PRESSURE IS BEING put on Dublin City Council to grant workers who participated in the Dunnes Stores anti-apartheid strikes in the 1980s Freedom of the City. 

Speaking virtually at a pro-Palestine event in Dublin yesterday, Nelson Mandela’s grandson, the South African MP Mandla Mandela called on the Council to pay tribute to the workers who participated in the strike by granting them the honour.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the strike, which saw workers in Dunnes Stores refuse to handle produce from apartheid South Africa.

The strike ran from 1984 to 1987, culminating in the Irish Government introducing a ban on the import of South African goods.

Mandela’s call has been supported by People Before Profit councillor Conor Reddy who has written to Lord Mayor of Dublin James Geoghegan and members of Dublin City Council’s protocol committee. 

Reddy has requested that Geoghegan and the Council formally consider Mandela’s proposal. 

“The actions of the Dunnes workers not only resonate with our shared commitment to human rights and social justice, they continue to inspire movements for equality and dignity across the globe today,” Reddy wrote. 

Speaking to The Journal, Reddy said the people involved in the strike deserve to be honoured, adding that some are now actively involved in campaigns to end Israeli occupation in Palestinian territories. 

Reddy said action like that taken by Dunnes Stores workers in the 1980s is missing from campaigns to bring peace to Gaza today. 

He called on all workers to stop handling Israeli products and to put pressure on their workplaces to boycott any and all trade with Israel in response to the state’s actions in Gaza, where over 42,000 people have been killed. 

The Journal has contacted Geoghegan for comment.