ARCHIVES
Liberty by Joel Condon
A new song, written by North American Joel Condon, which includes a tribute to Bobby Sands has been posted on YouTube. Another of those mentioned is the Armenian national hero, Monte Melkonian (nom de guerre, Commander Avo) who was killed in action in 1993 and who in...
Itziarren Semeak
Itziarren Semeak is a Basque Skapunk band that was formed in 2006. They have released three albums to date. Their most recent album, Lehen lerroan (In the frontline 2011), dedicates fourteen songs to the people who have been fighting in the frontline of conflict. It...
Artist Hugh Doherty
Hugh Doherty is a former IRA POW who was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment after his and his comrades’ arrest in London in 1975. Now a successful artist, samples of Hugh’s works are currently being exhibited in the new Culturlann gallery on the Falls Road. In this...
Smashing H-Block
Dozens of books have been written about the political fall-out from the 1981 H-Block hunger-strike and Margaret Thatcher’s criminalization policy that preceded it. Several have been written from the perspective of the prisoners and hunger-strikers themselves. A...
Old Comrades Reunion
Jim Gibney writes about a unique reunion of former prisoners – those who took part in the protest for political status in Armagh Jail and the H-Blocks between 1976 and 1981: There have been many episodes in the conflict over the last fifty years when republicans...
‘John Lennon’s Dead’
Veteran republican Gerry O’Hare reviews former POW Síle Darragh’s memoir of life for imprisoned women during the struggle for political status: It is a grey hulk so familiar to us all. Armagh Women’s Gaol. The very name is redolent of another age. But, it has to be...
BBC History of 1981
The BBC has produced a website dedicated to the story of the protest for political status, including the blanket protest and the two hunger strikes, involving footage that has been rarely seen. Five short videos are used to illustrate the atmosphere between 1976 and...
Nothing But An Unfinished Song – Launch
Denis O’Hearn’s bestselling biography of Bobby Sands, Nothing But An Unfinished Song, has been translated into French and will be launched at Fête de l'Humanité on the 16th-18th September. More details about the launch can be found here. Bobby Sands. Jusqu'au bout...
Hold No Fear For Us
Former hunger striker Laurence McKeown, in a powerful analysis of 1981, writes of the legacy of that historic period, how it informs today’s struggle for freedom and independence and how republicans and unionists can attempt to come to terms with the past. Laurence...
IRA O/C’s Armagh Memoir
Síle Darragh was the IRA O/C in Armagh Gaol during the hunger strike in 1980 and until her release in 1981. Earlier this month her book about her time in jail during the protest for political status was launched during Féile an Phobail in West...
