This paper explores the impact of the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement (IAAM) on Irish society and how it operated north, as well as south, of the border. It had consequences for individual activists who built careers after the movement, which also highlighted the issue of race (and racism) generally in Ireland. Often presented as a 'single issue' movement committed simply to opposition to Apartheid, the IAAM in fact took a broader role in Irish life, being bound up in issues of civil rights, civil liberties, Irish nationalism, and anti-racism. The paper looks at the central organisation in Dublin, centrally run by Kader and Louise Asmal (and an Executive Committee) from 1964, while also highlighting overlaps in Northern Ireland.

Connal Parr is Assistant Professor in History and Programme Leader for History and Politics at Northumbria University. His first book Inventing the Myth: Political Passions and the Ulster Protestant Imagination (OUP 2017) was shortlisted for the Ewart-Biggs Literary Prize and the RHS's Whitfield Prize for distinguished first books. It was also the basis of a three-month series funded by the International Fund for Ireland entitled 'Across the Lines', which took place in two border counties of Ireland in 2019. It engaged civilians from border counties and discussed Ulster Protestant, Unionist and Loyalist identity. His current research builds on his expertise in Northern Ireland to comparatively explore how states such as South Africa, Spain, Chile and others deal with a divided and violent past. It illustrates how the arts and culture resonate with a transitional justice element, playing an active role in conflict transformation and peace-building across the world.
His second book Solidarity and Pressure: The Story of the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement, was published by OUP in 2025.

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[Image: RTE, 1978]