Do Go On - 546 - The Dunnes Store Strike, "The Most Dangerous Supermarket Workers In The World"

Episode Date: April 8, 2026

Those suffering under Apartheid in South Africa found a group of unlikely allies in 1984, when a group of young retail workers in Ireland went on strike after refusing to handle goods from South Africa. What started as a tiny movement slowly grew until the Irish government and the rest of Europe were under pressure to act... This is the story of 'The Grapefruit Ladies' also known as 'The Most Dangerous Supermarket Workers In The World." This is a comedy/history podcast, the report begins at approximately 11:05 (though as always, we go off on tangents throughout the report).For all our important links: https://linktr.ee/dogoonpod Check out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/Who Knew It with Matt Stewart: https://play.acast.com/s/who-knew-it-with-matt-stewart/Jess Writes A Rom-Com: https://shows.acast.com/jess-writes-a-rom-comOur awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader ThomasDo Go On acknowledges the traditional owners of the land we record on, the Wurundjeri people, in the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders, past and present. REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:https://tribunemag.co.uk/2024/07/the-dunnes-stores-strike-was-a-lesson-in-solidarityBlood Fruit (2014)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V-gVA4kahc&t=2s https://www.ireland.ie/en/southafrica/celebrating-30-years-irish-and-south-africans-share-their-stories-of-connection/my-connection-to-south-africa-mary-manning-dunnes-stores-striker/https://www.britannica.com/topic/apartheid/Opposition-to-apartheidhttps://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/28682https://sahistory.org.za/people/nimrod-sekeramane-nathale https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-25286567 https://www.reuters.com/graphics/SAFRICA-ELECTION/ECONOMY/egpbonzrgvq/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melbourne and Canada, we've got exciting news for you. And we should also say this is 2026. Jess, what year is it? 2026. Thank God you're here. Right now, I'm in Melbourne doing my show with Serengy Amarna 630 each night at the Cooper's Inn Hotel, having so much fun. We'd love to see you there. Canada, we are visiting you in September this year.

If you've somehow missed the news, we are heading up Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto for shows. That's going to be so much fun. Tickets for all this stuff, I believe, are online. And I'm here too. And welcome to another episode of Do Go On. My name is Devorniki and as always I'm here with Jess Perkins. Hello. And this week we are joined by a very special guest, returning guest, Seren, Gai, Amana.

Hello. Hello, Seren. Very good to be here. Oh, thanks. Bring it in. Don't be afraid to clap yourself. Okay. Thank you so much.

That's nice. There's the warmest welcome I've had. Dren. Ever? Like in any setting. Yeah, I mean, I was talking about this show, but now that you are. I like a stand-up show. Welcome to the stage, Syrenzymana.

Yeah. There's silence. I've never clapped myself. And it felt good. Yeah, it feels nice. Yeah, it feels good. Yeah. You know if you can come out clapping like Steve Jobs or someone in a skivvy, like, yeah, everyone.

Yeah. Yeah. We did it. I never knew what to do with my hands walking out into a stage, so I'm usually clapping. Yeah, true. Yeah. Because otherwise, what do I do? Wave?

What am I, the queen? Get over yourself. I'd do a bit of waving. Oh, get over yourself. self-sarend. What are you the queen? What are you the queen? Now, thanks for being here, mate.

Appreciate it. Thanks for making time on your very busy schedule because right now, you and the dearly beloved and dearly departed. He was a little bit sick. The late Matt Stewart. The late Matt Stewart.

He's a little bit sick, possibly because he's been going hard at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with you, Seran. You're doing a split show. Yes. Serene Jiamana and Matt Stewart featuring Matt Stewart

and Serene Jiamana to present Matt Stewart and Sarangana, I think it's what it's called. It's at Cooper's in. It's been fun. The first night was great. One of the best shows I waved on the walk into the crowd. People will be expecting you to wave now every night. Yeah.

But I'm changing. Maybe I'll do a clap. Okay. Maybe I'll wear a turtleneck. Who knows, you'll have to come see. We could reverse the situation where you clap, they wave. You walk out of silence, but lots of happy waves. That could be fun, actually.

So you feel like, oh, this is going to be fun. This is going to be a lot of, at the end you take stuff. They smiled a lot. Yeah. I didn't hear them. Yeah. Don't everyone. It's a loud laugh.

But they looked like they're having fun. Not everyone's a loud waiver. No. You couldn't hear them. That's great. Oh, that's fantastic. And you're going until the end of the festival now. That's right.

I think it's the 20th. Maybe the last day. 20th of April. This is the 2026 festival. This is. Yeah. We're like, oh, what? I just missed them.

I missed it. Yeah. But you'll be back. We'll be back. But, you know, let's be in the present moment and say 2026. Okay, let's live for them. It's a great show. I shouldn't try and future-proof all the plugs.

Yeah. If you're still alive, if I'm still alive, I'll probably be doing comedy. Matt's gone, actually, Matt. Matt's genuinely gone. He's an old guy. He had a good run. So great to have you back, Serent. Now, Jess, would you like to explain to Seren?

Yes. But more importantly, new listeners, what the show is about. Well, what this show is about is a different topic. every week. We take it in turns researching them. They're usually suggested to us by our listeners, and then we bring all that information back to the other two, tell them all about it, and they listen politely. They don't interrupt with dog shit riffs. They don't get distracted, and they don't zone out, ever. So we usually get onto the topic with a question. Dave, do you have a question for us? I do have a question. It's actually worked out quite well that Matt's called in sick

this morning because the question is about him. So he would have got it almost certainly straight away if he's remembering his own life. So now it's opened up to both of you. If you've listened to his old man's stories. So this is exciting because this will really kind of, it's like Soran and I are going for the position of Matt's best friend. Absolutely. Everything's off the line. And I just thought to myself off pod,

I said something to Serran and he said, thank you. And he said thank you the way Matt does sometimes. And I was like, they're the same. And I don't know who got it from who, but it's cute. So I think Saran is probably closer to Matt.

Don't put, now there's pressure. There's a lot of pressure. Oh, is there? Just because he took an inflection from me. doesn't mean... Well, I didn't mean to put any pressure on you and maybe get you off your game.

Okay. Are there points involved in this? Yeah, how's this work? Well, at the end of the year, we have a listener who goes under the alias of Bob who tallies up who got the most questions at the start of the show right. So, Seren, you've got a chance to hit one.

Exciting. The question is, where did Matt work as a teen into his early 20s? Oh. Safeway. Safeway, the supermarket. Now Woolworth. Did you know that?

I thought it was the liquor part of Safeway, but I might be wrong. I think he started out as a trolley boy. He's a trolley boy, of course. And then maybe he made his way into the deli. You can't be working in the liquor store at 16. No. No. Not in this bloody 90 state. We've had a few years.

I'd love a 16-year-old's suggestions. What would pair nicely with fish? and they just take me with a goon bag section? I don't know this. Have you thought about having 10 woodstocks and passing out? May I recommend a 2026 vodka smearoff? Double blacks?

Maybe you've heard of it? I have and I haven't drunk since I was 18 because I drank too many and I thought to throw up. We've been speaking of thought we've had a few stories from the supermarket over the years when Matt was a trolley boy, then he started working there. Like the time that he drank an entire

two-liter chocolate Big M on like a 15-minute break and then proceeded to vomit at Strokebacker. His break sack would be like two liters of milk and a six-pack of doughnut. Yeah, he ate like... Because you're a teenager. Is it two liters of vomit? Oh, what a fantastic question.

Plus a little bits of carrot. It's always carrot. It doesn't matter when you last ate it. I don't even like it. So the answer is a supermarket. Today we are talking about some supermarket workers. Okay. This is the story of the Dunn's store strike.

Do you know this story? I think I do. Don't tell me you've done this. No, no, no. I've put it up for the vote. No. And it didn't quite make it. This is recently.

And then, because I've got free choice at the moment, I was having a bit of a look at it. I was like, oh, should I look more into that story? But I don't know heaps about it. Great, because I actually, glimpse behind the curtain, we're going to record another episode with Jess Letter today. And so we both had a report and we don't know what we're going to talk about. So I actually messes just during the week being like, hey, what's your topic?

Because I picked this from the hat because someone, I believe it was Ariane or Ariana who were going to talk about as a suggestion in just a second. It was one of the most 10 recent suggestions. And I thought, Jess has probably done the same thing, gone through. I like to start with the most recent ones and then scroll my way back. So anyway, that's interesting. So anyway, that's interesting. And I was thinking, this topic could be done by Jess.

And then I was thinking, what have you do it? So anyway, you haven't done it. They're also known as the grapefruit ladies or the most dangerous supermarket workers in the world. Whoa. Second most after Matt drank two layers of chocolate milk. Yeah, dangerous to be around him. Have you heard of this story at all? No, I haven't. I'm excited.

You've never put it up to the vote? No. I like to, you both like to start with the most recent ones and scroll down. Sometimes, yeah. Yeah, I like to not even be involved at all. Yeah, okay. You don't scroll all. Interesting.

Yeah, interesting. That's a nice tactic. I'm excited for a supermarket story. Have you ever worked in one? No, I worked at a Myers was the closest. Oh, yeah. I worked at a David Jones. Yeah, there you go.

Oh, my gosh, enemies right here. Yeah. I would have loved to have worked at a mile. Rivals. David Jones sucked. What was your department? I was in the toy section. Me too!

Yeah. That sounds like the most fun one. It was fun. It was pretty fun and it was over Christmas as well for part of it. So that was like, but also I had no idea. Like it's not like you can be an expert in toys. No. What should we get my kid?

Have you thought about 10 woodstocks? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. People usually know what they're looking for when they're in the toy department. But I was in toys and kids wear which was super fun. And then they moved me a 20-year-old into like sheets and tails.

And I was like, with women who were all in their 60s and 70s. And I'm like, why am I here? I don't know. This is a punishment. I can't give people suggestions. I don't, I've never bought sheets in my life. I have what my mum got me. Do you want a white one or a blue one?

Yeah, I don't know. And you get so lulled into like, most people are like, you're like, oh, do you need a hand? And they're like, just browsing or whatever. Yes, yeah, yeah. The default response to get rid of you. Yeah. And so most of the time you're like, oh, these people don't need me around. But now if you go to those departments.

department stores, you cannot find anybody to help you or to put through the transaction. There's no one around. It's the worst place to shop now. If you're lucky enough to find the cash register, it's a, yeah. It's floating in the middle of the shop now. Sometimes, yeah. Or you have to go, you go over to a register and they go, oh, no, I don't actually work for Meyer. I work for one of the brands. I can't put that through for you. That makes total sense. Yeah, absolutely. Love it. Yeah, thanks for having me. Great, but retail is doing well in the 21st century. Yes. Yes. So thank you to the three people that suggested this to the hat, including Caitlin Corrigan from Lake Macquarie in New South Wales.

Anastasia, Paris de Abelah, or Paris d'Aabala. My God. It's because it's Paris hyphen D apostrophe, Abelah. My God, that's beautiful. I've really, really but I love it. You have a beautiful looking name with a hyphen apostrophe. And an apostrophe. Yeah, it's a lot going on.

Two capital letters. Anastasia Paris Darbara. And Anastasia. Yeah, love it. Already such a great name. Great name. And you are in Red Hill in Canberra. Thank you very much.

Fantastic butcher slash bakery there. What about Candlestick Maker? They don't quite extend. With the Red Hill butcher, they do a fantastic pie. And finally, I already mentioned Ariana, Ariana from Ireland, who also gave me some great sources on the topic. Because it is an Irish topic. So I put this one up to the vote on Patreon.

with four other topics and it got over 50% of the vote. Wow. Which is heaps considering that, you know, there's so many other topics. The other topics must have been shit then. I thought they were really good. Isn't that funny? Because I think I've put this up for the vote before. Or maybe I haven't.

And it did not make it that time. So this time they're like, yes, tell us this story. And when I say I'm aware of it, I think I've like read a two-sentence synopsis type thing. I don't know much. But I'm excited to hear more about it because it sounds cool. I've got a three-sentence synopsis. So you will learn something new. Oh, perfect.

