A mention of the 800-year-old battle of the Irish to win freedom from British occupation will probably call up images of Irish Republican Army soldiers in pitched battles on the streets of Dublin, of terrorism and violence, of buildings in flames, of shattered glass and bombs exploding. The recent movies "In the Name of the Father" or "Michael Collins" may come to the mind's eye. Perhaps the name Sinn Fein, the Irish political party affiliated with the IRA, will come to mind.

But battles are not always fought with violence, in pitched battles or in terrorist bombings. They are not always fought with guns. Nor with traditional politics, with paper deeds to seized land, votes, speeches. Sometimes they are fought by men alone, imprisoned, who make of their own bodies a symbol of political shame. Sometimes battles are fought with hunger.

In 1980, seven Irish political prisoners in the H-blocks of Long Kesh prison protested criminalization by embarking on a hunger strike, vowing to fast until the government met their demands . When that strike ended without the desired results being achieved, Bobby Sands led his fellow prisoners in a relay hunger strike in 1981, vowing not to be swayed from his goal until all 5 demands had been met or until death claimed them.