The Short and Long Term Effects of the Hunger-Strikes in Northern Ireland
The hunger-strikes of 1980 and 1981 had highly significant
consequences for Northern Ireland nationally and internationally.
While at first they polarised the community, they eventually led to
the beginnings of peace in Northern Ireland.
Soon after Direct Rule was introduced in Northern Ireland in March
1972 Westminster created a new department, the Northern Ireland
Office, which had responsibility for Irelandwhile "a cross-community
successor to the Stormont system was devised"[1]. William Whitelaw was
appointed its head, under the title of Northern Ireland Secretary.
Whitelaw aimed to "improve his relations with nationalists and
republicans"[2]. He began to make conciliatory moves in June 1972 by
releasing some internees and conceding to the demands of hunger
strikers by granting 'special category status' to prisoners associated
with paramilitary groups. McKittrick and McVea write that this
decision had "significant long term consequences"[3].
'Special category status' meant that republican and loyalist internees
served their time under the direction of their paramilitary OC rather
than warders. They were able to control their own compounds, wear
their own clothes, receive weekly visits, parcels and letters and were
not forced to do prison work. The prisoners were housed at Long Kesh
which "in many respects resembled a World War Two prisoner-of-war
camp" [4] . The IRA hoped that by achieving this the republican
prisoners would have effective political (and even prisoner-of-war)
status that would legitimize their stand. The IRA hoped 'special
category s...
... middle of paper ...
...ict - 1981. Compiled
by Martin Melaugh. (n.d.) Retrieved on 12/06/04 from the World Wide
Web http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch81.htm.
[21] Fraser, p 66
[22] McKittrick & McVea, p 144
[23] ibid, p 144
[24] ibid, p 145
[25] ibid, p 147
[26] ibid, p 148
[27] ibid, p 146
[28] ibid, p 139
[29] ibid, p 142
[30] ibid, p 141
[31] Kennedy-Pipe, p 100
[32] Fraser, p 66
[33] ibid, p 66
[34] Kennedy-Pipe, p 174
[35] McKittrick & McVea, p 158
[36] Kennedy-Pipe, p 108
[37] ibid, p 119
[38] ibid, p 156
[39] ibid, p 156
[40] ibid, p 157
[41] ibid, p 157
[42] ibid, p 160
[43] ibid, p 162
[44] Kennedy-Pipe, p 122
[45] Fraser, p 69
[46] Endgame in Ireland, (VOL 1)
[47] Kennedy-Pipe, p 174
[48] Fraser, p 66
“It must be understood that we cannot feed the people” (Kinealy Calamity 75). The mid 1800s in Ireland were characterized by extreme poverty, death, and emigration. The Great Potato Famine, also known as “The Great Hunger,” first hit in 1845; however, its effects lasted into the 1850s and can still be seen today. Prior to the famine, Irish manufacture and trade was controlled and suppressed by British government, which made Ireland an extremely poor country. Farmers in Ireland were forced to export crops such as corn, wheat, and oats to Britain, which left the potato as the main dietary staple for the people, especially the poor. Therefore, when the fungus Phytophthora infestans caused some, and eventually all, of the crop to rot over the next couple of years, the reliance on the one crop made the people of Ireland extremely susceptible to the famine. The effects were devastating, and poverty spread across the nation causing a huge increase in homelessness, the death-rate, emigration, and a change in the Irish people and country overall.
What were the causes of the prison riots in the 1990`s and how effective was the government response?
Human agency is referred to as the individual’s ability to making choices of their own free will. Famine is referred to as extreme and general scarcity of food, as in a country or a large geographical area. Human agency can be affected by a famine in many different ways.
The Success of the British Government in Trying to Deal with the Irish Troubles in the Years Since 1972
In May of 1918 the remainder of the prisoners were released. The shadow government and the Irish Republican Army were established. Eamon DeVelera was the president of the shadow government, and Michael Collins and Harry Boland, his right hand men, are associated with the IRA’s establishment. The IRA performed many rebellious acts towards the British and any Irish spies that they hired. The British felt that something needed to be done but did not have the troops due to the First World War. To work around this they sent in a hand-picked elite group that were called the Black and Tans. An Irish spy that was giving information to the IRA in return for his life informed them of the Black and Tans addresses. They then went and killed many of them. This led to the British calling a truce. (Coogan,”Troubles”,pgs. 35-42)
County Kildare did not suffer the extremes of death that occurred in the west and north west of Ireland. However, all things considered for those men and women in Kildare who lived before the Famine poverty and want were part of everyday life. For the Poor Irish, life on the eve of the Great Famine was very grim, many modern writers compare the situation in pre-famine to that of the Third world today. A series of official inquires and numerous travellers' reports and letters highlighted the poverty within the poor class of Ireland. They recorded the dirt, damp and almost nakedness of the people of Ireland. English traveller Edward Wakefield found the Poor Irish situation to be of 'such various gradations of misery as he could not have supposed possible to exist, even among the most barbarous nations'. In 1834 another travelling English writer, Henry Inglis, found the condition of the elderly and the ill to be 'shocking for humanity to contemplate, and beyond the efforts of private beneficence to relieve,' while he found that most agricultural labourers to be living 'on the verge of starvation'. Many travellers such as these mainly visited Ireland during it off season for harvest, when unemployment was high and food supplies were low. They also stayed on Ireland's main roads which were targeted by paupers and the poverty was more clearly evident.
