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Tyneside AA Group asked spectators to boycott Shell products at Newcastle upon Tyne’s May Day carnival in1989. 

‘Don’t Buy South African goods’ was the message on Tyneside AA Group’s float at Newcastle upon Tyne’s May Day carnival in 1989. Local anti-apartheid supporters were asking spectators to support the AAM’s ‘Boycott Apartheid 89’ campaign.

By the late 1980s the Anti-Apartheid Health Committee had built awareness among British health professionals of the chronic discrimination in health provision in South Africa and Namibia. One of the aims of this conference was to discuss how health workers in Britain could support their colleagues in South Africa, as well as joining in wider anti-apartheid campaigns.

On 4 May 1978 over 600 Namibian refugees were massacred by South African soldiers at Kassinga in southern Angola. This exhibition and fundraising social was held on the eleventh anniversary of the massacre. Seven hundred flowers were displayed in the shape of Africa and Glenys Kinnock unveiled a commemorative picture by an exiled Namibian. The event raised over £1,000 for rehabilitation projects in Namibia and Angola.

On 4 May 1978 over 600 Namibian refugees were massacred by South African soldiers at Kassinga in southern Angola. This fundraising evening was held on the eleventh anniversary of the massacre in 1989. It raised over £1,000 for rehabilitation projects in Namibia and Angola.

In May 1978 the South African Defence Force massacred over 600 people at a SWAPO refugee camp at Kassinga in Angola. They included 120 children. This leaflet accused Shell of being complicit in the killings because they supplied fuel for the SADF in its operations in Namibia and Angola. The leaflet was distributed on the 11th anniversary of the massacre in 1989.

Trade unionists from Teesside and Hartlepool protested against the unloading of South African coal at Teesport in north-east England on 11 May 1989. British miners and other trade unionists were at the forefront of the campaign against imports of South African coal. By the late 1980s the international campaign meant that it was often sold at a discounted price.

In December 1988 South Africa signed the UN Plan for the Independence of Namibia, which led to the holding of free elections in November 1989. With the Namibia Support Committee, the AAM set up the Namibia Emergency Campaign (NEC) to mobilise British support for Namibian independence and solidarity with the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO). On 13 May 1989 the NEC held a conference where 200 delegates were briefed by SWAPO Labour Secretary Jason Angula.