We know the sacrifices they underwent — some of them lost their jobs. . . .  But what struck us most was the fact that members of the labour movement so many thousands of miles away from us felt this sense of commitment to the struggle against racial oppression in South Africa.

That’s how Nelson Mandela described the brave Irish women of Dunnes Store in Dublin who ended up on strike for three years over their refusal to handle goods from apartheid South Africa. The strike began after shop assistant Mary Manning was suspended for refusing to ring up a grapefruit, sticking to her union instructions not to handle South African products. Her colleagues went on strike in solidarity. For three years, these workers were on the picket line on just £21 a week. Some lost their jobs and their homes. Mandela later told the group of workers that their stand had helped him to keep going during his time in prison.

In Britain, too, international solidarity with those resisting apartheid was prominent. By 1990, forty-three national trade unions, including every major union, were affiliated to the anti-apartheid movement. Last week, we highlighted a call for international solidarity issued by Shaheer Saeed, the general secretary of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU). He spoke about how thousands of workers from Gaza had been detained by Israeli forces in degrading and inhuman conditions, calling on international trade unions for support and solidarity.