Little Museum of Dublin launches new exhibition The Irish Anti-Apartheid Struggle

In collaboration with the Centre for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), the Little Museum of Dublin presents a new exhibition on the Irish anti-apartheid struggle, Together/Apart. 

This exhibition salutes the thousands of ordinary Irish people who joined a mass movement of solidarity against apartheid in South Africa. In April 1964, the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement was launched in Dublin by Kader Asmal, a South-African law professor in Trinity College Dublin. Lobbying for improved human rights in South Africa, the Movement raised awareness of the racism experienced by communities and campaigned for the release of political prisoners. Twenty years later, eleven young shopworkers in Dunnes Stores in Dublin, refused to handle South African goods. This simple act led to an almost three-year strike that became a symbol of solidarity in the liberation struggle.Together/Apart invites us to consider the deeper resonances of solidarity that link the people of Ireland and South Africa. Beyond the spectre of war and violence, this exhibition asks us to reconsider the meaning of generosity, care and solidarity – ideas that once helped to forge a human chain in the face of apartheid.From Mary Manning's anti-apartheid movement medal to Nelson Mandela's original annotated speech which he gave outside the Mansion House after receiving the Freedom of the City of Dublin in 1990, the museum's guests will see objects – some ordinary, others extraordinary – that have been loaned by the very people who marched, advocated and campaigned for an end to apartheid. 

(Nelson Mandela addresses a crowd outside the Mansion House after receiving the Freedom of the City of Dublin, 1990. 

Photo by Derek Speirs

Dr Daryl Hendley Rooney, the Curator of the Little Museum said "The story of the Irish anti-apartheid struggle offers inspiration at a time when democratic values and human rights remain imperilled in the world. This exhibition reminds us of the importance of people power – how ordinary people can stand up and make a difference. Ultimately, it confirms the importance of being together, even when we’re forced apart."

The exhibition's Co-Curator, Professor Premesh Lalu of the Centre for Humanities Research at UWC said "Together/Apart is the story of the Irish people's steadfast solidarity with those who suffered under apartheid in South Africa. It is also an exhibition about those who built an international movement against apartheid and who imagined a world free of the injustices of sectarian violence, racism and exploitation."

From the Dunnes Stores strike to the South African Bill of Rights, which was partly composed on Asmal’s kitchen table in Foxrock, Together/Apart explores the legacy of the anti-apartheid struggle in Ireland, highlighting the importance of international solidarity and cooperation in the ongoing fight against racism and apartheid in the world today.

Together/Apart opens to the public from 14th May 2026 before travelling to South Africa in late 2026. Access to this exhibition is included in the Little Museum's Famous Guided Tour ticket. 

Tickets can be purchased at littlemuseum.ie.

Slán go fóill.