"Bobby Sands died for nothing as far as I am concerned"
Hardly that. Sands and the other hunger strikers were the turning point in the troubles. first they utterly destroyed Maggie Thatcher's claim the IRA were common criminals. common criminals don't give their lives for their beliefs. I've seen "common criminals" attempt hunger strikes any number of times, they typically last until the warden puts pizza back on the menu.
The hunger strikes is what put Sinn Fein on the map, Sands was elected to parliament as he lay dying in the maze. What infuriated Thatcher is there was no way she could spin the hungers strikes. It was a test of will between ten young Irishmen lying starved
and naked in a filthy cell and the leader of a world power, looking very well fed and comfortable. Not surprisingly the world took a dim view of thatcher's policies.
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