Your sentences are so long. They are really long. Our story starts with one of the most repressive and awful parts of the 20th century. I'm sorry to say. It's a bit of a down start here with apartheid in South Africa, which is a long and complicated part of South Africa's history. It really deserves its own report because it goes for decades. But I will give a brief-ish background here.

I was going to try and do like a one paragraph, but then there were a few more things I'd to explain. You're not capable of that. I'm going to just have a look at the time, and I'm going to guess 25 minutes. No, hopefully not. It does feel like a thread that you pull. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, then also this and also, okay, can I mention that really bad bit?

Well, then this is also very relevant, I know. Yep. So I'm saying 25, it'll be longer, but I'm being generous. Okay. So apartheid, which translates from Afrikaans as separateness, or literally aparthood or apartness. Okay. was a system of institutionalized racial segregation that existed in South Africa and

Southwest Africa, which is now Namibia, from 1948 to the early 1990s. So it's many decades. Britannica writes, although racial segregation had long been in practice there, the apartheid name was first used about 1948 to describe the racial segregation policies embraced by the white minority government instigated by the National Party. The Population Registration Act of 1950 classified South Africans as native, which is all black Africans, also called Bantu, are colored, who are those of mixed race, or white, and then Asian, which is Indian and Pakistani category, was later added. So everyone was just divided into one of these four categories. And then basically, that affected how you could live your life.

A apartheid dictated where South Africans on the basis of their classification could. live and work, the type of education they could receive, whether they could vote, who they could associate with, and which segregated public facilities they could use. Thousands of non-white people were removed from areas classified for white occupation, as 80% of South Africa's land was set aside for the white minority. And it was a real minority. At the start of segregation, white people only made up 20% of the entire population of South Africa. But they've got 80% of all the land.

That just, come on. It just doesn't make sense. I'm not a numbers girl. Yeah. Okay. I'm not sure what I am, but not numbers. And that doesn't make sense to me. To me, an idiot.

That's insane. 20% of the population gets 80% of the land. It's like, sorry, you've got it, you've got the wrong way around here. Yeah. 20% of the population would probably get 20% of the land. That makes sense. 80% of the population. Actually, the numbers, they work out perfectly.

There's 20% of people and there's 20% of land. You've just swapped it around. And that's okay. We all make whoopsies. Yeah, we all make whoopsies. Just flick those around. You're so close. You just take it 80% of the people have 80%.

Yeah. You just tick the wrong box in a form. And you've backed yourself into a corner and gone, oh shit. Oh shit. No, I meant to do that. So like another non-white designated people were stripped of their South African citizenship.

And it was an awful time. Awful time. There was always some. opposition to apartheid within South Africa. Got to say that. Again from Britannica, black African groups with the support of some white people

held demonstrations and strikes and there were many instances of violent protest and of sabotage. Do you think that the opposition to it was about 80%? Yeah, it was so far. Yeah. Do you reckon?

They're like, oh, okay, this is not quite working out here. People being oppressed and moved on it and take their citizenship taken away. The secret was not letting them vote. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because 100% of the voters. That's right.

That's true. That's right. And there were many instances of violent protests and sabotage, including the Sharpeville massacre where police opened fire on a crowd of people who had assembled outside the police station and the township of Sharpeville, or the 1976 black African student led the Soweto uprising where thousands of people were injured and hundreds died. So there's always this undercurrent of people pushing. against it, but, you know, they didn't have the military or the police complex on their side.

So it was very difficult. Around the world, apartheid was condemned to varying degrees, really ahead of the curb Jamaica, pretty much straightaway banned goods from apartheid South Africa in 1959, and then South Africa was forced to withdraw from the Commonwealth in 1961. The United Nations formally condemned South Africa apartheid as a crime against humanity, passing numerous resolutions, notably Resolution 1761, a non-binding resolution condemning South African apartheid policies. Right.

So on paper, they're like, yeah, we disagree with that. That's no good. But, you know, it's non-binding. We might hold you to it. Yeah, yeah. But... Just so you know, not happy with that. Yeah, you're saying, I don't agree with you on that.

Now, I hope we can still be friends. Yes, anyway. I mean, you're entitled to your opinion. Yeah. Should we do some trade? They were also boycotted by a number of sporting organisations, starting in 1956 when the International Table Tennis Federation severed its ties with the all-white South African Table Tennis Union. Yes, leading the way. Table Tennis was really leading the way.

Yes. That's great. Is table tennis and ping pong the same thing? Or are they different? I think it's the same thing. Have I opened a can of works? I don't think it's like billiards and snooker where it is on the same table and it's a slightly. the different game.

Right. Ping pong, table tennis, same thing. I've always thought they're the same thing. Okay. Unless there is a game where you hit it and the ball bounces on your side first. You know that? And then you've got to hit it and bounces on your side and then bounce on their side. Maybe that's a different.

Isn't that just serving? Isn't that how you serve? It has to hit your side first. Oh, yeah. Do you always do that? I think the first serve, but then if every... I've asked a question I shouldn't have. And that's on me.

Let's not get too stuck in it. And if you are listening at home and you have strong opinions on the difference between table tennis and ping pong, may I recommend touching some grass. All right, Marty Supreme. That's great and good, and it's important to have passions and hobbies. But you can let things go too.

If you listen to Dave explain three paragraphs about the history of pastime South Africa, and then you'll hug up on the difference between ping pong and tennis. They're like, well, ping pong, the federation was ahead of the curb. Credit where credits due. I've just googled, are they the same thing? Yes, ping pong and table tennis

are fundamentally the same sport. they're often distinguished by the level of play and equipment. Table tennis is the official competitive Olympic sport. Okay, but when you're playing in your Uncle Russell's garage, it's probably ping pong. Yeah, casual recreational. And can I say, my Uncle Russ absolutely smoked me at ping pong. Did not take it easy. Really never went easy.

And he's in this book. It's that same Russ. Oh, just pointed to a book. A book, The Encyclopedia of AFL footballers. It's got every player in it. So he is a professional athlete and he smoked you at Taylor Tennis. That's so good. It sounds like you were playing ping pong, he was playing table tennis.

Yes, absolutely, absolutely. Because one of the big differences is ping pong is often played with sandpaper paddles rather than rubber paddles, it says. Okay. But back to apartheid. I never thought I'd say this, but let's get on with it. There was what I'd say this, but talk about apartheid more. The International Olympic Committee withdrew its invitation to South Africa to the 1964 Summer Olympics. Oh, wow.

The International Olympic Committee, the IEC, withdrew its invitation to South Africa to the 1964 Summer Olympics when Interior Minister Yarned de Clerk insisted the team would not be racially integrated. So the Olympics was like, all right, well, you have to include non-white people or, you know, give them a chance. And then he's like, no, so they're like, you can't come to the Olympics then. Can I just say, I mean, this is the sixth. is racism rife everywhere, right? Not a hot take, still everywhere, right? So I just, yeah, I think it's great that, what am I trying to say here? It's great that all of these other organisations and other nations are sort of going,

that is not okay. But it's like, but there's other racism that you're fine with. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's definitely right. Yeah. Anyway, I'm just saying. Oh, so you think they should have just like, No boycott.

No boycott. Yeah, don't boycott them. Yeah, until you clean your own backyard. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think, yeah, there's something to that. I think it's interesting, though, that they're like, no, no colored people in our table tennis team or whatever Olympic team. Yeah, yeah. But we will go play all the rest of the world.

Like, they're willing to get involved in this global event. Yeah. It's like, oh, yeah, it's the Olympic spirit. It's everyone coming together. That's right. They're willing to go to the Olympics where people of all different races, that's kind of the point. all come together and play games essentially. We're playing little games.

We're playing little games. To a great level. But we are essentially getting together to play games. Yeah, and we won't pick our best team. No. Yeah, that's right. We just pick our widest team. Yeah.

Yeah. Anyway. There were also boycotts of... There's so many sports we're not good at, white people. I think you meant you and I'm like, yeah, I know. Like, it's easier to list sports we are good at. Yeah. For me, it's none.

She's got a pretty good jump shot. Yeah, okay, sure. Yeah, we'll say that. There were also boycotts of varying degrees across cricket, rugby, soccer and tennis. But notably into the 1980s, countries like the USA and the United Kingdom where Margaret Thatcher was a prime minister, were reluctant to place any sanctions. In fact, in the late 60s and early 70s, US President Richard Nixon had a policy of strengthening contacts with the white minority government. So they won't put in any pressure politically on.

It feels like they're sort of hanging out to be like maybe, well, let's just see if this works. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe 20% of the people can have 80% of the stuff here. Yeah. Yeah.

Especially if I'm in the 20% of people. Why am I going to go with that? Now, how was that 25 minutes? Not quite. Pretty good. Pretty good. I knew it wasn't going to go that long because I knew there weren't going to be that many hot rifts. True.

You're like, no one's taking this one for a while. I thought you both did very well to get a couple in there. Thank you. She was like, I'm going to probably get through this text. I'm going to get a bit of exposition down here. Now over to Ireland, which in the 1980s wasn't doing well economically. Unemployment was rife and inflation was getting out of control. Now, story takes place in and around a duns.

An Irish multinational retail chain that primarily sells food, clothes and household wears. Founded in 1944 by Ben Dunn, Senior in Cork. Have you, I don't remember... The People's Capital. Cork. Oh, Cork, there you go. I think I meant Duns. Duns.

Have you visited a Duns either of you? I don't think I have, actually, no. I don't remember seeing it when I've been in Ireland. But apparently they're all over the place. I've never been to Ireland. To me, are we talking it's like equivalent of a primark or something? Are more food-based? Okay.

particularly in this year there's a lot of groceries going on there is it double n d u d u b s s oh yes dunes yeah because it's founded by ben done but it's dunes i'm looking for the um the the logo to see if i recognize it thing yeah i don't think i do yeah now now when i're on the website now i'm seeing a lot of clothing it does look like a sort of primar

type thing. But back in this era, definitely they're selling groceries as well. Because by 1981, so it was found in the 40s, they had one shop and it sort of just got bigger and bigger. By 1981, Dunn's stores had 66 locations, producing estimated sales revenues of some 200 million Irish pounds per year, or punts, and holding an 8% share of the Irish grocery market. But by the mid-80s, it was 21%. So it was one of the big players in groceries. The founder Ben Dunn Senior died in 1983 and his son Ben Dunn Jr. took over the business. Ben Dunn. Ben Dunn Jr. Probably sounds nicer in an Irish accent, I imagine.

And that would sound like... I wouldn't know. I've never heard one. Good instinct. Good instinct. Do you think his middle name was there and it was Ben there done that? He'd have to have a double barrel. He'd have to marry. He'd have to marry. He'd have to marry. He'd have to marry. For that little, yeah. Marry a Christine that. It's a fun little bag. Christine that.

Christine that, yeah. I'm going to hyphenate, I'm taking your name. It's going to be very funny. Been there, Dunnard. And you'd have to introduce himself full name. So the majority of the stores are in the Republic of Ireland. In fact, in 1984, Duns had 48 shops in Ireland, including its original store in Dublin on Henry Street. just 500 metres from where we did our show at the Laughter Lounge in 2023.

I looked it up on the map and went, that looks very close to the river. Yes. We were very, very close to it. We could have gone to the Duns. I reckon maybe I have wandered into a Duns. Because, yeah, I just looked at their store locations, and there are so many just in Dublin alone. Yeah, lots. So this is in the 1980s.

Conditions for workers there were very poor. The majority of whom were young women, Frances. Francesca Newton has a great article for the Tribune that I'll link to in the show notes and she writes at the conditions they were only allowed two toilet breaks of eight minutes each per day. Wow.

I don't always need eight minutes. It should just be 16 minutes total. Yeah, four minutes now, 12 minutes later. Exactly. What if I'm just in quick, I've just wasted six minutes. And it's a valid point. Now I'm sitting on the can.

And longer that I need to, just to maximize the time. Exactly. And that feels worse. That feels wrong too. Sometimes you're quick. Sometimes you need a little longer. And it wasn't just what you're doing in there because despite the toilets were eight floors up. Perfect.

