Twenty years ago, Irish freedom fighters imprisoned by the British government organized a hunger strike to demand they be accorded the status of political prisoners. Ten men died from starvation in the course of the strike, which gained international attention for the fight against Britain’s occupation of Northern Ireland and the forced division of the country.

Young people joined the march in large numbers. "We’re here to support the hunger strikers," said Mark Donegan, 16. "We disagree with British rule in Ireland." "And in Scotland," added his friend Barry McGloan, 17.

"Why isn’t Ireland a nation? It has been long enough we’ve waited," said Tony Bergna, 16. "Also, it’s still the case that Catholics in Scotland are discriminated against." Referring to the local Irish football team, Bergna said, "If you’re wearing a Celtic top, the police harass you. Of course they do, they’re Her Majesty’s police force." Donegan and Bergna were both avid readers of Irish history and were amongst the first to arrive at the demonstration.

Speaking at the post-march rally, Raymond McCartney, a former political prisoner who took part in the first H-Block hunger strike in 1980, said, "This turnout is astounding. It gives you an idea of the public support there is for the republican struggle. The commemoration of the hunger strikes is not about looking back, but onwards. The struggle continues. My memories of 1981 can be summed up by two images: one, a picture of four women in Derry, standing alone and ridiculed, naked in a blanket in front of the cathedral to highlight conditions in Armagh womens’ prison. And the other, a picture of more than 100,000 people marching at [hunger striker] Bobby Sands’s funeral a few months later."

Sands, a 27-year-old working-class youth, was a leader of the hunger strike at the time he was elected to British parliament. He died on May 5, 1981, in an H-Block hospital after 65 days without food.

"The hunger strikers were ordinary fellows who lived in working-class areas," McCartney said. "They were faced with extraordinary circumstances. The British government tried to criminalize their struggle and they proved it wrong. But they are not icons in the sky. In extraordinary circumstances, we can all do a little bit extra."

The turnout at the march here "was always going to be large," Jim Slaven, of the 1981 Hunger Strike Committee, told the Herald, "because the hunger strike is of immense importance to people in the Irish community in Scotland. But the crowd was far bigger than even we anticipated."

The last Irish republican march to go through Glasgow city center in 1979 in support of the fight for political status for republican prisoners was attacked by bands of Loyalists, the name for those in Northern Ireland who are "loyal" to the union of Ireland with Britain. Police refused to allow marchers to proceed into the city center.

This time police had to hold back small knots of rightists, some making nazi-style salutes. One broke through, attacking a lead marcher with a bottle. He was prevented from further attacks by march stewards. The marchers, confident and spirited, responded to the rightists, chanting "Brits don’t rule!" and "Brits out now!" Frustrated at their impotence this time, rightists attacked shoppers wearing Celtic shirts in the city center as the march went on. Steven Bradley told a newspaper that he "remembered them chanting Loyalist slogans and singing ‘Rule Britannia’ as they hit me."

"Whatever the police and politicians who wanted to ignore republicans said about this march, we finally got to walk through the streets of Glasgow," said Slaven. "This shows that when we work together and put our minds to it, we can do anything we want to in this country."

"We are getting stronger," said longtime Glasgow resident Jimmy McGee, a marcher originally from County Donegal in Ireland, who had also joined the 1979 action.  
 
Irish face discrimination
"The Celtic football club was founded by Irish immigrants to Glasgow in the 19th century," explained Eoin Hayes, a republican activist who had traveled from London. "It was a response to the ‘No Irish need apply’ attitude they found. That’s why support for the club is intertwined with Irish nationalist politics in Glasgow. There’s definitely still discrimination against Catholics here. For example, the statistics show Catholic unemployment is higher," he said.

In a study last year, researchers at Glasgow University found that men with Irish surnames were 26 percent more likely to die prematurely than other males in West Central Scotland. The study concluded, "Discrimination in the workplace plays a significant role in the current disadvantage of those of Irish origin."

The march was not reported in media based in England. Most of the coverage in Scottish newspapers highlighted the few violent incidents and branded the demonstration an "IRA march." Responding to the suggestion that the march might be held every year, Glasgow Conservative Party member of the Scottish Parliament William Aitken responded, "It’s simply not on. If they want it to be an annual event why don’t they stay in Northern Ireland and hold it there? The people of Glasgow want no truck with this sort of thing."

Supporters of the Irish freedom struggle organized an earlier event in London April 28, which was attended by 200 people. Jim McVeigh, the last commanding officer of republican prisoners at Long Kesh prison, explained the hunger strike commemorations "are about educating and bringing a new generation into the struggle.

In 1981, republicans were suspicious about political activity and were very militarist. This was a legacy of the betrayals of previous generations. We had to develop politically as well as militarily. The 1981 hunger strike accelerated that development," he said.

"Bobby Sands’s election destroyed one of the major planks of British rule: its strategy of criminalization. Across the world [British Prime Minister] Margaret Thatcher tried to say we were criminals, but people like Bobby Sands proved her wrong," McVeigh said. While the hunger strikes ended "without apparent victory, within a year the prisoners had achieved the substance of their demands."

Questioned about the current stage of the struggle, McVeigh said, "Our objectives have not changed. All that has changed is our tactics. The struggle is far from over and there’s a long road ahead. The whole question of the cease-fire [by the IRA] is a tactical question. We’ll do whatever it takes to advance the struggle. We need to build our political strength. At the moment the republican movement is a minority of the people. We have to develop a strategy that can build and broaden our base. We have to constantly take the initiative and fight the propaganda war in Ireland, Britain, and America."

Carol Ball is a member of the Transport and General Workers’ Union.
 
 
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