| Bobby Sands was born on the 9th of March of 1954, in Rathcoole, North Belfast, a predominately protestant area of Belfast. His father, John, was a postal worker and his mothers name was Rosaleen. They were quite reserved so most didn't know they were Catholic. One day, a neighbour found out and began torturing Rosaleen through mimicking. Whenever she would go out to hang up laundry, there was the neighbour. Every once in a while, the neighbour would come by and hammer on the walls, his mother eventually had a nervous break down and they moved to another street called Doonbeg drive in 1961. Bobby had siblings; Marcella, born in 1955, Bernadette, in 1958, and a brother, John, in 1962. He was always very protective of his sisters and mother.He grew up going to Stella Morris Primary School and the Rathcoole secondary school. He went to Newtownabbey Tech for nine months. In his teenage years, he joined a union and became an apprentice coach builder at age 15. Bobby left work after one day where he went and there were two loyalists cleaning their guns and they told him 'Do you see these here, well if you don't go you'll get this.' One day, the Ulster Defence Association (a major loyalist group) staged a parade down his street. His parents turned out the lights and Bobby and his sister sat on the front doorstep, Bobby clutching a carving knife and Marcella with a pot of peeper. One day, Bobby was walking home when a man called to him for a light. Bobby stopped, and the man lunged at him with a knife. He made sure his mum never found out (to save her mental state), he got the wound fixed up in a neighbours garage, left a huge scar. Very into sports, he was involved in soccer, swimming, athletics and "about ten thousand other sports". His speed helped him to run from protestant gangs, youths began gathering outside Catholic homes chanting "taigs out". A woman around the corner was working for the UDA, she would bring families around to look at Catholic homes to occupy. One day, Bernadette saw the woman standing in front of their home with a young couple. The next week, a garbage can went through their front window, time to move. They moved to Twinbrook in 1972. Sands joined the IRA soon after. Arrested for the first time in October of 1972 in Lisburn. After torture, he signed a statement and was convicted by one Judge Higgins to five years for possession of four unusable pistols which were in a building he was staying at. The woman of the house sold out to the soldiers for f300 and went to England, leaving the Brits in the house. He had status for that 5 years in cage 11 of Long Kesh, with the Belfast BrigadeCommander of the IRA, Gerry Adams, as his OC. That cage had regular lectures on Celtic society and such. Sands read many men including Che Guevera, Camilo Torres, Frantz Fanon, Amilcar Cabral, George Jackson, James Connolly, Padraig Pearse, and Mellow. He was planning to write a book based on them all, but couldn't after they were all burned in a protest in 1974. He had prisoners read all his books and would test them on them, if not satisfied with their answers, he would make them read it again and again. He hated the prisoners who would watch the tv until the dot completely disappeared after it was turned off. He wrote prolifically, played guitar, bodhran, tin whistle, and banjo. He was increasingly fluent in Gaelic and loved to tell stories to the other prisoners. Trinity by Leon Uris was a favorite and Jet and Jet 2 were both popular. The jet stories were quite well written and seemed to be very close to all of the beliefs that Sands held. Strangely enough, when prisoners looked for the books after they got out, they could never find any dealers that had heard of them. He was released from prison on the 13th of April, 1976. He married a girl named Geraldine on remand in gaol, and had a son named Gerald. While he was out, he joined the tenants' association, he got the black taxis to run in his area, he established a wing of Sinn Fein, and kept up his fighting for the IRA. When he got out he went to live in Townbrook and was picked up six months and one day later. He had just blown up a furniture showroom in Dunmurray, got caught in a shootout with his three comrades against the Brits. He never gave into his interrogators this time, only gave address, name, and said he was looking for a job. After 11 months on remand, he was sentenced to 14 years since they didn't have his confession. Didn't recognize the court and was sentenced by 'Judge' Watt. After they were sentenced, there was a rumble, they didn't start it, but their sentences were still increased by six months. He spent 22 days in the punishment block of Crumlin Road jail and 15 days in front of ordinary criminals. He was given the stereotypical meal, bread and water every three days. Most protestors got three days of that out of every two weeks, he got 15 days in a row. While on protest, he caught a flu and had to be taken to the hospital. The screws (guards) tossed him in the air, hit him, dropped him naked in the snow, and threw in the van like rags, and finally force bathed. He enjoyed reading Ethna Carberry, an Irish poetess, stuff a lot (He once mentioned to another IRA prisoner in his block that he would send a note to her to get her to write a poem about the H-Blocks, the other prisoner told him how Ethna had been dead for more than a century). His home was searched by the loyalist police force, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), and his wife claimed that as the reason for a mis-carriage, and she divorced Bobby. Bobby kept a diary for the first 17 days of his hunger strike, but had to stop because he got too weak. When a man named Frank Maguire died, Bobby was put up for election and after some tough maneuvering, he won with a quite a great deal of numbers. Soon, he was taken to the prison hospital and died. Roughly 100,000 people were in attendance for his funeral procession. The Longshoremen's Union had a boycott of British ships.In Rome the president of the Italian Senate, Amintore Fanfani, expressed condolences to the Sands family. The U.S government sent out a statement of regret. The Northern Ireland office stated that:"He took his own life by refusing food and medical intervention for 66 days". The New Jersey state legislature voted a resolution honoring his "courage and commitment". In Milan, roughly 5,000 students burned Union Jacks and shouted "Freedom for Ulster". More than a thousand gathered in St. Patricks Cathedral to hear New Yorks Cardinal Cook offer a Mass of reconciliation for north Ireland. In Ghent, students invaded the British consulate. Irish bars closed in the U.S. Thousands marched in Paris behind a huge portrait of Sands, chanting "The IRA will conquer". New York Times: "Despite proximity and a common language the British have persistently misjudged the depth of Irish nationalism". The town of Le Mans announced it was naming a street after him, England said it was "an insult to Britain". Hindustan Times said that Thatcher had allowed a member of parliament to die,not seen before "in a civilized country". Tehran sent it's ambassador to the funeral. Oslo protestors threw a balloon full of tomato sauce at the queen. India parliament members gave a minute of silence. In Spain, his hunger strike was referred to as "subjectively an act of heroism". In Portugal, members of parliament gave a minute of silence. In Poland, Lech Walesa gave tribute. People in toulouse set a bomb in the warehouse of a British tire firm, a slogan was painted on a wall; "English power kills". Other bombs blew in the door of the British Chamber of Commerce in Milan and another outside the Royal British Club in Lisbon. A mail bomb was found addressed to the Prince of Wales. Mass rioting broke out all over the six counties. His son turned eight the month that Bobby died. To this day, his parents have not come to terms with his death. |
|
