Diarmaid Ferriter: The hunger strike narrative is not as simple as it seems
On this day 35 years ago, INLA hunger striker Michael Devine died in the Maze prison, the tenth and last of the hunger strikers to die
At the national hunger strike commemoration march last year, at which family members of those who died during the hunger strikes hold portraits of those who died. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
On this day 35 years ago, INLA hunger striker Michael Devine died in the Maze prison, the 10th and last of the hunger strikers to die during one of the most intense and emotive eras of the Troubles and Anglo-Irish history. Although all the dead hunger strikers joined the pantheon of Irish republican martyrs, it is Bobby Sands, the first to die, whose status, fame and legacy endure most powerfully.
The symbolism, sacrifices and polarisation the 1981 hunger strikes embodied, and the political strategies that arose from them have proven very attractive to writers, artists and filmmakers. The lyrical talents of Sands, who left behind a prison diary as well as songs and poems, also honed the legacy and heightened the artistic appeal. The latest to be drawn towards the story of the hunger strikers, principally Sands, is director Brendan Byrne, whose documentary Bobby Sands: 66 Days is showing in cinemas.