Sands, Bobby (1954–1981)

Bobby Sands, born on March 9, 1954, in North Belfast, Northern Ireland, rose to international prominence in 1981 when he embarked on a fatal hunger strike while imprisoned for activities related to the Irish Republican Army's (IRA) armed campaign against British occupation. Sands's rough childhood, which included several assaults by unionist paramilitaries and local Protestant gangs, led to his decision to volunteer for the IRA in 1972.

Sands was arrested twice, the first time for weapons possessions in 1973, and imprisoned as a “special category” prisoner due to his involvement with the IRA. The special category status acknowledged a sort of political status and granted those prisoners the right to wear their own clothing, “free” association with other special category prisoners, the right to organize their own educational and recreational facilities, and access to visits and parcels once a week. While detained in the notorious Cage 11, he met other leading IRA activists such as Gerry Adams, and soon became the officer commanding one of three huts. He was known for his prolific knowledge of leftist political authors, such as George Jackson, Frantz Fanon, and Che Guevara, as well as several Irish socialists, such as James Connolly, and urged more socialist politics within the republican movement. He also became known for his fluency in Gaelic, as well as his skill with poetry and the guitar. While on remand, he married his girlfriend of several years, who was also the mother of his child.

After his release in April 1976, he quickly rein-tegrated into Irish republican activities, including numerous overt community organizing efforts such as tenant organizing. Sands and three other suspected IRA volunteers were arrested 6 months later. He was then convicted of another weapons charge, and sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment.

During his second imprisonment, however, Sands found himself in a new situation. The British government had rescinded the special category status granted to republican prisoners through their policy known as criminalization. The British attempted to portray any republican activity as that of ordinary criminals, and not political. The British nonetheless continued to rely on closed hearings, secret evidence, and extended detention without charge in order to gain convictions.

As a result of the criminalization policy, as well as rampant physical and verbal abuse by warders, many republican prisoners went on protest, culminating in their hunger strike 5 years later. The two main forms of protest, both of which Sands participated in, were known as the “blanket” and “dirty” protests—where protesting prisoners would only wear a blanket instead of prison uniforms and refused to wash.

Throughout this time, Sands grew quite popular among other protesting prisoners. Known by his pen-name of “Marcella” (named after his sister), Sands contributed to the Sinn Fein newspaper, entertained other prisoners with recited and original stories (often told in Gaelic), and continued writing his own poetry. He also focused on his love for ornithology by tracking the birds outside his window. He rose in rank inside the prison, becoming a commanding officer.

As little progress was seen after 5 years of protest, the blanket and dirty protests led to a decision to engage in a rolling hunger strike to the death. Sands, who advocated for use of the hunger strike, immediately volunteered and was chosen to lead the strikes.

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