Bobby Sands, the Irish Republican Army, and the Good Friday Agreement

The end of the Troubles

In 1981, Bobby Sands died after a 66-day hunger strike. Sands was 27 at the time of his death and had been imprisoned for his activities as a member of the Irish Republican Army. Sands’ death, part of a larger hunger strike that he organized at Maze Prison, was an important point during the Troubles, a decades long period of violence in northern Ireland, fueled by sectarian tensions between Protestant unionists and Catholic nationalists. Armed conflict finally ended with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

I think for many of us stateside in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the Irish Republican Army may have been the face of terrorism prior to 9/11. Even as a child in the 80s I remember news reports of ski-masked fighters in Ulster (the six counties of Northern Ireland) who claimed to be rebelling against centuries of oppression. Not surprisingly, the IRA found much support (emotional and financial) in heavily Irish communities of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago.

This begs the question over the meanings of terrorism. There is an old adage that states that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. So how do we put a face on the struggle known as the Troubles?

We don’t have to. In 2008, Steve McQueen directed a film called Hunger which detailed the 1981 hunger strike with Michael Fassbender in the role of Sands. If you haven’t seen it, it is one of the most powerful and beautifully haunting films I’ve ever seen. It also presents us with an opportunity to discuss Sands’ film, Irish nationalism, the Troubles, Gerry Adams, Margaret Thatcher, and ultimately the peace process in Ireland. If you haven’t seen the film, it’s currently available on AMC+. I’ve attached a trailer below.

I invited on two experts in the conflict, John M. Burney and Andrew J. Auge to talk about both the film and the history behind the Troubles. In the clip below, they speak to Margaret Thatcher’s responses to Sands’ hunger strike.

We also get into the life of Gerry Adams, a complicated figure who ultimately led the IRA towards peace in 1998 despite the grave threats to his own life.

Without further ado find the podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify below.

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