Blessed are those who hunger for justice? A comparative analysis of the functioning of the discourse of Christian martyrdom in the cases of the political hunger strikes of the Womens Social and Political Union (1909) and the Irish Republican Army (1981)

Abstract

This thesis comparatively questions how the discourse of Christian martyrdom functioned in the context of the political hunger strikes of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in 1909 and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1981. Through its meta-narrative, Christian martyrdom has the discursive potential to transform the experience of being suppressed and persecuted because of one’s conviction, in a righteous and noble act. Through empirical analysis of the language through which the WSPU and the IRA reported the stories of respectively their 1909 and 1981 political hunger strikers in their newspapers Votes for Women and An Phoblacht/Republican News, this thesis shows how both movements employed the discourse of Christian martyrdom in their narration and framing of the meaning of the self-chosen starvation of their members. Although nor the WSPU nor the IRA operated out of primarily religious motives, both explained the course and impact of its hunger strikes through suggestive parallels with Christian martyrdom. Because they had proudly chosen suffering over a betrayal of their political convictions, WSPU-member Marion Wallace Dunlop (1864-1942) and IRA-member Bobby Sands (1954-1981) were praised for having given ultimate account of their movement’s cause. Hereby, as their movements argued, their passive sufferings had been transformed into active weapons. Nevertheless, in both cases, the martyrdom of the hunger strikers was no foregone conclusion. Reports published in The Guardian, The Times and the Daily Express on both cases show that the self-sought suffering of Dunlop and Sands caused irritation among the British people. Particularly in the case of the Sands, people could not reconcile the IRA’s martyrological claim with the movement’s violent propagation of its political cause. Hereby, it was shown that, although Christian martyrdom is a powerful discursive practice that arose in the context of many significant political conflicts, it is the public’s sympathy through which the martyr’s crown is granted.