:21:09,840
is its brilliant ability
to take the dead
1180
01:21:09,840 --> 01:21:13,080
and reshape them
as mythological characters.
1181
01:21:14,960 --> 01:21:18,800
And so Bobby Sands, of course,
through the funeral,
1182
01:21:18,800 --> 01:21:20,720
which was an extraordinary event...
1183
01:21:20,720 --> 01:21:25,600
He is sucked immediately into this
kind of mythological tradition,
1184
01:21:25,600 --> 01:21:29,520
and making it into something that's
no longer individual but in fact
1185
01:21:29,520 --> 01:21:33,960
has become timeless and historic
and some kind of essence
1186
01:21:33,960 --> 01:21:36,040
of what it means to be Irish.
1187
01:21:50,800 --> 01:21:52,280
Until Bobby died,
1188
01:21:52,280 --> 01:21:56,840
there was always the hope
that the British would introduce
1189
01:21:56,840 --> 01:22:01,040
some sort of reforms
to end the hunger strike.
1190
01:22:01,040 --> 01:22:02,560
But they didn't.
1191
01:22:04,320 --> 01:22:08,280
And then it was simply
a waiting game as we counted down
1192
01:22:08,280 --> 01:22:10,000
through the rest of our comrades.
1193
01:22:14,400 --> 01:22:19,200
Bobby Sands died a week ago, and the
British Government did not relent.
1194
01:22:19,200 --> 01:22:23,080
Do you believe that your brother's
death will make any difference
1195
01:22:23,080 --> 01:22:25,920
to their attitudes? Hopefully, yes.
1196
01:22:25,920 --> 01:22:28,640
But I would just like to say
that Margaret Thatcher
1197
01:22:28,640 --> 01:22:31,360
and the British Government
has murdered my brother.
1198
01:22:50,760 --> 01:22:52,360
They cannot break these men.
1199
01:22:52,360 --> 01:22:55,360
They cannot force these men
to accept criminal status.
1200
01:22:55,360 --> 01:22:57,720
They will carry it through,
because there was
1201
01:22:57,720 --> 01:23:00,400
another Republican hunger striker,
Terence MacSwiney,
1202
01:23:00,400 --> 01:23:02,560
and he left the Republicans
as saying,
1203
01:23:02,560 --> 01:23:04,960
"It is not those who can inflict
the most,
1204
01:23:04,960 --> 01:23:08,280
"but those who can suffer the most
who will win in the end."
1205
01:23:29,280 --> 01:23:32,320
Mrs Thatcher realised that,
terrible thought it would be,
1206
01:23:32,320 --> 01:23:36,320
the more people died,
the worse it would get for the IRA.
1207
01:23:36,320 --> 01:23:38,520
It didn't mean that she wanted
more people to die,
1208
01:23:38,520 --> 01:23:42,800
but she understood that the oddness
of the hunger strike as a weapon
1209
01:23:42,800 --> 01:23:45,000
was that it weakened
with each death.
1210
01:23:50,720 --> 01:23:53,960
The pressure comes on the people
who are organising the striking,
1211
01:23:53,960 --> 01:23:56,920
doesn't it? Why are we dying
if we're not getting anything?
1212
01:23:56,920 --> 01:23:59,640
CHEERING
1213
01:24:05,840 --> 01:24:09,480
She would think, what's the IRA
doing that they want mothers' sons
1214
01:24:09,480 --> 01:24:11,680
to die? What about the families?
1215
01:24:13,200 --> 01:24:15,880
And, indeed, that became an issue
in the hunger strike.
1216
01:24:25,880 --> 01:24:27,440
Throughout the hunger strike,
1217
01:24:27,440 --> 01:24:30,560
the prisoners in the Maze
rejected appeals to end their fast.
1218
01:24:30,560 --> 01:24:33,080
Papal envoys, priests, politicians,
1219
01:24:33,080 --> 01:24:35,280
Red Cross delegations
all came and went
1220
01:24:35,280 --> 01:24:37,600
without changing
the men's attitudes.
1221
01:24:37,600 --> 01:24:40,400
The cracks began to show
in the campaign
1222
01:24:40,400 --> 01:24:43,200
not inside the prison,
but from outside.
1223
01:24:43,200 --> 01:24:47,080
One by one, the prisoners reached
a crucial stage of their fast.
1224
01:24:47,080 --> 01:24:50,200
One by one, their families
stepped in to stop them dying.
