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Christabel Gurney was active in the Anti-Apartheid Movement from 1969 to 1994. She joined the Anti-Apartheid Movement in the late 1960s and took part in demonstrations against the Springbok rugby and cricket tours in 1969-70. She was Secretary of the Dambusters Mobilising Committee, which gave rise to the campaign to persuade Barclays Bank to pull out of South Africa.  She edited the AAM’s monthly newspaper Anti-Apartheid News in the 1970s and was later secretary of Notting Hill Anti-Apartheid Group. More recently she has researched and written about the history of the AAM. 

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

Support for anti-apartheid campaigns in Britain grew rapidly in the mid-1980s. The AAM launched this appeal so that it could increase its office space. The Movement depended entirely on small donations and membership subscriptions to finance its campaigns and received no support from government or grant-giving bodies.

In August 1985 South Africa announced a moratorium on the repayment of its foreign debts after the US bank Chase Manhattan refused to roll over its loans. As a result, South Africa was forced to negotiate a series of short-term rescheduling agreements with overseas banking consortia. The AAM and End Loans to Southern Africa (ELTSA) campaigned to persuade the banks to refuse any further loans until apartheid was dismantled.

The AAM depended on membership subscriptions and small donations from supporters to finance its campaigns. It worked hard to recruit new members but its support base was always far larger than its membership.

Christabel Gurney was active in the Anti-Apartheid Movement from 1969 to 1994. She edited the AAM’s monthly newspaper Anti-Apartheid News in the 1970s and was later secretary of Notting Hill Anti-Apartheid Group. More recently she has researched and written about the history of the AAM. 

In this clip she describes the atmosphere at the event in South Africa House held to celebrate the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as President in May 1994.

Mike Terry was the Executive Secretary of the Anti-Apartheid Movement from 1975 until it was dissolved after the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa in 1994.

In this clip Mike Terry talks about the broad appeal of the Anti-Apartheid Movement in the UK and its success as a single issue organisation.

Mike Terry was the Executive Secretary of the Anti-Apartheid Movement from 1975 until it was dissolved after the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa in 1994.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out in 2000 by Håkan Thörn.

Ethel de Keyser worked full-time for the Anti-Apartheid Movement from 1965 to 1974 and was appointed as its Executive Secretary in 1967. She continued to serve on the AAM Executive Committee until the mid-1980s. She later became the Director of the British Defence and Aid Fund and set up the Canon Collins Educational Trust for Southern Africa.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out by Håkan Thörn in 2000.