The Irish Strike That Helped End Apartheid

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On our way to Connemara, Co. Galway, Ireland, we drove through a valley along Doolough Pass Road and came across this monument. It is dedicated to hundreds of starving Irish who perished on this road during the Great Famine of 1849. More about this later. There are inscriptions on the side of the stone pillar. One says: Unveiled by Karen Gearon, Dunnes Stores Strikers, 7th May, 1994. So why was this person chosen to unveil the memorial? In 1984, Mary Manning, a Dunnes Store cashier refused to put some grapefruit through the till, in protest against the apartheid regime in South Africa, the origin of the fruit. She was suspended and she and nine workmates walked out the door. Shop steward Karen Gearon then gave a union instruction that South African goods were not to be handled. Thus began an almost three-year strike which ultimately ended with the government banning the sale of goods from South Africa. Nelson Mandela later told the group their stand against apartheid had helped to keep him going while he was in prison.