Browse the AAM Archive

Mike Sparham represented the civil service union NUCPS on the Anti-Apartheid Movement trade union committee from the mid-1980s and served as its Chair from 1990 to 1994. He was later the Chair of Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA).

In this clip Mike Sparham describes the composition and role of the AAM trade union committee.

Anna Kruthoffer (now Anna Murray) first became aware of the Anti-Apartheid Movement when she was a student in the late 1980s. She became an activist in her local AA group in Hackney when she moved to London. She was the secretary of Hackney AA Group and the London AA Committee, which co-ordinated the work of London anti-apartheid groups. In April 1994, she worked in the ANC’s Johannesburg regional office in the run-up to South Africa’s first democratic election.  

In this clip Anna describes how she attended Shell’s annual general meeting to protest about the company’s involvement in Southern Africa.

Mike Sparham represented the civil service union NUCPS on the Anti-Apartheid Movement trade union committee from the mid-1980s and served as its Chair from 1990 to 1994. He was later the Chair of Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA).

In this clip Mike Sparham reflects how the role of the AAM trade union committee changed after 1990 and describes how British trade unions gave direct support to independent unions in South Africa.

Lynda Chalker was MP for Wallasey from 1974 to 1992 and served as a minister in successive Conservative governments from 1979 to 1997. Since 1992 she has sat in the House of Lords as Baroness Chalker of Wallasey. As Minister of State in the Foreign Office from 1986 to 1997, her responsibilities included relations with Africa and the Commonwealth and she was one of the key figures in the British government’s relations with South Africa in the period 1986–94. From 1989 she served as Minister for Overseas Development. Baroness Chalker now travels widely in Africa as Chair of the consultancy Africa Matters.   

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of the Forward to Freedom history project in 2014.

Glenys Kinnock became active in the Anti-Apartheid Movement as a student at Cardiff University. In the 1980s she spoke at numerous anti-apartheid meetings and conferences and played a central role in the ‘Children & Apartheid’ conference in Harare in 1987. She was MEP for Wales from 1994 to 2009 and served as Minister of State in the Foreign Office, 2009–10. Later she sat in the House of Lords as Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of the ‘Forward to Freedom’ AAM history project in 2013.

Glenys Kinnock became active in the Anti-Apartheid Movement as a student at Cardiff University. In the 1980s she spoke at numerous anti-apartheid meetings and conferences and played a central role in the ‘Children & Apartheid’ conference in Harare in 1987. She was MEP for Wales from 1994 to 2009 and served as Minister of State in the Foreign Office, 2009–10. Later she sat in the House of Lords as Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead.

In this clip Glenys Kinnock describes how the testimony of child detainees, given at the conference in Harare, changed the way the world viewed apartheid South Africa.

David Blunkett was the Labour  MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough from 1987 to 2015. As Leader of Sheffield City Council in 1981 he launched a Declaration pledging that the Council would boycott South African goods, withhold use of sporting and recreational facilities from events involving South African participants and encourage positive teaching about Africa in Sheffield schools. In 1983 Sheffield Council hosted the inaugural meeting of Local Authority Action Against Apartheid.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of a project by students at Sheffield Hallam University in 2013.

David Blunkett was the Labour  MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough from 1987 to 2015. As Leader of Sheffield City Council in 1981 he launched a Declaration pledging that the Council would boycott South African goods, withhold use of sporting and recreational facilities from events involving South African participants and encourage positive teaching about Africa in Sheffield schools. In 1983 Sheffield Council hosted the inaugural meeting of Local Authority Action Against Apartheid.

In this clip David Blunkett describes the link between combating racism in Sheffield and opposing apartheid in South Africa.