So a lot of that was commuting to the toilet. Oh, commute time. That can't be. You probably only getting 60 to 90 seconds in there. Because there would be scenarios where you get complacent on your first visit. Yeah. You know, like maybe I'll take five minutes on this first visit. And then...

Who knows what you need later? Yeah. Yeah. After lunch. After, yeah, exactly. After a second cup of coffee. Two coffees in? Two coffees.

You've had a burrito with some extra beans. Okay. Well, that would probably speed up the process. Oh, yeah. That's a short visit. But it might need you need a third visit later. And they go, sorry, you've already had your two. Yeah.

You've had a high protein, not enough roughage in the English on the menu. Yeah, you've got to get fibre in. But hand you a bag of fibre. Here's some fibre. Yes, I meant if you sort of enjoy that. Also, Newton continues, their bags would be searched when they left the shop and a point made of embarrassing them if pads or tampons were found. Wait, what?

Embarrassed. Not pads or tampons, they'd stolen. Just that they have. The male security guards searching their bags would sort of just tease them or whatever. That's on the man. If a man's so terrified to see pads and tampons. Ew, yuck, oh my God. Yeah.

It's in a packaging. That says so much. Much more about him than the woman. Oh, absolutely. That's so immature and dumb. So immature, but also it's just not a nice thing for these young ladies. There were allegations also of sexual harassment. Newton finishes there.

Yeah, were you expecting hot riffs during this bit too? We've got a riff section coming up. Three or four sentences and then we're back. The grim realities of the 80s everywhere. That's so funny. Oh, you've got tampons in your bag. It's like, yeah? If that, like, if that happened to me now.

Boy, you some kind of woman. Yeah. I'd be like, oh, honey, you've never seen a woman, have you? That's okay. That's all right if this is all scary and new to you. Or are they teasing them if they have tampons and pads? Is they like, you can't make it, you're obviously indecisive. Choose.

Make a choice. You only need one. There's absolutely no context in which sometimes you'd like a different option. You dumb woman You're wasting resources Oh, are you bleeding Gross Hey everyone

This woman's bleeding Or might be bleeding at some time She's prepared Oh she's prepared if somebody else is bleeding Oh Oh Actually, yeah I get it That was really fun

So It's fun Maybe I understand Maybe those security guys were being like, maybe it was like a bit they were doing. Yeah. Like they were, you know, they're feminists. Yeah.

Taking the piss of men like, ironic. This was what I was. The whole time I was trying to, I was trying to get too ironic. And I'm like, they were like, um, ah, like, they weren't serious. They actually understood the point of the, yeah, yeah. Yeah, they were trying to make a commentary of stuff. Yeah, it was actually, it was quite clever. Um, uh, uh.

Yeah, these security guards, very clever. Very, very satirical. They're mocking. So a lot of the workers in Duns were members of the Irish distributive and administrative trade union, the IDATU of Senate written or I would say IDATU. Idaoo. Adatu. The I datu. Who had been at odds with the Duns management.

Ben Jr., who took over, I have seen him described as a tyrant. Cool. That's a word you want. But then there were some controversies in the 90s with him and he was forced to sell the business. Okay. Anyway, we won't get there. There's no time. Yeah, we don't want to tell that's the kind of, that's who's at the top of this chain.

So things were already hostile and the IDAT union, maybe I was called it, the IDAT union, had instructed its members to boycott goods from apartheid South Africa. Right. Again from Newton for the Tribune. In the hostile context, the union directive was seen by both workers and managers as an opportunity for confrontation. The situation in South Africa was actually. buy the buy. Right.

So it's just a way that you could kick back against the company is refuse to handle goods from apartheid South Africa and see what they do. One day, July 19, 1984, 21-year-old Mary Manning came into work and sat at her cast register at the Duns on Henry Street. I got a chair. I may have added that. She stood at her cash register. I was trying to paint a picture, but then obviously I've gone too far.

I was like she's lazy What is this, Aldi? She put her feet up on an ottoman I know it's a well-trodden path to comment on But I do find Eldy intimidating with a person sitting at the chair Throwing the things really quick And you have to pack your own bag Yeah, yeah

I find it Well, you get a chair and I have to pack my own. What the hell? Yeah I just find it stressful because they're so quick Yes And there's always people behind you And that's the worst part is they will just start the next person.

Yeah. They don't even wait for you to be finished back. But now I don't know who's goods are which. What's going on to you? What am I taking their good to say? They don't do that social nicety of like just giving a beat for you. Like it's the same when you like order a coffee. Maybe you're putting your wallet back in your car or something and you move on

and they just sort of stand for a sec. They don't do that at all. They're like, next. They like throw a turblaron at you and you're like, oh, this is this mine? So anyways, Mary Manning. She's at her cast register. Standing or sitting, I'm not sure. We're not just crouching.

But she's working. She's hovering. She's hovering. Yeah, she's definitely not floating. She's levitating. At her cash register. She looked around to see that managers from other stores had been shipped in to supervise. Whilst every person working at a till was a union member.

Almost like they were being goaded into refusing the apartheid goods. Like the managers were hoping it would all kick off and that they could suspend people who refused to do their work. A woman approached Mary Manning's cast register with her purchases, and Mary apologized to the woman and told her that she couldn't handle the two grapefruits in her basket because she was following an instruction from her trade union to boycott goods from apartheid South Africa. So that's where the grapefruits were from. The customer didn't think much of this and apparently just put the two grapefruits aside. Not greatly offended.

It was a bit like, oh. She was more offended that Mary Manning was sitting. Yeah. Stand up when you're talking to me. So they're like, whatever, but management swiftly called Mary Manning into the manager's office where she was offered a chance to change her behavior. But she flat out refused. She was immediately suspended and sent out of the shop where she was joined by nine of her colleagues who walked out in solidarity. The other workers were also young between the ages of 17 and 28, and 90% were women, so only one man.

And they formed a picket line out the front of the Duns. The others were Karen Gehran, Catherine O'Reilly, Tommy Davis, Theresa Mooney, Veronica Monroe, Sandra Griffin, Alma Russell, Michelle Gavin and Liz Deasy. Great names. The Tribune contends, when the workers went out, then, they were driven not by a position on apartheid, but by a desire to put two fingers up to Duns management. Which, two fingers? Probably two pinkies.

Two thumbs up? Yeah, two. Oh no, sorry, every one of those people who's like, fingers aren't thumbs aren't fingers. Fingers aren't thumb. Also true. That's also true. By implication. So, you know, it's just a way of like following the union so that they could like start negotiating with the shop.

Mary Manning is open and honest about this too, recalling that she couldn't spell apartheid at that point, let alone explain what it really was. The strikers thought that they'd be out the front of the shop on strike for a few days, maybe a couple of weeks. It was summer in Dublin, and the sun was shining for the first few days. So life was grand for these people. Some of the strikers would scyve off out the back to sun bake.

In Dublin. Yeah. Apparently it was unusually sunny, and they were all a bit like, this is all right. Who cares? We'll just do this for a few days, and then we'll hopefully get a few more rights going on here. Things began to change for the young strikers. When less than a week into protesting, a man joined them.

He was a black man, and incredibly, for most of the strikers, protesting apartheid, he was the first black person that they'd ever actually met. Wow. They had no idea who he was while he was joining them, but they soon learned his name was Nimrod Sejaka. Shut the fuck up. What are you talking about? I've never met him Nimrod before.

Nimrod Sejaka. Nimrod Sejaka. Or Sejaka. He had heard about their protest and decided to join them because before claiming asylum in Ireland, Sajaka had been a teacher, a trade union, and an activist for the African National Congress, the ANC, in South Africa. He was forced to leave South Africa in 1962 after being tried for treason alongside Nelson Mandela

with whom he had shared a cell. Wow. What? Yeah. This guy, he just heard about the protest and was like, I actually know a thing or two about what you're standing up for you. Wow. Do you think he doesn't, he didn't, like, capture the world's imagination so much as Nelson

Mandela because his name was Nimrod. Sirjaka. Why have we not heard of this guy? That's a better name. That's one of the best names I've ever heard. It's hard to take him seriously, though. Nimrod's Sajaka. I love it.

I'm enamored by it. It's unbelievable. So at this point in 1984, Nelson Mandela, back in South Africa, had already been imprisoned for 22 years. Nimrod Sajaka was forced to leave his wife and three children behind in South Africa, and he didn't see any of them for decades. It's not like he can go back for a visit. He's sort of been kicked down.

He's been exiled. He's been exiled. According to South African history online, in the late 70s, Sir Jacka was offered asylum in three European countries, and he chose Ireland, remembering that his sister worked for an Irish family as a domestic servant. They treated her well, and he was impressed when they told her, Ireland was a country oppressed by the British Empire. He was like, all right, I guess these people, out of these three options,

these people know something about being oppressed. So that's why he chose Ireland. Wow. He lived in the Red Cross hostel in Dublin, and when you heard about the Dunstores, workers protesting apartheid, he walked many miles every day to join them. They were a bit unsure of him at first. They had no idea who he was, and they were like, you know, why are you joining us? But he opened up and told them about what had happened to him and what was going on in South Africa,

and that's when things changed for the strikers. Karen Gieran later said, when you have a real life experience shared with you, it makes a difference. In a very Irish allegory, he told them that apartheid South Africa was like a pint of of Guinness, with a white sitting firmly on top of the black. Oh, what an allegory. Very well explain. You're like a tiny bit of white that's on top of all the black underneath. Again from the Tribune, quickly what had begun as the screw you despiteful bosses

became something much bigger. Manning and their colleagues were decided they weren't going back until they never had to handle apartheid produce again. So it sort of like changed their resolve and what they were out there for is it was sort of for their own rights and then once they heard what is actually going on firsthand they were like no all right we're actually going to protest apartheid properly here and just the fact that he Nimrod um Sirjaka insane name it's so good yeah that he was there and had had that experience and shared a cell with Nelson Mandela it was unbelievable what

like it could be such a different story if he had chosen one of the other places he was Offered asylum to you. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. So what were the other places again? I just read three places in Europe. Yeah, right. Because he spent a bit of time because he was also very left-wing,

sort of had communist views as well. And for a while he was in the Soviet Union, but then he lived in extreme poverty. It wasn't working very much. And then eventually after years of struggle was offered asylum. And, yeah, I don't know where the other places were, but you're absolutely right, Jess. He's such an integral part of this story

that really changes everything. He could have ended up in like Spain or something. And then he would have been like, it's like a Cerva. But if the liquid was black. Hang on. Geez, okay. Do you think the first time he saw a pint of Guinness,

he's like, got it. Yes. Yes. That's it. Locked and loaded. If anyone asked me what it's like? They'll get it.

Then they'll understand. Very Irish explanation. Yeah. The strikers union organiser Brendan Archbold, who was a member of the Irish anti-apartheid movement. So I've also got to point out that there were other people protesting apartheid in South Africa within Ireland. There's small movements going, but they're pretty grassroots and they don't have that much political capital influence. So he told the strikers, this Brendan, that the union would pay them strike pay of 21 punts per week, which was F all as their usual pay was about 100.

Irish pounds per week. Right, okay. So the union's like, will bankroll you, support you to be on strike? We can't pay your proper wage. Yeah. We can give you this. Give you something. Something to get by, but, you know,

they're not paying your rent. And these are supermarket workers, they're not millionaires to begin with. So imagine having an 80% pay. My local IGA is staffed by millionaires. That's lovely. I, J, that makes sense. It's so expensive. How do you think they pay the millionaires?

It's like, why is this so much? Yeah, Gina Reinhart's on the deal. You know, no worries? Put that through for you. Well, they're like, all right, 21 punts per week. They thought it was only going to last a couple of weeks, so they agreed. All right, you know, we'll get back to work soon. Yeah.

