The Hunger Strikes

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Archive on 4: The Hunger Strikes

BBC Radio 4 - Archive on 4, The Hunger Strikes

Peter Taylor revisits the 1981 IRA hunger strikes and assesses their legacy.

It's 40 years since IRA prisoner Bobby Sands died after 66 days on hunger strike. Peter Taylor chronicles this seismic turning point in the 30-year conflict in Northern Ireland.

The IRA’s weapon of last resort wasn't a gun or a bomb - it was the hunger strike.  
Forty years ago, seven prisoners began the first ever hunger strike in the H Blocks of the Maze prison.  It ended after 53 days.  They were protesting about conditions in the prison and the men wanted to be classified as political prisoners.  
Peter Taylor chronicled every step of the escalating drama,  from its beginning in 1980 to the climax in 1981 when ten Republican prisoners starved themselves to death.   
Bobby Sands died on the 66th day of his hunger strike and remains the best known of those died. 
It was seen as a confrontation between the Iron Lady, the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and the Iron Men, the hunger strikers themselves. 
It was not foreseen at the time , but Peter Taylor argues that the hunger strike was destined to be the turning point of the " Troubles."   

Presenter:  Peter Taylor
Producer:  Jim Frank 
Editor: Penny Murphy

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