Inside a Hunger Strike: Laurence McKeown on Life, Death and Political Protest

Hunger striking is one of the most extreme forms of political protest — and one with a long, painful history on this island. As members of the Palestine Action group continue a hunger strike in British prisons, with serious concerns about their health, Newstalk Daily looks at what refusal to eat is meant to achieve, and the human cost that comes with it. Shane Beatty is joined on the podcast by Laurence McKeown, who spent 16 years in prison as a young man and went 70 days without food during the 1981 Maze Prison hunger strike. He came close to death, fell into a coma, and survived only after his mother intervened. Laurence reflects on the physical and psychological toll of hunger striking, the emotional impact on families, and the moment when protest collides with survival. He also discusses whether hunger strikes can ever truly force political changes. Now an author, playwright and academic, Laurence draws on decades of reflection to explore why hunger strikes persist as a form of protest, how they shape political understanding, and what lessons — and warnings — they offer to activists today. Laurence McKeown’s memoir is And Flowers Grew Up Through the Concrete: A Prison Memoir, 1981–1992.