The group got support from the anti-apartheid movement and were visited on the picket line by other people including Labor Youth, Sinn Féin, Action from Ireland, and the Dockers Union, which in 1984 led a parade down Henry Street. That's in August to support. them. You know, union supporting unions. Newton writes for the Tribune, the response from the broader public, however, was often critical and tinged with the belief that a group of young working class people, the majority women and two single mothers, had no place meddling in the complexities of international politics, particularly when they were already lucky to have good

paying jobs in recession hit Ireland. People also accused them of being stooges, being put up to the protest by a union or a group, with ulterior motives. but the young strikers had never been involved in any politics at all. They were just members of their union, and they vowed not to join or affiliate themselves with any political groups until the strike was over. They wanted to be as independent as possible. Karen Gehrin, one of the strikers later said,

the media did want to portray us as this militant, left-wing bunch of young people controlled by others. But I think as time went on, they got to know us as they realized that we were ordinary young people not involved in anything, that we would just happen to be doing something quite extraordinary. Wow. A little sizzle.

A little sizzle there. On a local level, things were rough for them too, as some who had initially joined the strike on day one went back to work after a couple of days. And they and other workers at Duns were openly hostile, hurling abuse at the picket line. Oh. Oh, so they turned. Yeah, they turned.

There's a great documentary I also linked to that's on YouTube called Blood Fruit, and they interview a lot of the people many years later. and one of the ladies is like the people who went against the picket line I don't know what else to call them other than scabs that's good Hang on I just have a question for Surin

grapefruit how do we feel that Surin and I have your conversation while you went to the toilet before but didn't go to the toilet before but didn't go to the room we were having a conversation of Seren posed that the best fruits require a bit of work

oh interesting there's always effort Or it's like something has to be earned. Yeah. You think you have mango. Mango was the example I had. Yes. It's like sloppy and messy, but it's worth it.

What else were you thinking of? Pineapple. Oh, you've really got to work for a pineapple. Yeah, yeah, but it's so worth it. But fresh pineapple is beautiful. I was saying even when it's not that good, it's still really good. Yeah. But then when you get really good pineapple, you're like, this is blowing my freaking mind.

Grapefruit I don't think is actually all that hard to access, really, is it? No, but it probably is the hardest of the citrus. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. I'd think. Yep. Yeah.

It's hard to access if you have some sort of moral objection to the place for the topic project. Yeah, yeah. Then it's very hard to access. It's like that woman who just wanted grapefruit for breakfast. And then the person behind the counter said, I can't put this through. She went, okay. Oh, okay. Probably went and got grapefruit somewhere else.

She's like, I don't, okay. I understand. Yep. But yeah, I'm not a big fan of grapefruit personally. Bit bitter. It's too bitter for me. Yeah. Yes.

Too much. I often fall for it at buffet breakfast, which you know I love for the hotel. And they often have the juice stand. There's apple, orange, pineapple, sometimes grapefruit. And it always looks so delicious. Yeah, it's a great colour. It looks refreshing. And then I have one sip and go, oh, and it feels exotic.

You're like, well, maybe I should have it. Exactly. When else am I going to have great fring? I'm not just having this at home. Yeah. Yeah. Then you realize why. Yeah.

But maybe it's great because you have to work for it and that you have to suffer. That's right. It's the best fruit. It's not enjoy it. Yeah. Maybe that's it. So people are hurling abuse at them And in the doco, one of the ladies also says,

I think it's Mary Manning who started the whole thing. She's like, people who were at my 21st two weeks earlier were now hurling abuse at me. Like people I know and work with, well, were telling us to give up and that we were like, you know, making life harder for them in the shop. Wow. So like it was, you know, not nice.

Yeah. Bishop Eamon Casey, who was an influential person in the Catholic Church expressed private disapproval of the strike. Just private disapproval. Just sort of spreading it around a bit to like other people in the clergy. Not binding. Not binding.

Just sort of like quietly being like, you know, we don't support this. He was later accused of many sex crimes and all sorts of dodgy financial practices. Stuff which he privately approved of. Privately. Privately. Some priests even encouraged their congregations to cross the picket line from the pulpit on the basis of the strike was doing harm to black South African workers because they were the ones picking the fruit and they'd now be out of work. Another argument against it was that the Duns were a good Catholic family

and they copped it from shoppers. This is the strikers who also abused them. So people were just given it to them. Wow. But the strikers were steadfast when presented with the case that the South African workers would be negatively affected because Nimrod was there to tell them of the slavery-like conditions workers were subjected to. He really gave them the grounding and belief to continue on in the face of adversity. So when people said, like, you're actually, it's actually worse for the, the, the, non-white people there because this is their job. And it's like, no, they're basically enslaved over there.

Like the whole education system, which is the reason that Nimrod kicked out because he was a teacher, they had this, what they called Bantu education, where non-white people were given, like, specific education that focused on teaching them how to pick fruit or to work on a farm because they don't need to know other things because those are the jobs that they're qualified to do as their race is qualified to do. And when he sort of stood up against that and said, no, we should be teaching them actual life skills. Yeah, how to read and write and math and everything normal that we would associate with education. Yeah. That's one of the reasons that he was kicked out. So he's there being like, no, it's not actually, it's not just a nice job for them. Yeah.

They're enslaved basically. They're not getting paid really. Yeah. They're not getting paid. And they have no opportunity to do anything else. Let's teach the maths so they can understand that 80% is different to 20% They also received backlash from the police. The Dunn store had started secretly receiving new stock via rubbish trucks that visited at night. Oh my God. Covert delivery. Yeah, covert delivery.

So the strikers couldn't disrupt the drop-offs. And at the time, the picket line only operated during the day. So when the group got wind of the rubbish trucks being used, they increased to overnight operations as well. The Irish police were called in to get the strikers out of the way of the trucks, and Manning recalls in their book, the police, three of them to each striker, charged at the picket, separated them, forced some up against the wall of the building, and left them, quote, battered and bruised. So, like, violence was used against them. And the only man in the call group, Tommy Davis was also arrested, beaten and charged with disturbing the peace. He's the one disturbing the piece. He's been beaten.

He's been beaten up by three to one. Just let's take a step back and think about the consumer here, that lady who is unable to get her grapefruit for breakfast, the only solution for her is to have the grapefruit delivered in a garbage truck. Who wants this? Yeah. So she has to eat this stinky grapefruit. And it's like one of the big supermarket chains. So, you know, if it's your local, you're walking in, they're like, sorry, sorry. Sorry, I just need some wheatbecks.

It smells really bad. It sounds like a rubbish truck in the shop. Because they're not cleaning the rubbish truck out before their store. Yeah, how bizarre. It would have to be so cleaned. Maybe it was just the food was being dropped off by rubbish, like, but in the cabin. So there's not four or five bags at a time. It feels like a guy up the front with just a bag.

It's just a bag. It's just poking out of. There's not a great way to do. Honestly, they could have just got a Ute or something. Like when you move house and you're like, no, I can fit a fair bit of my car. It'll be right. Or you do a trip to IKEA and go, it'll fit. A dining table, I can get a...

Oh, that'll get the hatchback. I'll put the seeds down. I pull the legs off. So the months passed, the weather got worse, the abuse continued. In Dublin! Those three good days, that's it. Yeah. Done.

And by good days, they were like... they didn't hit 20. Yeah, I mean, good for them. Yeah, good for them. I say with Love, Dublin, my favourite city. To put this into context, you might understand if you're Irish, if you think of a glass of Guinness. Uh-huh.

And in the sky, most of the time, is the colour of the black stuff. A little bit of the year, it might be like the white stuff. Yeah, yeah. Every now, and then if you look really hard at it, you go, oh, it might be a bit of the sun. So the abuse continued, but the strikers didn't give up, and the story began to spread internationally, including into apartheid South Africa,

where future Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu heard the story. His fame was greatly increasing to, as in 1984, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his anti-apartheid activism, and on the way to the Nobel ceremony in Oslo, he requested to meet with the Dunn Stalkers. Wow. Mary Manning and Karen Girin took the ferry over to England to meet him.

Mary Manning later wrote, Within two minutes, this hugely powerful and influential man had given us more validation than anybody in Ireland since the beginning of our action. I don't know there was a ferry. Yeah. Still?

Yeah, pretty sure. What? I looked at it as an option when we were travelling from Dublin over to Manchester. Wow. Look at up. Let us know, Dublin Ferry. I guess that makes sense.

Still. Dublin to Hollyhead. Where's Hollyhead? Oh, town in Wales. Okay. Okay. It's gone all over. Oh, I mean, if you look at it, I'll show you guys the map and people at home can look it up.

There's Dublin and there's Hollyhead. It's the bit that sticks out. So you can just go straight across here. Oh, yeah. It still takes hours, but... Yeah. Beautiful. I'd be throwing up the whole way.

Okay, I'll just fly. It's okay. How long does it take? Yeah, even if it was like half an hour, I'll just be vomiting the whole time. Oh, our fast ferry, Dublin Swift. Two hours 15 port to port. That's, yeah. Yeah.

You got, what, you've, 15 minutes chugging down a big M. Yes. And then two hours of... Vomiting the Big M. Yeah. Another place is saying they do it in eight hours. Okay, that's a lot longer. That's such a huge video.

It's huge. One of them is just a speedboat with one guy. Quick, get on. We've got no time. That's Jason's time. I've got to drop these bags of rubbish. It's called the Robbins. rubbish man.

Man, so good. And you know what? We'd pay to see it. I'd watch to see that. I'd watch to see that. I'd watch to see that. Honestly, Jason, I'd watch it. Probably with my, I'd be on my phone for part of it.

Yeah, on a plane, maybe. And I'd keep nudging my friend going, this is so ridiculous. And I'm the friend. And I'm going, I know I've already watched it. David and I, if we're flying internationally together, we'll usually try to sink up a movie to watch at the same time. There's a three, two, one play. And then one's usually about a second in front.

You're like, stop looking. Spoiling it. Do you pause if whatever he has to go to it? Yeah, you do have three, two, one. Pause. Someone's going to the toilet. Or the food's coming around. Yes.

We're back. I also get too overstimulated if there's like too many sounds happening at once. So if I have something to say, we need to pause as well. And then take one headphone off and I go, that was funny. And Dave goes, yeah? Yeah. That was worth. That was worth it.

Then we start again. I like that bit. That's great, Jess. Do you want to hit play now? Yeah. Okay. Three, two, one. Do you browse together as well or how do you pick it?

Last time it was I had asked for Dave's opinion on which James Bond movie I should watch. Oh yeah, all the Daniel Craig ones. Yeah. And we ended up whittling it down. And what did I end up watching? Cassina Royale or Skyfall. Skyfall, yeah. And then I was, when I was telling you how much I love Skyfall, I was like, well, I want to watch it too.

So we got watched Carville, but I'm pretty sure they'd cut out about half an hour out of the movie. Yes, yeah, they'd cut bits out. There was no action. You were just driving around Scotland. I mean, beautiful. Lovely car. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they met Desmond Tutu.

Manning now points to that as the moment that changed people's attitude later saying people began to think that maybe we were right. Wow. Because, you know, he was like a really, really famous guy. Yes. It just won this massive piece award People were like, huh, well, if he's on that side And he thinks they're good It's just sort of gave them more publicity to outside of Ireland

It's sort of like how people Like what Curtis Stone does for Coles Absolutely, yes Similar kind of Yeah When he's, you know, those $10 deals or whatever Yeah, yeah, yeah Feed your family for $10.

Well, if Curtis Stoned If he's feeding his family for $10, yeah That's right Are they still doing that? Surely by now it's feed your family for $50 It's got to be. Yeah. Nobody's, you can't do it for 10 now.

No. Come on. He's like, uh, rice again? Yeah. Plain rice. Rice, can of beans. Yeah. Hmm?

Hmm? And that's, that's the $50 deal. Add a tomato if you want. Pretty good. That's optional. A bowl of appetite. Throw it in a bowl. Ready to go.

So it continued on with the strike. Month after month, they had to get by on minuscule strike wages. Veronica Monroe actually lost her house so she could no long. afford to pay her mortgage. Shit. But she stayed with a strike. Whoa. I don't believe in anything enough to like, to end up just with, yeah, I have to give up

everything I have. I reckon you met, if you met Nimrod. True. Such an inspiring presence. Yeah, that probably makes it most sense. So they're losing, losing so much money. I just get so bored, so quickly. I'd be like, oh.