1225
01:24:59,240 --> 01:25:01,040
Now, let me make it absolutely clear
1226
01:25:01,040 --> 01:25:03,000
as I say a word
about the hunger strike.
1227
01:25:04,080 --> 01:25:07,840
No concessions
have been made to the IRA
1228
01:25:07,840 --> 01:25:11,520
and there will be no perpetration
1229
01:25:11,520 --> 01:25:16,800
of anything
which looks like concessions
1230
01:25:16,800 --> 01:25:19,440
to those who commit violence.
1231
01:25:55,000 --> 01:25:57,640
The real irony
is that Bobby Sands...
1232
01:25:57,640 --> 01:26:02,280
He saw himself as a soldier
in the armed struggle of the IRA,
1233
01:26:02,280 --> 01:26:06,200
yet winning that election had
a really profound effect in terms
1234
01:26:06,200 --> 01:26:10,360
of reshaping the whole idea of what
Sinn Fein and the IRA could achieve.
1235
01:26:10,360 --> 01:26:14,760
Just through using the rhetoric
and using the imagery
1236
01:26:14,760 --> 01:26:17,120
that Bobby Sands had unleashed,
1237
01:26:17,120 --> 01:26:21,600
but using it in a way
that was persuasive to enough people
1238
01:26:21,600 --> 01:26:23,080
that they would vote for you.
1239
01:26:54,320 --> 01:26:57,720
The acts of Bobby Sands
came at a time
1240
01:26:57,720 --> 01:27:01,000
when the American political class
1241
01:27:01,000 --> 01:27:03,600
was sort of waking up
to their responsibility.
1242
01:27:04,760 --> 01:27:09,880
He forced us to recognise that there
were plenty of people
1243
01:27:09,880 --> 01:27:14,400
with whom we could work
if we were willing to expend
1244
01:27:14,400 --> 01:27:18,320
the political capital
to solve this problem.
1245
01:27:19,600 --> 01:27:22,040
You know, Bobby Sands,
1246
01:27:22,040 --> 01:27:26,200
maybe he didn't even understand
that something profound and good
1247
01:27:26,200 --> 01:27:27,720
was just about to happen.
1248
01:27:29,560 --> 01:27:33,720
It is what eventually
led to the Good Friday Accords.
1249
01:27:45,840 --> 01:27:48,400
There are turning points
in modern Irish history.
1250
01:27:48,400 --> 01:27:50,040
1916 is a turning point.
1251
01:27:50,040 --> 01:27:53,480
1981, those 66 days of Bobby Sands's
hunger strike,
1252
01:27:53,480 --> 01:27:56,040
are undoubtedly a turning point.
1253
01:27:57,280 --> 01:27:58,720
How are you keeping?
1254
01:28:01,880 --> 01:28:03,560
In a way, Bobby Sands did win.
1255
01:28:03,560 --> 01:28:07,320
He is always going to be there in
the consciousness of revolutionaries
1256
01:28:07,320 --> 01:28:09,400
around the world. But in fact,
1257
01:28:09,400 --> 01:28:13,040
he posed a really significant
challenge to revolutionaries
1258
01:28:13,040 --> 01:28:17,040
because by reaching back into Irish
history, into the notion that,
1259
01:28:17,040 --> 01:28:21,240
actually, you win by enduring
and not by inflicting suffering,
1260
01:28:21,240 --> 01:28:24,440
he changed the nature
of how people should think about
1261
01:28:24,440 --> 01:28:26,840
how they might force
political change.
1262
01:28:26,840 --> 01:28:29,360
You win when you capture
the public imagination.
1263
01:28:35,200 --> 01:28:37,880
I am standing on the threshold
of another trembling world.
1264
01:28:39,760 --> 01:28:41,840
May God have mercy on my soul.
1265
01:28:51,000 --> 01:28:55,480
# When inner scars
1266
01:28:55,480 --> 01:28:59,920
# Show in your face
1267
01:28:59,920 --> 01:29:04,320
# And darkness hides
1268
01:29:04,320 --> 01:29:08,920
# Your sense of place
1269
01:29:08,920 --> 01:29:13,480
# Well, I won't speak
1270
01:29:13,480 --> 01:29:18,080
# I will refrain
1271
01:29:18,080 --> 01:29:21,160
# And be the song
1272
01:29:22,520 --> 01:29:24,880
# Just be the song... #
109905
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