Many Irish peasants were forced to deal with the hardship of the Irish potato famine from about 1845-1850. Said famine wiped out roughly the entire potato crop in Ireland, thus causing much of the Irish population to decrease by about one quarter. The English who did little to help despite their leadership position indirectly fueled the famine. Prior conflicts between the Irish Catholics, and British Protestants continued to make matters worse, until the end of the famine in about 1850. During 1845, the Irish people were plagued by a fungal epidemic in their potato crop. Due to the past cultural conflicts the British government took no action, and this eventually led to the emigration and death of hundreds of Irish Catholics.
From the 1820s to the 1840s, around 90 percent of migrants to the United States originated from Ireland, Britain, or Germany. Among these newcomers, the Irish were by a wide margin the biggest. In the 1820s, about 60,000 Irish settlers moved to the United States. In the 1830s, the number developed to 235,000, and in the 1840s, because of a potato starvation in Ireland, the quantity of settlers soared to 845,000. The Incomparable Irish Starvation, as it ended up plainly known, came about because of a five-year scourge that turned potato crops dark. In the vicinity of 1845 and 1850, one million Irish kicked the bucket of starvation and another two million fled the nation.
Violence, terror, suffering and death. The conflict that has been burning in Northern Ireland seems to be an unstoppable battle and it has flooded over the land of Northern Ireland. The struggle for power and the persistence of greed have fueled the raging fires of the opposing groups. The conflict in Northern Ireland has been discussed continually over the past few decades. Ever since the beginning of the “Troubles,” organizations have been scavenging to find a plan that will cease the violence. Throughout my research for this project, the questions of what are the main sources of conflict in Northern Ireland and why have they continued today guided me to many fascinating pieces of evidence that provided me with a more compassionate view of the situation of Northern Ireland. My research topic was very broad and to get down into a more explicit viewpoint, I chose to search for my sources by selecting three disciplines.
The correlation between over-population and growing world hunger has become a controversial topic in today’s society. Concerns of population expansion, world starvation, and environment destruction are matters of debate and are of much concern for their outcomes affect everyone of society. The world is home to an estimated 6 billion people with more than 80 million additions every year. With this astonishing growing rate of population it is necessary to address the matter of world hunger before it is too late. The three main theories of world population and the correlation to world hunger are debatable; however, it is ultimately left to an individual to determine the truth/ answer to such theories of world hungers origin.
Over the years, the people of Ireland have suffered many hardships, but none compare to the devastation brought by the Irish potato famine of 1845-1857. A poorly managed nation together with ideally wicked weather conditions brought Ireland to the brink of disaster. It was a combination of social, political and economic factors that pushed it over the edge.
Many people here in America are hardworking and resourceful, but an insecure economy can have a long-lasting effect on a diverse group of people. One of the greatest manifestations of this is the inability to consistently afford a healthy diet. In a report by done by researchers in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, ‘in 2011, 14.9 percent or 17.9 million people in America were food insecure (Coleman-Jensen, Nordic, Andrews, & Carlson, 2012).’ Although many different organizations such as the “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” or the SNAP food stamp program has set out to eradicate hunger, by giving assistance to low income participants, to help them afford food, it does still exist in many different people’s lives, at one point or another. While many other underdeveloped countries have harder times with hunger, many of them, due to socioeconomic difficulties, hunger still causes many problems for different people in America.
In my view out of all the four events which I have talked about I
Poverty is crucial. Poverty is not having food to eat when you’re hungry. Poverty is not being able to see a doctor when you’re sick. Poverty is not receiving education. Poverty is sleeping on a cold concrete, flipping from side to side before being able to fall asleep. Poverty is fearing the future as you wake up everyday wishing you never did. Poverty is lack of freedom. Poverty is frailty.
White, Robert W; White, Terry Falkenberg. “Repression and the Liberal State: The Case of Northern Ireland, 1969-1972”. The Journal of Conflict Resolution, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Jun.,