Uso de medios de comunicación

from the apathy outside the prison and so were unaware of the indifference to their cause. When they realised that they were forgotten they determined to grab the

h e a d l i n e s . 3 4 Thus, much of the behaviour of the prisoners

must be seen in the terms of propaganda and self

conscious martyrdom with the outside propagandists trying to publicise the events in the Maze.

Originally the RAC was based around Belfast, a

factor that was partly a strength in that West Belfast is the most important concentration of nationalists in the North. So the Committee tapped into a very important

support base. However, this provincial origin was not an ] ideal launching pad for a Thirty-two County and an i international campaign.

The organisation was undeniably republican in | I nature, a fact that is obvious from the rules of Belfast I

•I

Central RAC in which both the short and long term i

j

objectives of the campaign are outlined. ^ j Our immediate demand is that political status

should be retained and extended to all prisoners who j are in gaol because of their opposition to British I

interference in Irish affairs. We further demand j

that there should be a total amnesty for all Irish 1

political prisoners. We finally demand the

withdrawal of all British troops from Ireland and the re-establishment of a Thirty-two County

Republic...

The rules outlined that they would concern themselves with all matters relating to imprisoned republicans, and that Central RAC should mobilise both nationally and internationally.35 Thus, the organisation was in full political sympathy with the aims of PSF/PIRA. The latter 34 Feldman, (1991). 159-161.

Certain people will say that they [the Peace People] should have been allowed freedom of speech.

Well we are sick and disgusted listening to their freedom of pro-British speeches seven days a

week....

... true they the 'Peace Women' or British agents, as I class them were driven out of Turf therefore did not perceive the largely female RAC as a threat.

The RAC set about the task of pushing their case and publicising the plight of the prisoners with vigour. They organised marches frequently with a symbolic "blanketman" leading the march. As the marches often featured the

wives and families of prisoners they provided very emotive propaganda as well as good television pictures. This humanised the protest, bringing home to the general population the conditions in which prisoners lived and so arousing Irish sympathy for the underdog.36

The campaign grew from its humble origins in the Turf Lodge area of Belfast. By the end of 1978 there were branches of the RAC all over Northern Ireland.3? The RAC groups were to become important in militant

republicanism's fight against the Peace People, a group of northern women who campaigned against PIRA's violence. This campaign brought out the most intolerant tendencies

in the Provisionals, viz a viz their attitude to | i Catholics who opposed them. The Peace People were j confronted through RAC marches titled. Peace with i Justice, which tried (and succeeded) to drive the Peace i People off the streets in nationalist areas. This was j

j

36 Chris Ryder, THE RÜC, A FORCE UNDER FIRE. London: Mandarin, 1989, 236-238.

Lodge and their car wrecked. We the Irish mothers of Irish children do not want or need them.^’^

By the end of 1978 the RAC had grown and matured as an independent, but, republican organization. It picketed Embassies and organised rallies throughout Ireland as the tensions inside the prisons escalated. At this time PSF chose once again to enter into a wider based campaign, despite the previous failed attempts. This was to prove more successful than previous attempts and largely took over many of the roles which had previously been only the RACs. This was eventually officially launched in 197 9 as the National H-Block/Armagh Committee and was a direct response, along with the founding of PSF's POW

department, to pressure from the prisoners upon the 1978 PSF ard fheis.s* The prisoners hoped for a broad based campaign in the spirit of what Bobby Sands was later to call for. '’Everyone, republican or otherwise, has his own particular part to play. No part is too great or too

small, no one is too old or too young to do something". This campaign, which was to become a relatively broadbased anti-Unionist coalition, had its origins in the 1978 Coalisland Conference, which had failed largely due to PSF's attitude to parties which would not give unqualified support to the armed struggle. The conference however had prepared the ground for the next RAC .

organised meeting in 1979. This was held at the Green Briar Hotel in Andersonstown during October with

representation from the RAC and the IRSP, PD, PSF, the

38 Reed, (1984), 295. 39 Adams, (1986), 75-77.

40 The Republican Movement, NOTES FOR REVOLUTIONARIES.