Northern Ireland and the Hunger Strikes
How Thatcher's refusal to grant political status to IRA prisoners defined a generation of the Troubles.
The Troubles and Political Status
When Thatcher became prime minister in 1979, Northern Ireland was in the grip of the Troubles — a conflict between unionists (predominantly Protestant, wanting to remain in the United Kingdom) and nationalists (predominantly Catholic, seeking unification with the Republic of Ireland). The Provisional IRA was waging an armed campaign against British rule. British soldiers patrolled the streets. Bombings, shootings, and sectarian killings were routine.
Inside the prisons, republican inmates had been engaged in escalating protests since 1976. The British government had revoked 'Special Category Status' — which had effectively treated paramilitary prisoners as political prisoners with privileges including wearing their own clothes and exemption from prison work. The new policy treated them as ordinary criminals. Republican prisoners saw this as an attempt to delegitimize their cause.
The 'blanket protest' began first — prisoners refused to wear prison uniforms and wrapped themselves in blankets. Then came the 'dirty protest' — prisoners smeared excrement on cell walls and refused to wash. By 1980, conditions in the H-Blocks of the Maze Prison were medieval. The protests had failed to move the government. The prisoners decided to escalate to the ultimate weapon: hunger strike.