History of Sinn Féin trend of power in both Sinn Féin and the IRA shifting north. In particular, Ó'Brádaigh's part in the 1975 IRA ceasefire had damaged his reputation in the eyes of Ulster republicans. The prisoners' protest climaxed with the 1981 hunger strike, during which striker Bobby Sands was elected Member of Parliament for Fermanagh and South Tyrone with the help of the Sinn Féin publicity machine. After his death on hunger strike, his seat was held, with an increased vote, by his election agent, Owen Carron, and two IRA volunteers were also elected to Dáil Éireann. These successes helped convince republicans that
Students' hunger strike at the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests Gandhi's biography. Chai Ling has a different story: She saw a debate at Peking University as to whether to stage a hunger strike. To gain involvement from students for the hunger strikes, student leaders like Wang Dan went around asking individuals to sign up. This is how Chai Ling joined. Student leaders, who wanted to be part of the strike could only do so independently because the Beijing Students' Autonomous Federation did not support the hunger strike. By the night before the strike began, 40 individuals had signed up. Chai Ling gave an emotional speech at Peking University to appeal