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) ’An upholder of tyranny’, Votes for Women (August 6, 1909). ’The writing on the wall, An Phoblacht/Republican News (July 25, 1981). Author: Eva Zeilstra (3784908) Research Master History, Utrecht University Supervisor: dr. Jeroen Koch Second reader: dr. Gertjan Plets Date: July 21, 2018 Word count: 42.628 Abstract This thesis comparatively questions how the discourse of Christian martyrdom func- tioned 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 transforms 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 move- ments 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 Mar- ion 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. Par- ticularly 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. 1 Acknowledgement This thesis could not have been written without the help of many people. First, I want to thank my supervisor dr. Jeroen Koch for his intellectual guidance, his knowledge on the field of politics and religion, and his inexhaustible enthusiasm, curiosity and amazement for the topic of Christian martyrdom. Many thanks as well to dr. Laurien Crump, who as my tutor provided guidance and support when I took my first steps into the academic jungle. I am also grateful to everyone from the staff of Utrecht University’s RMA History and BA Language and Culture Studies who throughout the years encouraged me to continue with the complex but intriguing topic of religion and political conflict. From here, I also want to salute to my RMA comrades: Amir, Annelotte, Daan, Lenna, Luuc, Marlon, Martha, Sebas and Wouter. It has been a great pleasure for me to undertake the journey of this master’s programme together with you. Special honours to Lenna, my partner in crime, with whom I spent hundreds of hours in the library, undertook (non)academic quests in three different countries but above all shared all of the fascinating and challenging phases of the coming-to-be of this thesis. I also want to express a hearty thanks to my dear friends Jos, Jaron and Kyriana, who, as my flat mates, witnessed the ups and downs of my RMA-experience on a single day basis but never-ever judged. I want to thank them for their support but even more for walking the last miles of our student lives together. Jos, thanks a million for proofreading every single page of this thesis. You have been of greater help than I can express here in words. But most of all, I want to express my gratitude towards my parents. I want to thank them for their unconditional support throughout the seven years of my life as a student. 2 Contents Acknowledgement 2 Introduction 5 The Women’s Social and Political Union .......................... 7 The Irish Republican Army ................................. 9 Definitions ........................................... 11 Historiographical debates .................................. 12 The Women’s Social and Political Union and the usage of religious language ... 12 Irish republicanism and the usage of religious language ............... 14 Theoretical framework: Christianity as discursive practice ................ 16 Methodology ......................................... 17 Source selection ..................................... 19 Challenges and opportunities ............................. 22 1 Chapter 1. The discourse of Christian martyrdom: a historical analysis 23 1.1 Christian martyrdom: a multi-causal narrative ................... 23 1.1.1 The historical construction of a meta-narrative ............... 24 1.1.2 The discursive evolution of a metaphor .................... 26 1.2 Seeking martyrdom through hunger strikes: how the starving body became a weapon for the inferior ................................. 30 1.3 A Weberian discussion ................................. 33 2 Chapter 2. The Women’s Social and Political Union and the 1909 hunger strike of Marion Wallace Dunlop 35 2.1 Historical background to the WSPU’s 1909 hunger strike .............. 36 2.2 Narrating the hunger strike: the instrumentality of exposed pain ......... 38 2.2.1 Mapping the conflict: the community of the true faith versus the unjust tyrant ...................................... 38 2.2.2 Hunger strikes as transformative instrument ................. 41 2.3 Framing the hunger strike: carrier of the ethic of moral conviction ........ 45 2.3.1 Witnessing the truth ............................. 45 2.3.2 Passive suffering as active weapon ...................... 46 2.4 Press response ...................................... 47 2.4.1 The Guardian .................................. 47 2.4.2 The Times ................................... 51 2.4.3 Daily Express .................................. 53 2.5 Discussion ........................................ 56 3 Chapter 3. The Irish Republican Army and the 1981 hunger strike of Bobby Sands 59 3.1 Historical background to the IRA’s 1981 hunger strike ............... 60 3.2 Narrating the hunger strike: the instrumentality of stubbornness ......... 61 3 3.2.1 Mapping the conflict: the proud Irish people versus the unjust intruder .. 61 3.2.2 Hunger striker as inexhaustible instrument .................. 64 3.3 Framing the hunger striker: carrier of victory .................... 72 3.3.1 Witnessing injustice .............................. 73 3.3.2 Passive suffering as active weapon ...................... 75 3.4 Press response ...................................... 77 3.4.1 The Guardian .................................. 77 3.4.2 The Times ................................... 80 3.4.3 The Daily Express ............................... 82 3.5 Discussion ........................................ 86 4 Conclusion 88 4.1 Christian martyrdom as discursive practice ..................... 88 4.2 The noble sufferings of Marion Wallace Dunlop and Bobby Sands ........ 89 4.3 The martyr on trial: the importance of the public’s sympathy ........... 91 4.4 The functioning of Christian martyrdom in a political context ........... 93 5 Bibliography 96 4 Introduction The spirit of the martyrs of old is strong in such women, and the pangs of death itself could not have broken that spirit to do and dare all in the cause of right and justice. Miss Dunlop’s fast was a trial of faith that proved the depth of her devotion to the great cause for which she suffered, and for which other brave women are suffering to-day. Votes for Women (July 23, 1909).1 Bobby, your death has been such a sad loss, Just like Christ you carried your cross. Sleep now my comrade, like martyr’s past, You have inspired us with your courage, we’ll fight ‘till the last. An Phoblacht/Republican News (May 16, 1981).2 In today’s western world, the infusion of political conflict and religious rhetoric is a sensitive affair. In the current wave of terrorism, society is confronted with the need to critically consider the place religious cultures hold in the (post-)modern world and the way it puts shape to human action in the context of political dispute and conflict. Paralysed by the inability to accommodate a religiously charged conception of socio-political grievances in a world we once thought to become secular, the cross-influence of religious- and political languages is often disregarded as arch-conservatism or religious radicalism. However, the usage of intertwined political-Christian language by militant movements is not a new phenomenon and does not only merely belong to the most extremist branches of radical religious traditions. On the contrary. As thesis shows, a complex entanglement of political and religious framing also appeared in two (in)famous political struggles of militant movements that, although not fighting a primarily religiously motivated struggle, employed a Christian language to communicate their cause: