No Wash Government's Response To The Hunger Strikes Was Counter Productive

‘The British Government’s response to the Hunger Strikes was counter-productive’

The Hunger Strikes was a series of protests that occurred from 1976 to 1981 which was caused by the Irish Republican Army members in British prisons against the British to gain the right to be treated as ‘prisoners of war’ rather than normal prisoners. Even though the Strikes began during the 1976, the main events occurred during the 1980-1981 Second Hunger Strikes which consisted of the main strikes, protests and verdicts from the British Government. Through these events, Irish prisoner’s demands were not granted by the British government and this response was seen as counter-productive due to the increase in nationalist hostility towards the British, the increased

The Special Category Status was a list of rights passed to prisoners whose crimes consisted of political related offenses such as causing riots and protest for the sake of a certain political party such as IRA. Having this status meant that the prisoners had freedom to rights that does not imply for other prisoners such as not wearing prison uniform, more visits allowed and more social time with other prisoners of the same status. The removal of the Special Category Status from the prisoners caused the beginning of many strong protest movements such as the Hunger Strikes, No Wash protest, Blanket protest and Dirty protest. All these protests consisted of the prisoners using various methods they can take advantage of to show their

“On 1st March 1981 the IRA prisoners’ Officer Commanding, Bobby Sands refused food. He was to be joined by a new hunger striker each week and this way the strike would lead to a prisoner dying each week, thus increasing the pressure on the British Government” (bbc.co.uk, n.d.). This quote is about the IRA leader within the Maze prison, Bobby Sands who is an example of the types of people that influenced the nationalist population of Ireland. Stories of these protestors and the British government denying them caused a great increase in the support of IRA. An example of the growing support is also reflected due to the strong British stance against the prisoners gaining these rights. Over the period of the Hunger Strike, prisoners chose death over giving in to the British rule. Many of these actions received large media attention all over Ireland and this led to many nationalist thinking that supporting the IRA was the best way to eliminate the British rule over Ireland. This increased amount of supporters led to the strengthening of the IRA and increased their influence in the political control over Ireland due to the counter-productive response available from the British