I don't know. Maybe it was good having a house. Maybe having a house is all right. Maybe this isn't working. After two hours, I'd be like, oh. That's such a good quote. Maybe I'd be, oh. I'm not saying I don't, you know, that I'd be like, well, maybe apartheid's great.

I'm not saying that. I just think I'd be going, I'm not sure where the ones to fix it. I don't think this is working. I'm going to go back to my house now. You know what I mean? I'm part of the problem. Let's see how this works out. Okay.

The tide of public opinion was clearly turning in favour of the strikers as every Saturday, more and more people joined the picket line. Also by this point, the dodgy bishop Casey had U-turned and commended the strikers on TV. Oh, okay. The one who'd been spreading rumors before, like, I don't think we should be supporting this. Now he's like, obviously they're doing a great job and the church supports them. Right, okay. Because it became popular.

Yeah. It looked good to be on that side. Yeah, and Desmond Tutu won a Nobel Peace Prize. Yeah. Oh my gosh. He was a bishop or something? Yeah, but he was Anglican. So, okay, this is not looking good for the Catholics.

We better get in there. In the summer of 1985, an invitation arrived from their friend and Nobel laureate, Desmond Tutu, inviting them to visit South Africa and see the scourge of apartheid in person. Experience what it's like on the ground for these people. Of course, they couldn't afford the expensive trip. And when the union and anti-apartheid movement didn't put up the money, they said, We don't want to pay for that trip. Honestly, fair.

The strikers fundraised themselves. Karen Gieran later said, one Friday night, we went out around Dublin and raised £6,000. Remember, like, they were getting paid £100 a week when things were good. Wow. And money's tied in Ireland. Yeah. She continues.

That showed us just how much support was out there, because the 80s wouldn't have been an affluent time on Ireland. Anyhow, we booked the trip, and we were ready to go. Wow. So they had the money to get South Africa, but when they got to Heathrow Airport in London to do the final flight, Karen Guren recalled the South African authorities had told Heathrow that they would not allow the plane to land in South Africa if we were on it. Whoa.

We didn't know what the hell was going on. We were asked to submit our boarding passes and we refused to do it. They even took our luggage off the plane, but we held onto our boarding passes. And there was this whole back and forth. This is a bunch of 20-something supermarket workers. That's right. And South Africa is saying, well, good luck land. That plane if they're on it.

We won't let them in. Give us your boarding pass. Wow. And don't even think about trying to smuggle them in in a garbage truck. Because we've already thought of that. In a garbage plane. That's ingenious. The garbage plane is just the cockpit full of bags and the pilot not being able to see anything.

I want to understand too why the boarding pass is so important. Like they've taken their luggage off. They're not letting them on. But they're still holding onto the piece of paper. They're like taking the ticket away so the airline couldn't accept. to them getting on. And there's this big pause. They just got on the plane.

And after a three-hour delay, also apparently, when they got on, the captain said, like, these women are the... Do it. These are the women

that have made other hold-up. They sort of blamed it. Who's saying this? The captain is. And how is he saying it? Oh, sorry, do it. Yeah, sorry. Ladies and gentlemen,

sorry for the three-hour delay so far. Coming out of Heathrow in, to Joe Berg. Unfortunately, the reason we are held up is there are some very irate young supermarket workers. We've had to negotiate with. We have been cleared for takeoff now. We'll be taxing approximately six minutes. The weather in Joburg, even though we won't be there for about 12 or 13 hours, is currently 24 degrees. A lovely balmy weather. And hopefully, we'll get some rest and I'll check in with you in. A few more hours. Thank you so much. I come and grew up pre-outher-the-cocter for landing.

But it's good to prepare ahead of time for landing. Yeah, always be prepared. So, yeah, but he blamed them. Yeah, he's like, well, if you just turn your eyes to row 15, they're the ones to blame. Because I've heard people like sort of publicly jeered a bit when they're, you know, everyone's a bit like, oh, here we fucking go. When there's a delay because three people didn't board or whatever, and they're like five minutes later, imagine someone holds you up for three hours.

people are like blaming them. Yeah, I'm spilling my juice on them. I'll tell you that much for free. I'm walking pack. Oh, sorry. Oh, whoopsie. You're so clumsy. And it hurts twice as much because they don't ever change a clothes.

They're back. And it's grapefruit juice. Yeah, this is a real fuck you. I ordered that. I didn't want it. I don't like grapefruit cheese. Perific. So I've suffered now even more.

It's the perfect spilling juice. It's only good use, actually. It'll really stain. A nice pink, to be fair. It's a lovely colour. It's a beautiful colour. So, they flew all the way to Johannesburg, where upon arrival, they were greeted by men with machine guns. Perfect.

And all, this is all military guys, and mushed into a, mushed, ushered into a windowless room and held under armed guard. All this in a country that the Tribune notes, where they knew that activists, activists routinely disappeared or were murdered. This guy's a fearless. Yeah, it's real ballsy stuff Wow Again, I'd be like Oh, don't worry about it I'll wreck it

I'll go stay at home I'm like, I'll go back to the cash register I don't need more than eight minutes A toilet visit That's actually seems I'll just do one break Yeah I'll just do a piss and a shit

I'll just get it done I'm efficient Get it done's That's really good Thank you so much Thank you so much You mean sitting on that for a while I've been sitting on the can for a while

Yeah. Longer than eight minutes, actually. No, yeah, yeah. So fortunately, after eight terrifying hours, they were released and forced to fly all the way back to London, but not before Karen Gehran had turned back on the steps up to the plane and declared, we will be back when South Africa is free.

Another super brave move. Asked now what was going through her mind at the time. She is plain. She said, going through her head was, They are a bunch of bastards. Karen. These, these feisty, brave. Young women, yeah.

Incredible. So cool. It is a big promise, though, to be like, we'll be back when South Africa is free. Because the only reason you're going there is to kind of protest this thing. But once that's fixed, you might not really want to go. Yeah. But they're committed to it now. You have to.

Yeah. You get some time off. You know where you have to go. Well, we don't really have a cause anymore. 20% of the people have. Guess we'll just look around. Yeah. Of course.

Of course. Of course. But of course. Of course. Detaining and deporting the activists fully backfired on the apartheid regime, as it stoked media interest in the story. By the time they landed back in London, the uncertainty of their safety had led camera crews to mass.

Karen Gieran recalled, What are the camera crew is doing at church? Oh, my gosh. She's on fire. She's on fire of you. Are you kidding me? How long have you been sitting on that one? Oh, I just gave to me.

Wow. Yeah. Again, all I'm thinking about is they've flown all the way to South Africa, been put in a room for eight hours, and then they've just been shoved back on a plane. Again, I'm like, oh, that's a nightmare. That is a nightmare. That is a nightmare. I'm really unwell in that situation.

24 plus hours now. I would have just stayed home. That's not good. We would have watched a few movies, though. We probably could have watched all of Daniel Craig's. Oof. Of his bombed years. True.

Wow. Worth it. The highs, the lows. No, there aren't lows. It's all, they've all been cut out. Yeah. They cut out the lows to make, to make Daniel look better. Yeah, but they would refuse to play Quantum of Souls.

Our only Solace, we didn't have to watch it again. It's fine. It's just hard to come off Casino Roy. I fully agree. So there's media, camera crews at the airport. Yeah, Karen said, when we were, We arrived back in Heathrow. Everybody was told to stay in their seats.

This is everyone else on the plane. Again, they're disrupting the plane. And the police boarded the plane. We thought, oh shit, we're going to get thrown out of here as well. But they were there to bring us to a press conference. BBC, RTE, the works, they were all there. Martin. Wait, the cops are here.

Quick, come with us. We need you to talk to the media. Hello, hello, hello. What's all this then? Going to escort you off the plane, we are. Jason? Has he ever played a cop? He's definitely someone who used to be a cop

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But then like, through some circumstances out of his control, had to retire. Yeah. And now he's working. Or through being framed, he's disgraced. Yes. But by the end of it.

Yeah. He's never, yeah, he's never done anything wrong himself. No. Oh, God, no. Like in Crank, when he had sex in public, he was doing that to keep his heart going. There's no crime there when your life's on the line. Yeah, exactly.

He just needed a rush. That's what I say. I just needed a rush. I need to get my heart going. It's the only thing that works, okay? You have to put your mask on before your child. That's right. That's right.

So the press conference was widely publicised. Part of it was union organiser, Brendan Archboldt, who was also the member of the Irish apartheid movement. he was there, he was part of the press conference and he said he was in the presence of quote the eight most dangerous supermarket workers in the world. That is a good quote. The name caught on it is still used to describe them decades later.

I like that a lot. It's badass. Yeah, it really is. Yeah, you mentioned it at the start of the report and this is not how I thought the story was going to share. You were imagining Jason Statham. Jason Statham is a checkout person. I think I...

And now he's going to check out these people for good. I think I'd only sort of heard of it as like the grapefruit ladies and it was like, yeah, a bunch of women today protested apartheid and then they met Desmond Tutu, pretty cool. Pretty cool. And it's like, this is wild. No, they were held at gunpoint. Yeah. Like, what is happening?

The story had gone global and their support was bolstered. Mary Manning later mused, people began to ask, well, why won't they let them in? A bit like, what's South Africa are hiding? If it's not that bad, why were they not let these, you know, young, people in. Yeah. So people started looking into it a bit more and going, oh, it is real bad. Yeah.

The Saturday after being detained in Johannesburg, thousands of people attended the picket line in support. Wow. So things were really taking off. In October 1985, another Duns worker from the Crumlin branch, Brendan Barron, joined the strike bringing the group to 11 workers. That same month, Karen Gehran was invited to address the United Nations Special Committee Against Departite in New York.

and according to the Tribune, her speech was met with the first recorded standing ovation in the history of the UN. What the fuck? Wow. And she was only 21 years old. And she's, there's, and in the last, like, few months, she's flown all over the world. Yes. They, she's gone to New York to give it a dress. That's amazing.

It's incredible. It's unbelievable. Like, you know, not that long earlier. You're so early she's working at a supermarket, mining her own business, having no political thoughts whatsoever and now she's addressing the United Nations.

Wild stuff. That's incredible. In the US, she also met civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson, also singer Pat Benatar and the guitarist Steve Van Zandt, Little Stephen from the East Street band and the Supranos. Yeah, the Supranos.

What a group. What a group, a random group of people. Wow. Yeah, I met Pat Benatar. Okay. Okay, awesome. It's Little Stephen. Yeah.

And Reverend Jesse Jackson is like, yeah, huge in the civil rights movement. So like, and a lot of these people are asking to meet them. You know what I mean? Incredible, yes. Like I'd like to meet them. Yeah. Amazing. They're not like, let's write to Desmond Tutu and see if we can get a postcard back or something.

Yeah. Get him to come over. Wow. He's heard about them independently and going, wow. These people are standing up for us. I'd like to go meet them. Karen recalls that people supported their boycott saying, a lot of our supporters would go into the store, fill their trolleys,

and when everything was rung up at the cash desk, they'd walk out, they'd keep the South African fruit until last, and then they'd say, I support the boycott and just leave the trolley there. So, like, people can, you know, it's harder for people to buy the produce, taking it off the shelf. Yeah. Yeah, wow. Just leave it randomly in the shop.

A bit of collective. So that's the kind of active visit. That's the extent I would go to, I think. That'd be my little contribution. I'd fill a trolley, make them, go beep, beep, and then at the end go, I will not be purchasing this and then leave. Yeah. I could do that.

You'd do that? Yeah. No, I said I could. Yeah. Big Jemps do it would you actually do it. I sort of do it at Aldi because they go too fast. Oh, don't worry about it. I don't need to date this week.

It's all right. I've actually done that before when I've got some hand from the deli and realized I don't need this and just put it somewhere in the shop. Cool. Just left it. No, I haven't done that. but I have seen people do that before you're walking on. I think you have done it and the fact that we both went. No, I haven't done it.

