The Power of the People
17 February - 47 minsRadio documentary ‘The Power of The People’ examines the significant impact of the ‘Dunnes Strikers’ on Ireland’s relations with South Africa and their contribution to the abolition of apartheid
On 19 July 1984 Mary Manning, a shop worker in Dunnes Stores on Henry Street in Dublin, refused to handle two grapefruit which had been imported from South Africa following an instruction from her union as a protest for the apartheid policies in place in the country. Mary was suspended and thus started what would become one of the longest running strikes in trade union history.
A new radio documentary produced by Kelly Crichton revisits the story, highlighting the tinder box atmosphere in Dunnes wh...
Series Episodes
This Land Is Your Land
In the mid-1980s, young people began leaving an economically devastated Ireland for other countries. By 1986, an estimated 150,000 undocumented Irish men and women were living in the United States. Without proper paperwork they could not access healthcare, report crime or keep bank accounts - and they faced arrest and deportation by INS agents. A group of young Irish immigrants, many of them in their 20s and undocumented, set out with the lofty goal to reform U.S. immigration law in order to create an amnesty for Irish illegal aliens (and immigrants from other nations who were in the same boat). But how could these young activists convince politicians in Washington of the merits of their campaign? And how were they going to do it in the two years before Congress ended? This is the story of the Irish Immigration Reform Movement. This Land is Your Land is produced and edited by Pavel Barter, narrated by Michael Mellamphy, and funded by Coimisiún na Meán with the Television Licence Fee.
48 mins
15 February Finished
