Tom McAllister
from the Falls Road, Belfast ran as an independent Anti H-Block Armagh
Candidate
for Co. Clare, in the Irish General Election of
11th
June 1981.
He got over
2,000 first preference votes
(out of a total poll of 45,674).
He was
eliminated after the 8th count.
1980/81
Hunger Strikes:
In the 1980's there were two
hunger strikes. The first began in October 1980 and ended in December 1980
without loss of life. There were ten prisoners on hunger strike, seven in the
H-Blocks and three women in Armagh jail. The second hunger strike began in March
1981, five years after the British government withdrew political status from the
prisoners. The second hunger strike claimed the lives of ten republican
prisoners:
Bobby
Sands Francis
Hughes
Raymond
McCreesh Patsy O'Hara
Joe
McDonnell
Martin Hurson
Tom
McElwee
Kevin Lynch
Kieran
Doherty
Michael Devine
During the hunger strike Bobby
Sands was elected MP for Fermanagh/South Tyrone, Kieran Doherty was elected TD
for Cavan/Monaghan and Paddy Agnew TD for Louth. These election results, the
tens of thousands of people on the streets across Ireland in support of the
prisoners demands, the deaths inside the prison and the determination of the
prisoners in the H-Blocks and Armagh, defeated the British government's attempts
to criminalise the republican struggle.
H-Block Manifesto
1981
Before 1976 the British Government accepted
that those convicted were in a “special category”. Such prisoners exist within Long Kesh
and Armagh to this day. However,
prisoners convicted since 1976 are denied this status. This remains an obvious contradiction in
their policy of criminalisation.
Since then the political prisoners have protested against the
“criminalisation policy” as it is known.
From the generalised slogan of political status they formulated five
demands of change in their prison condition, conditions lost in the removal of
special category status.
The Five Demands Are:
The right to wear their own
clothes.
The right to refrain from compulsory prison work,
using the time for education in vocational, craft or cultural fields.
Free association with
other political prisoner.
One letter, one parcel, one visit a week.
Restoration of remission of sentence lost
through the protest.
For these minimal, demands, after five years of
degradation, humiliation and torture, Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes, Raymond
McCreesh and Patsy O’Hara laid down their lives. They unselfishly endured a painful
hunger strike to death. Thatcher
says they had a choice. The choice
was to die with dignity or to live without it.
Remember that it was
very risky to have one of these posters in your possession during this awful
period. If you were found with one you could be arrested and
held overnight - under the Offences against the State
Act.
Condition: Very Good. Unused - blank on
reverse
Measures: 11.50" X 8.25".
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