When you're in the cake section or something and like, you know, there's like make your own mud cake and it's just a paper bag of ham. So it's just abandoned it. I like the, because they have the fancy cheese at the front of some of the Woolworths or the coals and you're like looking around. You're like, I need parmesan and you only see the fancy section. And it's like everything's so expensive there. But you're like, oh, this is what it is.

I'll get it. Fine, I'll grate my own parmesan this week. I'll get the parmigiana Reggiana. And then you find at the very back of the store and the pleb stuff. The pleb cheese. And that's just everyone's been replacing it with them. There's rows and rows of Reggiano there. You don't want this?

They want imitation parmesan. This is close enough. I'm just putting on a pear salad for God's sake. Lovely combo. I know. Did you see how impressed I was that you? Get some walnuts. The pear is a little bit more difficult than the apple,

and I would say it is a better superior fruit. I agree. You get more of a payoff for sure. Worth the effort. Yeah. Yep. But it has to be ripe for me. Yeah, that's part of the effort.

Not too much effort. You've got to wait. Oh, I want it now. Yeah. Yep. Had that with a peach the other day. I thought, this seems a bit hard, but I'll still get enjoyment out of it. One bite in, I went, oh.

What have a steak? What have I done? But I've bitten it now. I have to eat it. Exactly. But I didn't enjoy it. No. It's like when you think an avocado's ready and you open it and it's rock hard.

Oh, fuck. And there's no what, you can't ripen him now. Yep. Great. Great. Great. Ruined. There's no going back.

No. There's no going back. So you just put it on your bread and you try and mash it, but it's lumpy. It's not mashable. Nah. No. No. Taste of it's sour.

Yeah. This sucks. God. God, our lives are hard. Yeah. So by the end of 1985, the Irish government itself was feeling pressure to act. The story was clearly not going away and was only gathering momentum, but because of rules set out by the general agreement on tariffs and trade, which is now the World Trade Organization,

it was illegal to boycott a state on political grounds. But a stipulation of the international labor organization made such boycotts possible if the goods were the product of slave or prison labor. So you can't just say, I don't agree with your politics, but you can say if we find And the way you're like getting this fruit is dodgy and illegal or any of your produce. We can boycott you for that. So the Irish government agreed to investigate the process by which apartheid South Africa was farming their food. And towards the end of 1986, the Union, the Idatu, decided to lift the picket as a goodwill

gesture to the government awaiting the results of the investigation. But the strikers themselves were not happy with this and actually had a huge fallout with the union. But there was nothing they could really do as the union was the one paying their strike. like wages. They were like, no, we're going to keep going until they actually take action. They can't just say, you know, government's like, we're looking into it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that could take a long time. Yes. By Christmas, the group were disillusioned and the picket line was lifted and they wanted to keep going to keep the pressure up, but, you know, they weren't being

paid anymore. But they didn't have to wait long for good news, as amazingly for a government. In February 1986, it was announced that the government had completed its investigation and confirmed that prisoners were being hired out to farmers in South Africa as cheap labour. Because of this, a ban was put on all goods being imported from South Africa, making Ireland the first Western country to instigate such a ban. Wow. It took effect from January 1987 with the three-month phase-out period, so by April 1987, all goods were banned, and only then was the strike officially lifted.

Right. At two years and nine months, it was one of the longest strikes in trade union history. They thought it might be a few days or weeks, maybe. Almost three years of their lives. Wow. And then what do you do once it's all lifted? Do you go back to your job at Duns? Like imagine walking in and clocking in the next day.

Hey, everyone, I'm back. What's up? I know last week you were hurling abuse of me from the window up there, but now. Would you like to come to my 24th birthday? That's crazy. Well, after striking for so long, not everyone went back to work for tons. Are you impressed I could add three so quickly? That was real, oh my God.

I know I said I wasn't a numbers girl, but when it's single digits, I'm all right. Okay, plus three. Okay, man. 24. We did edit out the thinking time. You sound super sharp. Yeah, thank you for that, AJ. That was very kind.

Well done. So, yeah, they didn't necessarily just get. Understandably, it's been three years. Yeah. Some moved away from Ireland entirely. A bit weird on entirely there. I liked it. I'm a bit Irish there.

I almost called you on it, but I thought, no, I liked it. Entireland. Yep. Karen Gieran did go back and was offered the role of manager, only to be, according to the Tribune, bullied, sacked, and then blacklisted by employers in Dublin. Okay.

Oh, so there was like a set-up, a little prank on it. Yeah, but if you'd be manager and then they did not treat her well at all. She had to move to Kerry to get work. Wow. Still, Karen Gieran is very proud of what the strikers achieved later reflecting. We didn't start the movement. The movement was there before us, but we certainly brought a new life to it and we raised its profile. Wow.

Which is very true. They sort of brought it to the masses, put on the front page everywhere and basically forced the government to act. And that then influenced the world. Yeah, so from here, while nations such as the United States and the United Kingdom were at first reluctant to place sanctions by the late 80s, both countries, as well as 20, three other nations had passed laws placing various trade sanctions on South Africa. A apartheid continued in South Africa until 1990 when it was slowly dismantled through a series of bilateral and multi-party negotiations between 1990 and 1993. It had finally failed after a combination of intense internal resistance, debilitating international

sanctions and the threat of economic collapse. Wow. So it just made it impossible for them to do business and it was just like on the brink of like complete collapse. So they had to agree, all right, this is not a way forward. And that's when they started negotiating the end of apartheid. A big part of that was in 1990, Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years in prison. And we've got to do a report on Nelson Mandela. And we've got to put him up for the vote before. Maybe one of my free choices coming out. It's wild that we haven't. Like, even just reading bits about him here, I was like, oh my God, I've got to talk about this guy.

Yeah. Got to learn more about him. But shortly after he got out, he flew to Dublin where he wanted to meet the Dunn store strikers. The event was arranged at a Dublin hotel by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and Mandela said, 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. It was crazy to think that those strikers met the two men who shared one cell in this world is crazy right they would have anyway I don't know why

that bottled by wine it blew my mind I'm like what the fuck do you mean Nimrod's just wandering down the street Nimrod's there he just happens to live at a hostel three miles away crazy

and he can just walk there and then tell them yeah it's actually really bad this is what apartheid is all about and that's a thing from that snowballs from there the world is actually it's so small When stuff like that happens, you're like, what do you mean?

Yeah. Crazy. Apartheid finally ended in 1994 with the first democratic, non-racial elections where Nelson Mandela was elected president. In 2008, the Dunn's strike was commemorated with a plaque in Dublin, and the plaque was presented by Mandela's successor as president of South Africa, Arthabo Mbeki. Mary Manning, the original striker, also has a street named after her in Johannesburg. Oh, that's great.

Cool. Oh, that's cool. When Nelson Mandela died in 2013 at the age of 95, the Dunn's store strikers were invited to attend his funeral, which is pretty great. And whilst there, they also visited the family of Nimrod Sejaka in Soweto. He had by this point returned to a free South Africa to serve as secretary of the Soweto ANC Veterans League

before himself passing away in 2004. Wow. So they went over and they met his family, who, you know, I think his kids and wife hadn't seen him in three or four decades by the time he went back because you couldn't get in. Wow. But yeah, amazing. It's great that he lived long enough to see a free South Africa.

Yes, yeah. And I say that, I'm afraid to say, and I have to put a bit of a bum note at the end here, is that 30 years after the end of apartheid in South Africa, racial inequality is still rife over there. In fact, the World Bank reported in 2022 that South Africa was the most unequal country in the world based on the gene metric, a statistical distribution of welfare indicators commonly used to measure inequality. As one of them, for example, according to Reuters, a series of government interventions have failed to narrow the gap with the unemployment rate last year.

This is about that time in 2022, standing at 36.5% for black people, where it's 7.7% for white people. Wow. So they have instigated a bunch of reforms, but there's still a lot of inequality. So it's still not good, but the Dunn Store Stryker stood up and got their whole country to... I don't want to do like a white Saviour complex sort of thing here, but they did stand up and get their whole country to ban goods from apartheid South Africa, which is pretty amazing. Yes.

It's incredible. I think it's a long bow to draw the one that you are clearly drawing to say that it's because they were antagonised by the security guards on the way out of work. They were embarrassed. Yeah. And that inspired them to fight injustice. Where security guards entered apartheid accidentally. By making fun of the tampons. Someone's got to have their period at some point.

Oh, tampon's at a chocolate bar. Oh, soundly a lot. No wonder you've been a bit cranky. A hell have no fury like a woman in a period. I'm alone. Why don't you just get out there and change world politics? Ha, ha, ha. And we thank that security guard.

We thank you. Not all heroes, we're just, yeah, it blows my mind that they're just a bunch of young people working at a supermarket who just, yeah, and it's interesting, I didn't know that it started

with more of a union thing, and then they were, oh, shit. Yeah, just a way to sort of stick to middle fingers, Jess, up to their employers. Oh, my. That's made me really, rethink them. What I think about these young women. That's a very unladylike. I flip off the cameras when I walk into this building.

Every day. Every time I walk in, I flip them off. And I'm hoping for a supercut when I die. So, yeah, there's a bunch of sources in the show notes, but the one is the Tribune Mag, the Francesca Newton article, and the Blood Fruit, the Docco from 2014. Both well, worth a read and a look if you want to hear more about the story. Great story. Yeah. Fascinating. Yeah.

In some ways, I don't know, do you feel this with this podcast that you do? Like how, because I didn't know that story at all, but those people had such an influence on the world. Yes. You're like, whoa, it almost to me is like in 10 years when you're doing episode 10,000, whatever. Yeah, yeah. It'll be like Greta Thunberg is a footnote in history. Yes. And then you'll be doing the story.

Remember this girl, Greta Thumburg. Oh, vaguely. Yeah. These people feel kind of like they're young. They just felt passionate about a cause. And then they changed the world. Yeah. And now we're like, well, I guess we'll talk about them in a podcast.

Yeah. It's amazing. You're doing the Lord's work bringing these stories. Thank you. We're the heroes. Yes. And I do wear a cape. It's a bit weird.

Yeah, it's actually weirder when heroes wear capes in this modern era. For Dave, we call it a cloak. I'm wearing my cloak. Glock is so much creepier. Well, it's nerdyer, too. No, Dave's got his cloak on. Here we go. Here we go.

He's got to be insufferable. And as we say goodbye to Seren, we say hello to you, the patrons. That's right, the third host this week. That's right. Welcome. And every week. Every week. Or you see the fourth host.

In our hearts. Oh, yeah, that's right. Oh, no, no, no. Matt's still number four. Yeah. It's you, me, Patrions. Then Matt. He would agree.

This is the section of the show where we get to thank some of the lovely people who support us who make this show possible. And we do that with a series of increasingly silly tasks, rewards. That's right. The first thing we do is a section called Fact Quote, A Question, where people get to give us facts, quotes, questions, Braggs, suggestions, recipes. What else has been in there? Raps. Raps.

Both with R's and doubles. Thank you. I was thinking the same thing. Get out of my head. I will not. It's comfy in here. And this is pretty. A lot of room.

A lot of room. A lot of room in here. A lot of scar tissue. That's when me bouncing. Yeah. I won't stop. And this section actually has a jingle. I think it goes a little something like this.

Fact quote or quay. Oh, he always remembers the ding. Oh, I always remember the sing. Thank you. And this is where people on the, is this the Shineberg? This is the Sydney Shineberg deluxe memorial package, rest in peace. Yes. Well, you get everything, including, you know, being on it right into the show like this,

but also four bonus episodes a month. That's also, these are also on lower tiers too, but everything. And also, shout out, video, assist to the pod, ad free listening. And there's over 300 episodes in the back catalog. of bonus stuff. Yeah. We've done it all from over 100 bonus reports, many dozens of quizzes, four seasons of D&D.

