What happened during the 81 Hunger Stikes?

national | history and heritage | other press Wednesday May 17, 2006 13:59 by lark

Richard O'Rawe interviewed in-depth

Were the hunger strikers betrayed by their representatives outside the prison?

Danny Morrison wrote of Richard O'Rawe that he should have called his powerful memoir, Blanketmen, "On Another Man's Hunger Strike", cattily referring to the seminal memoirs of a previous generation of republicans, Ernie O'Malley's searing On Another Man's Wound.

As more is revealed about what exactly happened during the 81 hunger strikes, who betrayed who, for what and why, it certainly appears true that a few people have made themselves on the back of 'another man's hunger strike' -- and it isn't Richard O'Rawe.

Read Anthony McIntyre's compelling, in-depth interview with Richard O'Rawe in today's Blanket.

"Let's put it like this. The iron lady was not so steely at the end. She wanted a way out. The Army Council, I now believe, as a collective were kept in the dark about developments. The sub-committee ran the hunger strike. Draw your own conclusions from the facts."