Browse the AAM Archive

The October issue reported on rumours of new talks between the British Government and the Smith regime in Rhodesia and on FRELIMO’s second congress, held inside Mozambique. It revealed that South Africa was responsible for more than half the world’s executions and exposed the murder of a detainee by South African police.

The AAM’s annual general meeting was the scene of a vigorous debate in which young members called for ‘direct action on the streets’, reported this issue of AA News. It carried a feature article on the apartheid government’s attempts to attract British tourists and immigrants to South Africa and analysed the latest British government proposals for a settlement with the illegal white regime in Rhodesia. An article by a Labour MP argued that parliamentary lobbying was still an important form of action for the Anti-Apartheid Movement.

The December–January issue reported on ZAPU’s rejection of the British Government’s proposals for a settlement on Rhodesia. Norman Levy, recently released from prison in South Africa, told of the harsh conditions endured by David Kitson and other white political prisoners in Pretoria Central Prison. An article by Ruth First argued that South Africa would act against any move to achieve majority rule in Zimbabwe. The issue also exposed Australia’s racist treatment of its ‘Aboriginal’ people.

A centrespread in the February issue featured a march on Rhodesia House organised by the Zimbabwe Solidarity Action Committee, and a sit-in by anti-apartheid writers. AA News highlighted a conference in Khartoum held to mobilise material aid for the Southern African liberation movements. Students at the London School of Economics called for the withdrawal of LSE investments in companies with South African interests. A South African correspondent exposed the use of police dogs to remove ‘Coloured’ residents from beaches designated as ‘whites only’ in Cape Town.

AA News revealed the growing trade links between Britain and South Africa with details of visits by South African government representatives to most major British cities. This issue reported on a memorial meeting for assassinated FRELIMO leader Eduardo Mondlane. Former political prisoner Jean Middleton described her life as a banned person in South Africa. An advertisement promoted a meeting organised by the AAM for British trade unionists, the first in a long series of AAM annual trade union conferences.

The April issue featured a report on the relaxation of the US arms ban against South Africa. It reported on student action against apartheid and on a show organised by the AAM at London’s Roundhouse on the anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre. A feature article revealed the role that the Cabora Bassa dam project was intended to play in consolidating white minority rule throughout Southern Africa. The newspaper’s centrespread exposed the horrific living conditions of people dumped in South Africa’s ‘resettlement camps’. 

Under the headline ‘New bill means slave labour’, AA News exposed the implications of proposed new legislation in South Africa. Former South African political detainee Desmond Francis told of how he had been tortured by the apartheid security police. The centrespread reported on the advances made by MPLA guerrilla fighters in Angola.

AA News deplored Robert Sobukwe's 12-hour house arrest after his release from Robben Island. Its editorial urged the British Government to support the freedom fighters in Zimbabwe instead of negotiating with the illegal Smith regime. It reported on the AAM’s first conference for trade unionists, which urged unions to end the investment of their funds in companies with interests in South Africa. A feature article argued that the time had come for a reassessment of AAM tactics and that it might be necessary to set up a new organisation to undertake direct action against British organisations that collaborated with apartheid.