Bobby Sands
The people’s gym Valerio Verbano is located in the Tufello area, in the Monte Sacro district in Rome. The gym is dedicated to the young leftist killed in his house by a fascist commando during the years of lead. On the wall of the gym, the Neapolitan artist Jorit painted a mural in memory of Bobby Sands, a hero for the Irish but a criminal for the British in the hisotry.
Born in 1954, Bobby was raised in the northern suburbs of Belfast from a Catholic family. The family moved numerous times due to attacks by Protestant loyalists. At eighteen years old, Bobby joined the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) paramilitary group. Bobby wanted to fight the oppression of pro-British gangs.
In prison
The police arrested Bobby Sands for the first time for possession of weapons and he was released in 1976. After a bomb attack and a fire fight with the police, Bobby was caught for illegal possession of weapons and was sentenced to 14 years prison in 1977.
Bobby was serving time in Long Kesh Prison, also called Maze, in buildings known as H-blocks due to their shape. The government denied Republican inmates political prisoner status, in the same time guards continued to beat them up.
Bobby Sands wrote articles and poems. The protest of the Republican prisoners mounted and a first hunger strike took place. Despite the echo of the story, the government of Margaret Thatcher did nothing to placate the spirits.
The Hunger Strike
Bobby, who became IRA commander in Maze prison, went on a second hunger strike on March 1, 1981. He made five demands:
1. the right not to wear a prison uniform;
2. the right not to do prison work;
3. the right of free association with other prisoners, and to organise educational and recreational pursuits;
4. the right to one visit, one letter, and one parcel per week;
5. full restoration of remission lost through the protest.
The election
An unexpected event increased the popularity of the hunger strike. Frank Maguire, a member of parliament from the “Fermanagh and South Tyrone” constituency, died suddenly and a new election was held. The Republican front ran Bobby Sands against Unionist candidate Harry West. The Social Democratic and Labour Party that was the other Nationalist party withdrew to favour the Republican coalition in supporting of Bobby Sands, the Anti H-Block / Armagh Political Prisoner.
On April 9th, 1981, Bobby Sands was elected as a member of the British Parliament. But he died on May 5th after a 66-day hunger strike. After him, 9 more political prisoners died, whose names are written on Jorit’s mural.
The second hunger strike had little impact on the condition of the detainees but significant political consequences for both the British government and Sinn Féin, the political arm of the IRA. Indeed, Bobby Sands demonstrated the possibility of using alternatives to armed struggle and encouraged the party to participate in democratic life.
Written by Enrico, Translated by Hua and Photo from Hua
