This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the hunger strikes in the notorious H-block prisons in the north of Ireland. It was the height of The Troubles, when the IRA went to war in an attempt to force equal rights and equal treatment in a highly sectarian colony. Bobby Sands was the face of the hunger strike, and is commemorated to this day as one of the many 'martyrs' to die for the cause of Irish freedom.
How incredible to learn that a group of suburban moms are taking the message of Bobby Sands and...what are they doing, anyway?
According to the Chicago Tribune, a large group of as many as forty women in Illinois are joining in the protest. They say they have a large group, at any rate. Attired in pink which represents the very motherly nature of the protestors, Ms. Julia Field, a member of the organization, now sits in a lawn chair in Evanston, hunger-striking in public. This hunger strike business is serious stuff. Bobby Sands lasted for sixty-five days, and by all accounts, the end is unspeakable agony.
And so she goes without food...from 4 in the afternoon until 8 at night. Wait, amend that to she goes without solid food. Barring the vacuum flasks of broth and juices. For four hours out of the day.
That's not a fast, for the love of Christ, that's a feckin' diet. You're dieting for peace, woman, you're not on a feckin' hunger strike.
Is this worthy of a grand gesture award? When I first started reading the article, I was ready to give herself the award, but as I read on, I'm ready to give her a good hard shake to wake her up.
This so-called hunger strike is a slap in the face, an insult to the memory of Bobby Sands, Francis Hughes, Patsy O'Hara, Raymond McCreesh, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch, Kieran Doherty, Thomas McElwee and Michael Devine.
Sit out there on your lawn chair, Julia, and make a great holy show of your suffering. Don't strain yourself, darling.
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