Liam Boyle

Today, in 1984, Mary Manning, a humble shop worker in Dunnes Stores on Henry Street, made a stand for human rights, which would echo throughout the world. In protest against the appalling racist apartheid regime, she refused to handle the sale of produce from South Africa. Her workers' union, IDATU, had issued directions boycotting South African products. Manning was the first member to implement the strike when she refused to handle grapefruit from the targeted nation. She and her shop steward Karen Gearon were suspended for their moral stance. Then another 10 IDATU members went on strike; Liz Deasy, Michelle Gavin, Vonnie Munroe, Alma Russell, Tommy Davis, Sandra Griffin, Theresa Mooney, Cathryn O'Reilly, and Brendan Barron. Going on strike or being suspended from work in the bleak Irish economic doldrums of 1984 was no easy task. Unemployment was high, and many people on the breadline mocked and resented those who chose to forfeit their work. After initially being donated some financial support from Anti-Apartheid groups, the protestors only received £21 a week pay. National and international support slowly began to grow. Nobel Peace Prize winner Sean MacBride and other high profile faces attended the picket line. Their courageous moral battle reached the ears of Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who met the strikers and invited them to visit South Africa. However, the regime there, no doubt embarrassed by the spotlight caused by the Dunnes workers, refused them entry into the shameful African nation. Their resultant deportation from South Africa only created further headlines throughout the world. Finally, as a result of their peaceful protest and steadfast courage in the face of hardship, the strikers convinced the Irish government to ban the import of South African goods in April 1987. Ireland became the first Western country to completely ban South African imports during the apartheid regime. Years later, when Nelson Mandela was granted the Freedom of the City of Dublin in 1990, the Dunnes strikers got to meet him. The Nobel lauriet said of them "ordinary people far away from the crucible of apartheid cared for our freedom." In 2008, South African President Thabo Mbeki unveiled a plaque in Dublin honouring their actions, and there is even a street in Johannesburg named after Mary Manning. The Dunnes Stores strike began on the 19th of July 1984 and ended 2 years and nine months later in April 1987. Nearly 40 years on and the brave and principled actions of the Dunnes Strikers continue to be an example to us all. – at Fingal, Ireland