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Hammersmith and Fulham AA Group members held a year-long weekly picket of this Shell garage on Fulham Road in west London. The photograph shows health workers from Charing Cross Hospital at the protest. On 1 March 1987 the AAM launched a boycott of Shell as part of an international campaign organised jointly with groups in the USA and the Netherlands. Shell was joint owner of one of South Africa’s biggest oil refineries and a lead company in its coalmining and petrochemicals industries.

In the late 1980s there was a big increase in the number of political prisoners sentenced to death in South Africa. The African National Congress organised this meeting in London to alert public opinion in Britain.

Leaflet publicising a memorial meeting for Steve Biko and a collection for South African refugees.

Leaflet publicising a public meeting held during the AAM’s month of action in solidarity with the frontline states in March 1988. The AAM stepped up campaigning against South Africa’s aggression against neighbouring states in response to escalating attacks on Angola in the autumn of 1987. South Africa’s failure to capture the town of Cuito Cuanavale in Southern Angola in March 1988 was one of the turning points of the Southern African liberation struggle. 

This leaflet was distributed during the AAM’s month of action in solidarity with the frontline states in March 1988. During the month local AA groups held meetings and demonstrations to draw attention to South Africa’s attacks on neighbouring states. A highlight of the month was a visit to Britain by Graça Machel, who spoke at a packed meeting in Oxford and at the Scottish Labour Party’s annual conference in Perth.

One of the main events of the AAM month of action in solidarity with the frontline states in March 1988 was a fundraising concert on 19 March. The Africa Fund collected aid for refugees displaced by South Africa’s attacks on neighbouring states. On 21 March the AAM’s London Committee organised a picket of the South African Embassy to draw attention to South African aggression. 

Women from the ANC Women’s Section and AAM Women’s Committee demonstrated in support of Theresa Ramashamola to mark 8 March, International Women’s Day. Theresa was one of the Sharpeville Six, who were sentenced to death in December 1985 because they were present at a protest where black collaborators were killed. In December 1987 the South African Appeal Court rejected their appeal for clemency. Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS) responded with a campaign of letters and postcards asking the British government to intervene. After huge international protests the death sentence was commuted in July 1988.

Leeds Women Against Apartheid was formed in 1986 to bring together women in support of their sisters in South Africa and Namibia. The group reached out to women’s organisations in West Yorkshire, raising funds for women in Southern Africa, boycotting apartheid goods and holding day schools publicising the situation of women under apartheid. It was linked to a women’s group in Soshunguve township, near Pretoria. This leaflet advertised an event with stalls, entertainment and discussion on International Women’s Day, 8 March 1988.