Yep. Am I a Dead Woman? Do go on this day. Basically, we can't be stopped. The movie club. There's lots of little pods on there. There's lots. And so people here get to give themselves a title and they get to give us a fact,

to quote a question, really, whatever they want it to be, this is their time to be part of the podcast and to communicate directly with us. We can't ignore them here. First up. Not listening, not listening. I'm not reading your comments. First up, we have James Edwards. James has given himself the title,

Cool, Gay Uncle of the Pod. And then in brackets, let's do the bottomless Prosecco Drag Brunch next Saturday. Okay, I'm free. Yeah, I'm in Uncle James. James is giving us a question saying, Hey, gang, I hope you're well. With the Cheeto in chief, Donald J. Trump,

being awarded the first FIFA Prize after Nobel laughed in his stupid face, Which random company or organization would you like to award Would you like to award you a fake humanitarian prize? And as always when people ask a question, we like them to answer the question if they can. James has said, I think I'd like the Greg's sausage roll prize for healthy eating.

That's absolutely fantastic. I like that a lot. This is a fantastic question. One, I wish I had months to brainstorm on. What comes from mind for me is I would love to get the award for from the St Kilda Football Club for like greatest supporter or something Oh shit that's so good

I'll just like put it on my desk in the office next to Matt's desk Yeah I'm the number one supporter I would love to win the Pie Girl Award From a local bakery Can I be a pie boy?

No Oh I'm the biggest pie fan Okay that's not It's not right It's not correct Not factually accurate I don't even eat pies that often

Do you love them though? Nah. Okay. Well, that makes sense then. That works out. I'm not a big fan. You know what I do like is the moo-less moo from pie minister. In the UK, absolutely.

Fuck me, dude. I was so good. It's a veggie pie that it's like the meat. It's jackfruit. It's so good. Like, so accurate. Yeah. You and I were like, we think we've given it the wrong pie.

I made you. Thank you for helping me out, by the way. I made you taste some to be like, Dave, I think this is meat. So good. That's a really. funny question, James. Like a fake award. I mean, I did once get the

Pyface Cool Customer Award, which was a fake award, my dad made me for Christmas in 2012. And there's a I think it's on my Instagram or something somewhere. He's, he made a fake certificate. He laminated it, loves it laminated, ex-primer school teacher. Of course he does. And

he has the full certificate saying, thanks for all your support. And then he's got the Photoshop. And he would have made it on Word. I love your dad so much. The Pyface Cool Customer Award. So that's, I've already got one, one fake award from a company I love. Okay, so a random company organization to give me a fake humanitarian award. Company organization.

So my, you know, I just want people to be proud of me. Okay. That's a real, sorry to get real. Stop kicking me in the leg. I'm proud of you. That was me to say, I'm proud of you. All is forgiven. I do want to say that aloud though.

Just want to kick you. So I just, I think I just need like best something. or favourite so that I really feel chosen. But what organisation? What do I love? Do you love the Sims? Could you be a Sims player of the year? Oh my God, what an honour.

That would be too much, I think. That would be too much. And it's a humanitarian prize, so like the most moral player. Oh, that's really good. Which is not true. Lots of pull ladders will be removed. And every person who plays Sims agrees and goes, yeah, Of course.

Of course. You're fucking up their lives. It's fun. Of course you're going to get the one man on the street to have affairs with every single person. Don Lathario. He just has affairs, man. Don Lothario. He's crazy guy.

Thank you, James. That's a fantastic question. What does something like, you know, like Playboy magazine, like article reader of the year or something? That's good. This guy only reads the articles. He does not look. He doesn't look. He's not a pervenary way.

He has somebody else turn the pages for him. Very respectful. He gets someone to come through first and they put post. Post notes over all the scantily clad people. He sees their faces. Exactly. He respects their faces. He just reads the articles.

That'd be nice. Next up we have Jordan Nassie. N-A-N-A-W-C. Oh. I feel like I've heard Matt say it before. Yeah, I've heard and say all those before. I'm sorry, Jordan. Jordan's given themselves the title,

Metal Boy, B-O-I. And how's metal? Like, metal? Metal. Mental. Sorry, that's on me. for not enunciating pronouncing

Exactly Jordan has got a brag You love a brag I love a brag Saying you'll have done a couple of topics That have a sabbaton song Based on it EG the Unkillable Soldier

The Battle of Castle Itter The Night Witches And World War I I just wanted to brag that I'm seeing them live Oh wow They came to Calgary in 2019 But I was working so I couldn't see them, but I get to see them this time.

They're literally my favourite band. With so many battles and conflicts covered, they're perfect for someone like me, war history nerd and metal nerd. I think Matt might like them. He's a bit of a metal head. I reckon Matt's across them, yeah, because they're from Sweden.

I knew that. I want to see when they're coming to Calgary, because imagine it's the same time I'm wearing Calgary in September. And now a suggestion, sneaking a suggestion into a brag. Okay, I love that. I suggest you do a report on Simo,

Ha ha. I've said that wrong, but I'm sure if we do the report, I'll learn how to say it properly. AKA the White Death, the most deadly sniper of all time. And there's a Sabaton song about him. He's really cool. Or a report about Laurie Torney, the soldier of three armies. The man literally served in three armies, Finnish, German and American. The Sabaton website has a lot of information on both of these guys. I'm so sorry, this is so long. I'm drunk and very excited to see Sabaton live. Love y'all. Have a good rest of your day.

Love that. I'm like just a little thing at the end of, I'm drunk. I'm just looking up there in Calgary on the 5th of October, which is about a month too late for us. Damn. Should we stick around? We should live in Calgary. I think, well, yes. Well, let's visit Calgary and then see if we want to live in Calgary.

That's a good idea. That's really, really exciting. I reckon that Finnish sniper is a well-requested one in the hat. I've seen it pop up a bunch of times, so I'd be excited to get into that especially. Awesome. And Sabaton. Could have give him a go. Give him a go.

Finally for fact quota question, this week we have Matthew Whittingham, who's given themselves the title, Primates Yellow Ranger. And Matt is giving us a fact, saying, I was re-listening to Matt's bonus report on the Power Rangers curse, and Jess asked, do these people go to school? I'm not sure the context of that question. Do you mean the Power Rangers? Do these people go to school? Well, let's see. Yeah, maybe if I keep reading, Matt will explain. band, the answer is yes.

End of fact. Nah, not really. The Mighty Morphan Power Rangers attended Angel Grove High School and were apparently quite good students in season one, episode 47 of 60. Their class is putting together a time capsule to be opened in 100 years.

Their teacher, Miss Appleby, picks the Rangers to bury the capsule as they have the highest grades in the class. 60 episodes in the season is insane. That's more than one a week for a year. That's insane. That's crazy. Maybe it's just me,

but it seems like unlikely that five teenagers could be fighting aliens every week and keeping up with their homework, let alone have the best marks in the class, even if one of them was smart enough to create a flying car. Billy, if you're wondering. Man, I love how much you know about the Martin Wolf and Power Rangers. Billy was my favourite on the blue, the guy with glasses. Sure.

It doesn't make sense that they would only send five students out to bury a time capsule and no one else from the class would attend, nor does it make sense for evil witch Rita to want her picture put in the capsule so history will remember her when her ultimate plan of conquering Earth would probably do that. And she wants to be in like a high school. It's important. Time capsule, that's so funny.

Of course, these things all happen because if they didn't, there wouldn't be an episode of Power Rangers. But I think we can all agree that I have spent more time thinking about it than any of the writers, and I'm not sure who that reflects more poorly on. That's very funny. I think I do know who it reflects more poorly on. Do you imagine a writer's going to have to come up with 60 episodes?

All right, time capsule. All right. Rita, what's a better face in there next. Okay, the power plant. But imagine being the writer who's like, guys, are these guys ever actually in class? Maybe we should just do a few episodes where they're just in history class. Yeah, exactly. I mean, we need to know they're good students as well.

Yeah, it's important. So people, they're smart. So kids learn. Stay in school. That's right. And then like a putty man comes in. Yeah. Like a man in a grey morph suit.

What are you talking? What? Thank you to Matthew, Jordan and James. The next thing we need to do is give some shout-outs to people who support us on the shout-out level or above. Now, Jess, you usually come up with a game. Yes, I do. I don't need to be here. No, Matt doesn't need to be here. I was thinking, because you know how this all kind of started over grapefruit? Of course. I was thinking what item from a supermarket or a duns had these people purchased that started a strike? Okay. So you just have to think of something that you could get in a supermarket.

Right. Do you want to come up with those and I'll shout out to the people. Because obviously, I imagine you've got a random supermarket item generator in front of you. Supermarket item. I like to type like a boomer. Like I'm looking down my bifocal glasses. Supermarket item generator. Yep. Grocery store item generator. Fuck yeah. Oh my God, it actually is real. You can get anything online these days.

All right, so I'm going to read out the person and where they're from, starting with Loganville in Georgia. Hello, and thank you to Beth Fowler. Okay, this isn't actually what I need. I'm just going to have to think. Oh, nope, random food generator. Here we go. Okay, Beth bought some pickles. Oh, wow, pickles and they went, I'm afraid I can't have these pickles.

I cannot. I cannot beep. I cannot go beep. I got to tell you, I have taken. I have taken a solemn oath to not touch anything that's even vaguely felic until I'm married. Until I'm married. Yep.

Now, I'm all over those pickles like a rash. Picles have had enough of me. Yeah, please put us down. Now I'm only eating phallic foods. The phallic diet. It's pretty good. Okay. Bananas.

Carrots. Zucchini, capsic cucumber, um, hot dogs. Oh, you could, yeah, sausages. or like those loaves of cookie dough that like for some reason come in a sausage. Yes. Dog food. Dog food sausage.

You could have some frozen ice creams? Yes. Yep. Yeah, but you're getting a bit of fibre. Yeah. If you wanted ice, you could just go to a like novelty or sex shop and buy a like penis shaped ice blocks. You can probably, you can just get ice blocks that are like long tubes. Yeah, that's fine.

too. Yeah, that's fine too. But you can get penis ones. I just bought 10,000 penis straws. That way I can have a whatever drink I want and it's technically phallic. Good on you, Beth. On the phallic diet. If I'm on the felic diet.

Oh, not for like enough for me. Oh, a bit bulbous for me. A bit too girthy. I'm going to stop now. Next up from Moresville in North Carolina where in some places they have blue fire engines for some reason. Thank you to Zebulon Corbette. Flaxseed. Flaxseed.

Okay, I'm sorry. I can't have any flaxse. I'm sorry, I cannot put that through. I'm allergic. They really shouldn't have put me here. I'm allergic to a lot of things. It's an honest nightmare. I have to get a different job.

I'm frightened. But next up from, this is such a great name, from Rio Rancho, New Mexico. This is so so as great. I've typed in and it says I can get there for return flight of $1557. That's really cheap at the moment. No way. No way.

No way. Largest and most popular city in Sandoville County, New Mexico. Hello and thank you to Madigan Ray. Madigan bought some sweet chili sauce. That's the good stuff, but... Not allowed. Not allowed. Had to go elsewhere to get it.

It's the sweet. Oh, absolutely fair enough. Say no more. Managan, I stand with you. I never cross a picket line. It's not even late in the day. We're just having fun. Oh.

We went and got a sandwich and a coffee with Surin. I had a macha. I'm drinking a blue drink. Yeah, that's what it is. It's the blue coloring. Whatever's blue. Yeah, whatever's in there. Next up from Lemington Spa in Great Britain.

Hello, and thank you to Emma Chantry. Well, Chantry. Lamingtons. Lamingtons. Yeah. I love Lamington. I hate them. Really.

Don't like coconut. Oh, okay. They're pretty coconut heavy. They are very coconut heavy. I know we like, Rothelampton in Australia, but do other places have them as well? Probably. New Zealand, definitely, because I'm pretty sure we stole it from them.

Oh, my God. It's another one of those. But yeah, possibly. Was it a war thing? I think it was a war thing. Oh, okay. Like you'd use up the leftover kind of stale cake. Oh, right.

To wrap it in. That's why they'd, like, chuck some jam on it. Jam and cream. Coffee, coffee, chocolate and then coconut, just to sort of hide the fact that the cake's pretty stale. That's great. And Emma, Emma's like, I don't know, anything to do with a war. It's just an ink for me.

Yeah. No, thanks. Fair enough. Fair enough, Emma. Next up, from a location unknown to us, they're probably deeper than the fortress of the moles right now. Hello, and thank you. Dale T.

