Nor Meekly Serve My Time

[anomalocaris]

In honor of the day (the anniversary of the death of Bobby Sands, the first of the 1981 hunger strikers in Long Kesh), I'd like to mention a book called Nor Meekly Serve My Time.

For those who don't remember, or perhaps were not aware at the time, in 1976, the British government withdrew Special Category status from prisoners who had been interned without charge, or captured during the conflict over the constitutional status of the north of Ireland. These Special Category prisoners had until this point been considered, for all practical purposes, prisoners of war, and treated accordingly. With the stroke of a pen, the British Government declared them all criminal prisoners, and instituted a brutal regime of torture and deprivation in order to force them to submit to their new status. Allowed neither clothing nor toilet facilities, these prisoners were forced to live naked in unheated cells, amidst piles of their own wastes. They were routinely beaten and subjected to "forced washes" which resulted in scalded skin and, frequently, broken bones. In 1981, with nothing left to fight back with but their own lives, the prisoners staged a hunger strike which resulted in the deaths of ten men, but brought international attention to the conditions in Long Kesh and ultimately resulted in much safer conditions for their comrades.

Nor Meekly Serve My Time is the story of the men who survived this horrific experience, told in their own words. It was, in large part, written within the confines of Long Kesh, by men still awaiting release at the time of the writing. As such, it is an immediate narrative, heartrending in its detail. The copy I have was a gift from these men, and came to me with notes from over 200 POWs scribbled in the margins. To be honest, I'm not sure that I could have read the whole book without their "company." Not for the faint of heart, this book is, nonetheless, a document of great historical importance. It is worth reading by anyone interested in the history of the conflict, and as a reminder that such things must never be allowed to happen again.