Friends and Enemies: The Left, the North, and Secret Operations

This chapter considers the powerful influence of trade unionism on the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement (IAAM): a feature that was more pronounced in the Irish context than in other national anti-Apartheid movements. This was cultivated by Kader Asmal, who at one stage chaired the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) union and proactively built support among Irish trade unions through key leaders including Michael Mullen, Donal Nevin, Barry Desmond, and Brendan Scott, who all emerged as critical supporters of anti-Apartheid activity. Other subjects and profiles discussed in the chapter include Conor Cruise O’Brien (initially a radical in anti-Apartheid terms who later turned against the IAAM), Seán MacBride, and John Hume. The secretive and extensive work of the International Defence and Aid Fund, which funnelled millions of rand on a global scale to the families of political prisoners, is shown through the semi-illegal workings of its Irish arm: the mainly women letter writers who carried out its operation. The chapter also explores physical threats against Kader Asmal from the Apartheid state, along with his murky relationship with the South African Communist Party (and his accordant clashes with Left-wing militants). The chapter ends on an investigation of the close overlaps between the IAAM and the issue of civil rights in Northern Ireland during the late 1960s.