Dale T. Purchasing. Antchovey paste. For someone just like, that's yuck, mate. Yeah, someone went, I can't allow you to take that. That's gross. Is this for a cat? Yeah, will you be, if not, if you're cooking with that.

Is that for human consumption? Your cooking license has been revoked, Dale. Get out. One thing has come up on the list. that I didn't know existed, so... Really? I'm excited to tell you about it. All right, next up, they're right beside Dale in the Fortress of the Moles right now.

It's... Gosh, how do I say this name? It's I-E-U-A-N. Oh, I'm not sure. Ewan. Could just be Ewan? Ewan, yeah. Ewan Bell.

And I apologize if I've said that wrong. But Ewan has purchased some pink beans. Have you looked at what that is? Yeah, it's just a variation of beans. They look like kidney beans. Right. And did you just say, I'm not going to, like, Ewan's put that down. Well, they're the catch register.

Someone's come up and said, I want these pink beans. And Ewan said, we don't sell that. That doesn't exist. That's not a thing. You've made a fake product and you're trying to get me to scan it. Come on. Are we on jackass right now? Come on.

Your name's Steve-o. Are you pranking me, Steve-o? Et cetera, et cetera. That's a great little sketch. Great little sketch on the new jackass movie. Next up from Austin in Texas. Hello, thank you. Jason Westfall.

Jason was just trying to get himself some pesto. Really? Yeah. Why would we say no to pesto? Why we say no to pesto? Why we say no to pesto? Oh, okay. Where's that pesto come from?

Is that we saying? Yeah. Oh. The mob. Why, that's mob pesto? That's mob pesto. You don't want to support the mob. We can't support the mob, okay?

Unless... Even though their pesto is fantastic. Yeah, unless they're listening right now and are going to threaten us. We love the mob. We will only support the mob. Mob Pesto. We are mob. We're mob.

We're mob. We're mob bosses. We're my wives. I'll be a mob wife. I'll be a mob wife. If they're listening. If they're not, we will not support them. Next up from Chicago, Illinois.

Hello. Thank you. Lawrence Collard. Speaking of phallic. Sea cucumbers. Sea cucumbers. Yes. Just at the supermarket

Can you buy a sea cucumber? Apparently, according to this random generator. Well, I would trust this random generator of my life if you're down at Aldi or Coles and you want a sea cucumber. That's another moment you stepped in and said, Lawrence, I'm afraid, I just can't let you say... I'm sorry, what are you doing?

No. Where did you get that? We do not sell that here. We don't sell anything fell here. We don't. We're run by some very pious people. This is a church supermarket. And finally I'd like to thank from Sheffield in Great Britain.

It's Lucy. Lucy, possible surname, studying with a P, going from the email. Lucy wandered into that supermarket, bought some goji berries. And they said, a bit new age, bit new age, stop that. What are you trying? What, the latest superfood? Grow up, they said. They've banned all superfoods.

You won't get assayee here. There's no assayee. So there you go What's another one? There's no There's no quinoa Okay We won't even smash an avocado for you okay

Nah No super food Get out of here Goji berries What are you thinking Fuck what we thinking Fuck off But everything else

Yeah you can have milk Yeah of course It's a fun It's a satisfying sound Pup Bip Oh so fun It's good

I love it You're really good at too Thank you so much I was hoping you'd say that We should try and build that into your day-to-day life. Yes. I'll just walk along the street beeping. Sorry, did you just boop at me?

And then a conversation starts. That's a really good. It's an icebreaker. Great icebreaker. Next thing we need to do is welcome a few people into the trip ditch club. This is for people who have supported the show for three consecutive years. We welcome them into an exclusive club. We've got everything you need.

Once you come in, you can't leave it. Why would you want to? You're probably dead. according to the law. And, but we've got air hockey tables. We've got jacuz. Oh, my God, we've got jacuz. Yeah.

Oh, they're all a bit hot, though. No, they're a bit on the cool side, actually. I can get it right, mate. This is not me. I'm not, I don't, I don't handle the jacuzzi. Right. Is that like our poor boy? Yeah, our poor boy.

We've got a poor boy. Can I say Edens? the poor boy. And it's the pool boy. And then we pay him a fair wage. We don't pay him. It's fair. It's terrible.

He's really bad. He can't even get the bar hot. And he insists on wearing a speedo. And we say, please put some clothes on. Which he does. He wears a speedo over a tuxedo. It's very tasteful. It's a tuxpeedo.

Is that something? Tuxpeedo! Yes. Is that good? Oh my God. We're going to try and incorporate that into your daily life. Pup. Tuxedo.

Great conversation starters. God, I'm fun. First question. Sorry, who are you and why are you talking to me? Why are you in my house? Boop. Boop. Tuck speedo.

I do a little spin. As I always say, poof, tuck speedo. And then you just walk away. And they're like, who was that? Okay, so I'm behind the bar. Yes, you always have prepare a cocktail and or a food item relating to the episode. Yeah. To add to the menu.

We keep everything for some reason. We have to keep, we're hiring chef after chef. Yeah, it's getting a bit of me. There's like 600 chefs in there. If only there was a better way, but we haven't figured it. get it out. So I ordered a rubbish truck worth of grapefruit. Is it just the cabin or? It's like three bags? Oh, quite a lot. All in the back. They all smell real bad. No, but like you only use the inside of them. That's true. So who cares? They get a bit yucky on the

outside. But you've sourced them ethically, I imagine. Yep. And no, absolutely, of course. Of course, absolutely. Everything's about bored here. Everything's about board. I mean, it's the theory of the mind. It could be anything. Why wouldn't we make it nice? Yeah, exactly. We paid a good price. We paid more than enough. The farmer was stoked. Yeah.

Honestly, he laughed. He laughed. He laughed with glee. I felt like I had been ripped off. He said name a number. Mine ended in millions. Yeah. And he said, yeah.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. Yeah. So I just got to call my wife real quick. Yeah. Babe, we can retire. Some fucking idiot. He just paid me five million for grapefruit. He said something like that.

I'm sorry. I can hear you. I'm sorry. It's pretty unprofessional to make a phone call during a deal. Anyway, so yeah, basically any kind of spirit you want, I can mix it with grapefruit juice. That's great. I got so much grapefruit juice. I mean, if there's anything that's worse than tequila, it's grapefruit juice.

Put it together, that's fucked. I always book a musical artist to appear at the show. You're never going to believe it. What? This is a band I used to listen to in my youth, and I can't believe they said yes. After a lot of badgering, a lot of begging. Yes. Finally, they said yes.

The American punk band, Strike anywhere, you see. Whoa. And I said, you don't want to strike anyway, just have to strike here. Yeah. I want to point it to the stage. Yeah.

Strike, of course, meaning setting up and such. Sure. Yeah. And they did. Great. Thanks very much. Welcome to stage. Strike anywhere.

Now, what we do usually is Matt will read the list. He's got the clipboard. He lifts the rope for you. I'm going to do that. Normally then Dave will hype you up. I hype Dave up. Oh, yeah, yeah. So it's just going to be a little hype fest here.

So lock in with me. Honestly, it's going to be hard to stop one name to the next. It's going to be going around and round with hype. I know, but unlike Matt, I'm not going to ruin the momentum. He really does. Because he's like, oh, I've got something better, but it's usually shitter. 90% of the time. Every now and then he gets a really good one.

Every and then we're like, fuck, that was so good. God, that was really good. God, he's amazing, we say. God, we hope he's never sick, we say. God, I'd die with that him, I say. I'd die for him, I say. Yeah. That's all internal.

That's only sometimes. Yes. Other times I go, I'll kill him. We'd be worried for that, this sucker shit. Let's get Serran in full time, we say. Yeah, exactly. Coren's never let us down, mainly because he leaves before this fellow. We don't give him the opportunity.

Which is smart. Good on him. So I'm going to read the name. You're going to hype them up. I'm going to hype you up. It's going to be a beautiful little love fest. Are you ready? I cannot wait.

Here we go. From Edmonds in Washington, it's Colin Harlow. More like Colin Harah. Whoa. From Everett. Also in Washington is Dean Reichel. Rakedell? Yeah, I'm going to avoid that bit and say,

more like the mean Dean Green Machine. From East Greenbush in New York, we have Alexa Riley. More like Alexa really good. From Gig Harbor in this economy. That's what in Washington. Well, like Drew Greatman. And from deep within the fortress of the malls, we can only assume it is Philip a lot.

I'd be lions if I said I was disappointed to see you. But I'm going to be Truthens. Philippa, great to have you. That is good stuff. That is really good stuff. That is really good. I made my head hurt. That was so good.

I've just realised as well, oh no, we'll finish up by saying, thank you so much to Philippa Drew, Alexa, Dean and Colin. One final thing, we do have someone coming into the Triple Trip Ditch Club. That's right. These are the people that have been supporting the show on the shout-at level or above for nine consecutive years. Can you believe that? I genuinely can't.

I can't believe I've been here for nine consecutive years. It's absolutely amazing to have them in. They're only the 17th member to be inducted into this very exclusive club. There is a golden rope, a special section of the Triptych Club dedicated just to you guys. And what happens with these people is we read out their names. I salute them. I look at the camera because they've obviously got access to the video feed because they're on this tier. I give them a little compliment or something about them.

You give them a little kiss. Yes, consensual. Yes, and we honor them forever. We also allocate them an episode from our back catalog that they are a custodian of. Yeah. Now, being the 17th member of this club, they are going to be in charge of episode 17. Jess, what episode are they in charge of? They are in charge of an episode that came out in February of 2016 about left-handedness.

Oh, my gosh. That means a lot to you. I can't believe I just did a report about being left-handed. And it was the 17th one. We could have, there were so many topics available. What the fuck? It's because I have this like coffee table book that I have not opened probably since then about like the history of left-handed.

Oh, that's great. That's perfect. And it just sort of lists like famous left-handed people. I imagine that's what that episode was as well. You're right what you know. And that is now up to this person to be the custodian of Do you want to read their name? They can't decide whether or not we delete that episode forever.

Please don't. We say the copyright silver man's with us. Thank you so you so you're going to read out the name and I'll salute. Yeah, sure. And then we'll go back to you for your kissing. So congratulations and please look after left-handedness. Matt Las. Matt Las, I'm saluting and looking at the camera and I'm going to say, hey, we did it, buddy.

No, you did it. Salute. That's really nice. Beautiful. That's really nice. Welcome on into the Triple Tripitch Club, Matt. Make yourself at home. Imagine if Matt's a left-hander.

I know. Imagine. Let us know, Matt. And feel free to lie. I mean, it's like, it's not impossible, of course, but it's about 10% of the population's left-handed. So it'd be great, but I'm not sure. We wouldn't bet the house on it.

I am wondering, because he's only the 17th person to enter the Triple Trip Titch Club, I wonder what percentage of them are left-handed. And that make you think? Maybe all of them because left-handed people are great. Whoa. That's huge. Well, look, that's, that brings us to the end. And that's everything we need to do.

I feel like I've really carried this Patreon section. So if you want to wrap it up, Dave, that'd be great. I think you did a fantastic job. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Dave, thank you so much. Thank you. No, Dave.

Thank you so much. Hey. Dave. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right, by got you. Thank you to everyone at home as well. for listening to the episode coming this far with us. We appreciate you.

Of course, you can get in contact any time. There's a lot of information on our website, do go onpod.com, including where you can suggest a topic, sign up to Patreon, get some of those rewards. Listen to our other shows, including Who Knewit with Matt Stewart, Jess writes a rom-com, book cheat, primates. Listen now and possibly more one day. But we really, really appreciate you, yeah, being part of the show. Our social media is at Do Go On Pod, except for TikTok.

We are at Do Go On Podcast. Correct. Because young people are confused by what a pot is. That's right. They're like, what? What is this? Some sort of potty? Yeah.

Am I pooing on you? And it's like, oh, they're done. We say nearly never. Nearly never. Nearly never. You've got to pay a lot of money for that. Yeah, that's right. So that's at Dogo on podcast if you want to see clips of the show.

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