Famed anti-apartheid activist backs Tesco worker refusing to handle Israeli products

Mary Manning, part of a much celebrated anti-apartheid campaign in the 1980s, has given her backing to a Tesco worker facing disciplinary action for refusing to handle Israeli products. On 19 July 1984, Manning refused to put two South African grapefruits through the check-out, following an instruction from her union, the Irish Distributive and Administrative Trade Union (IDATU). They had told workers not to handle anything from the apartheid state. She was suspended, and then went on strike, joined by ten other workers. The workers were on the picket line for almost three years, subsisting on strike pay that amounted to just £21 per week. The average weekly wage at the time was around £150.

The strike ultimately resulted in the 1987 decision by the Irish government to halt the import of South African products. Manning’s statement on the Tesco worker reads:

I stand in solidarity with the Tesco worker who is being disciplined for refusing to handle goods from Israel to show support for the people of Palestine.

Dunnes Stores took the same action against us in 1984 by suspending its workers for refusing to handle South African goods. This led to a strike that lasted for 2 years and 9 months.

I would urge Tesco not to become the Dunnes Stores of 2025 and allow the workers the right to refuse to handle the goods. We were on the right side of history then and this worker is on the right side of history now.

Belfast protesters attacked at Tesco by Zionist maniacs

The worker – who wishes to remain anonymous – is employed by the Newcastle, County Down branch of the retail chain. A protest with around 200 in attendance took place last week at that location, in which protesters rallied outside before entering the shop itself, where they informed customers and staff of the reason for the protest. In terms of modern-day apartheid products from so-called Israel, Tesco mainly stocks fruit and vegetables such as avocados, mangoes, and peppers. Activists distributed leaflets asking customers to take part in a small act of protest themselves, by taking an Israeli item up to customer service and making a complaint about its presence in the shop.

In a press release sent to the Canary, the coordinators of the campaign provided details of expanded protests at the weekend, with Tesco branches across Ireland picketed on Sunday November 30. They report that:

… Belfast, Carlow, Dungannon, Dublin, Mayo and Newcastle [were[ among the locations where they were held.

The Belfast one appears to have been the most eventful, with the press release reporting that:

…peaceful activists were attacked by aggressive Zionists, with one pro-Palestine demonstrator having his phone slapped out of his hand. The attacker then attempted to knock a loudspeaker out of the hand of another protestor. Shortly afterwards, a woman had her Palestine flag stolen and flag pole snapped in half by another advocate of Zionist genocide. Police were present but were disappointingly slow to react, enabling the first attacker to flee the scene.

Campaign hopes to draw on spirit of anti-apartheid 1980s protest

Footage of the incident can be seen on the campaign’s Instagram page, with the phone being saved from further damage through landing in a display of Tayto crisps, an (in)famous local delicacy. Customers were asked to sign a petition supporting the worker. An online version has garnered almost 3000 entries.

The activists say they intend to shortly commemorate the 8 December 1984 meeting between the Dunnes Stores workers and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who had recently won the Nobel Peace Prize. Manning recalled:

Within two minutes…this hugely powerful and influential man had given us more validation than anybody in Ireland since the beginning of our action.

The boycott campaign against South Africa had a devastating impact on its economy, playing a major role in the collapse of the racist regime in the early 1990s. The Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign hopes to replicate that success. It calls for focused consumer boycotts of specific companies heavily complicit in Zionist crimes, such as Amazon, Reebok and Intel. It also campaigns for the likes of pension funds to divest from companies that aid ‘Israel’. The final element – sanctions – involves asking governments to:

…fulfil their legal obligations to end Israeli apartheid and not aid or assist its maintenance by banning business with illegal Israeli settlements, ending military trade and free-trade agreements, as well as suspending Israel’s membership in international forums such as UN bodies and FIFA.

Palestine flag officially flies at Belfast City Hall after all

In other local Palestine-related news, Belfast City Council ended up following through on the November 3 vote that mandated the flying of the Palestinian flag at City Hall. The flag went up at 00:01 on Tuesday December 2, with a group of pro-Palestine supporters there to celebrate the moment. Local solidarity group Belfast Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign said:

…Belfast City Council has demonstrated moral clarity: to oppose apartheid and genocide is not a sectarian act—it is a human one. Flying the Palestinian flag is a visible reminder of our shared humanity and of Belfast’s determination to stand with the oppressed, wherever they may be.

The colours has initially been set to be displayed on Saturday November 29 on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People but had been blocked by use of a ‘call-in’ procedure that lets councillors challenge a decision if factors such as “community impact” have not been properly considered. The legal advice disregarded this claim, but found that the call-in had merit on procedural grounds:

This is due to the decision not being screened in advance and also that, given City Hall is also work place, the Council did not have regard to its obligations under the Fair Employment and Treatment (NI) Order 1998.

Councillors were therefore asked to reconsider the decision, but still voted to hoist the flag, albeit by a smaller margin than last time. The initial vote had passed by a margin of 41 to 15, but this time Alliance councillors switched their vote and a result of 32 to 28 was returned.

The vote prompted frantic renewed legal wrangling from unionist politicians, who sought an urgent legal review once again, which will be heard at the High Court on 11am on Tuesday December 2. The matter is particularly emotive among loyalists, some of whom view the matter practically in existential terms. Their fevered imagining sees the flag flying not as the humanitarian gesture it is, but as an Islamist-republican plot designed to bring about the destruction of their way of life.

Racists flip their lid, but more than symbols needed for Palestine

Among far-right accounts, Palestine is also leveraged to intersect with racist anti-migrant sentiment, as a post on the Official Protestant Coalition Facebook page suggests. The small crowd of 30 or so who assembled to oppose the flag’s presence can be heard barracking Deputy Lord Mayor Paul Doherty, who voted for the motion. As he leaves work for the night, the mob can be heard shouting:

You’re giving all our homes to the invaders!

The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) member then walks off while being subjected to jeers of “ya fucking tramp” and “scumbag”. The desperation with which unionist councillors have fought the flag-flying indicates a desire to pander to this particularly unhinged, fact-free, and xenophobic world view.

The flag of a brutally oppressed people flying over a building that was once a bastion of unionist dominance is indeed a striking sight, and represents a more humane set of ideals than the ugly racist and colonial mentality of loyalism and Zionism. Ultimately however, it is purely symbolic. It will be material changes, like those sought by the BDS campaign, that truly make the difference for the Palestinian people. The likes of Sinn Fein, the SDLP, and People Before Profit must show more than they have done thus far to make that a reality.

Featured image via the Canary