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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > Bobby Sands death was moment when all changed in Northern Ireland -- Turning point for ‘The Troubles’ reached 31 years ago this week

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Bobby Sands death was moment when all changed in Northern Ireland -- Turning point for ‘The Troubles’ reached 31 years ago this week

Posted on Sunday, May 06, 2012 at 08:57 AM

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It was 31 years ago yesterday that Bobby Sands died on hunger strike in Northern Ireland.

I was living in San Francisco at the time, 6,000 miles from Ireland, but the anger was palpable among the Irish American community there.

We gathered outside the British consulate as a group walked behind a mock coffin chanting “Bobby Sands MP” in recognition that he had been an elected member of the British parliament.

In retrospect letting Bobby Sands die was one of the greatest mistakes the British made in the history of Northern Ireland.

His election before he died to the House of Commons showed the Sinn Fein leadership, still very much the junior partner to the IRA in 1981, that politics could actually work and bring tens of thousands out onto the streets and into polling booths.

Sinn Fein learned well and the political evolution began on that May night that the death of Sands was announced.

I for one, considered that the Sands death was a turning point in my beliefs.

Up to that point I had little time for the IRA, believing that the frequent atrocities and bombings were totally counterproductive in terms of building worldwide support for a united Ireland. John Hume’s “agreed Ireland” seemed a better concept.

I would not have been caught dead at an IRA man’s mock coffin demonstration outside a British consulate before Bobby Sands.

I saw many others like me on that night, people who had a deep ambivalence about the situation in Northern Ireland but who were utterly inflamed and upset at what Margaret Thatcher had just allowed to happen.

From Sands' death on, Sinn Fein began to take more and more prominence in the republican debate.

It is a long haul but there is a direct line from there to the peace process and the ultimate entry of Sinn Fein into shared power in Northern Ireland, an idea that would have been inconceivable that May evening 31 years ago.

But it happened, and the stage was set with the death of Bobby Sands.

As Yeats remarked, “all changed, changed utterly” from that point on.

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seamus60 | May 30, 2012, 09:17 PM EDT

That may depend on whether there is an Arab running in the next elections. Just a big tadd more obvious in Girwood.

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IrelandNorth | May 30, 2012, 07:58 AM EDT

If Belfast City Council's housing policy is remotely like Dublin's (DCC's), expect to see ethnic minorities being prioritised over native inhabitants of the respective cities. A Local Authority tenant colleague of mine tells me he now has Arabic neighbours in the same house to him in Dubin 8, despite an average 7 year waiting list for Dubliner's? Seems DCC is working ovetime to please its European political paymasters in Brussels. Might BCC be doing the same.

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seamus60 | May 25, 2012, 08:35 PM EDT

I hope Niall can see his way to running an article on this very important subject.

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seamus60 | May 25, 2012, 07:50 PM EDT

They now attempt to say they can not release information on the issue because its part of a master plan. lol Thety are committed to integrated housing but there will be one set of homes for Catholics and another set for Protestants at the far side of the site. They don`t know how many houses or can`t say due to the master plan. They should have remained totally committed to the origonal 200 homes promised to Catholics who after all are suffering a cronic shortage in the area. Sf are now saying there will be other homes further down the line. Great news for their constituents already waiting years only to see what they were promised handed over to Protestants not even on the housing list. Ruling by Fooling. Its as well they are all going south for the Ardhess.

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seanomelbourne | May 25, 2012, 07:39 PM EDT

Yes Seamus there seems to be a certain amount of duplicity and not much has changed for the people of north Belfast since the GFA.

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RedBranch | May 25, 2012, 05:50 PM EDT

I liked this quote from an analyst "Here's Sinn Fein's problem...the more they succeed on the equality agenda, the less Catholics want a united Ireland."

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seamus60 | May 25, 2012, 07:50 AM EDT

Seano. The problem this time with the Gerry Mandering is, it appears to be a joint venture between SF and the DUP. With both of them failing to put anyone forward with any explanation not containing complete jibberish. They have been caught out interfeering with the due process. The same one they tell us to have faith in. The people in North Belfast want answers from those who claim to be doing a great job of representing them. Yet shy away when back room deals are exposed.

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maireadinmelb | May 24, 2012, 10:00 PM EDT

Been a busy few days at work and interesting to see the movement of the discussion - but Dano - you don't defeat a terrorist by becoming a terrorist! That is what britain Israel and the US have all done!

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seanomelbourne | May 24, 2012, 06:42 PM EDT

The more things change the more they stay the same Seamus

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seanomelbourne | May 24, 2012, 06:41 PM EDT

SEAMUS60 The more things change the more they stay the same.

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seamus60 | May 24, 2012, 02:58 PM EDT

We still have internment and now it appears Gerry mandering is also alive and well, with the Housing executive ( formed to ensure housing was allocated to those most in need regardless of creed) 2012 and they have been politically nibbled, so much they have sent out brouchers inviting protestants back into an area with only 3 protestants on a waiting list, to avail of new houses in the area without regard to hundreds of Catholic families already on a waiting list and living in the area. An exercise in ensuring there are enough Protestants remaining in the area to retain a certain DUP representaion geographically. People took to the streets in protest on the very same issue in 1969.

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sirpeter | May 23, 2012, 11:12 PM EDT

RedBranch.Yeah well.We are neighbours and they are Our ranting,gibbering lunatics.We understand them alright.Why do they think they are extra special ranting,gibbering lunatics over the rest of us.

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RedBranch | May 23, 2012, 05:45 PM EDT

What ever happens political and other life in Northern Ireland will continue to be anything but normal. No matter which country, UK or Rep. of Ireland, has custody of this beleagured province they should not, in the words of veteran Northern commentator Kevin Myers, 'expect to understand Northern Ireland, because you won't: simply remember that you are manacled to this ranting, gibbering lunatic for ever.'

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IrelandNorth | May 23, 2012, 07:46 AM EDT

Gentlemen! We're discussing symptoms rather than the disease. The question is: Does a duly elected parliament have a right to vote the constitution by which it was elected into extinction? If the Act of Union, 1800/'01 between Great Britain and Ireland was brought about by unconstitutional means, where does that leave the downsized version of it a century later? If a 19th century British Government threatened pacifist Daniel O'Connell with military violence to call off his peaceful mass meetings, is a violent counter-reaction really unsurprising either then or now? To understand all IS to forgive all. Injustice and oppression germinate violence and aggression.

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DanOLoingsigh | May 23, 2012, 05:12 AM EDT

Sirpete - As to another ‘coercive treaty’, I don’t know how relevant any vote will be, history moves in great tidal flows, and Europe is seeing the tide falling, just as it’s rising in the east…The Euro experiment seems to be tearing the continent apart, how bad it will get is anybody’s guess…Of course the legitimate campaign for UI goes on…it’s just that few people see it as much of a priority in these turbulent times, and who can blame them? I don’t see the rise of SF as contiguous with this, more a protest against recent corrupt and ruinous FF policies. As for paramilitaries and their ‘moral choices’, well we all have to make choices in life…and I cannot see what’s moral about leaving a bomb in a crowded shopping street…and I never will…under the surface NI seems a more ‘foreign’ place today than ever, a ‘prize’ hardly worth the effort…so if and when the unionists are ‘coerced’ into a UI, how will this large group of ‘new citizens’ contribute to the future of the country? The brightest will jump ship…leaving many embittered, unemployable and disaffected flute players on their drug-ridden reservations…welcome to the future?

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