Browse the AAM Archive

A report of the AAM’s ‘Southern Africa; the Time to Choose’ conference featured contributions by Labour Party leader Michael Foot and the former Vice-President of Nigeria, Dr Alex Ekwueme. The newspaper condemned the bombing of the ANC’s London office on the morning of the AAM demonstration on 14 March, at which one of the advertised speakers was ANC President Oliver Tambo. It reviewed British trade unionists support for striking workers at Rowntree Mackintosh’s South African subsidiary and exposed British support for South Africa’s nuclear programme.

The May issue called for action to save the lives of three young ANC guerrilla fighters condemned to hang by the apartheid government. It revealed that Nelson Mandela had been moved from Robben Island to a mainland prison and carried a tribute by Dr Yusuf Dadoo to Walter Sisulu to mark his 70th birthday. An interview with SWAPO representative Shapua Kaukungua explained how SWAPO was stepping up its armed struggle. AA News showed how British companies were expanding their operations in South Africa at the same time as they were laying off workers in Britain.

AA News revealed how the US had embarked on a programme of nuclear cooperation with South Africa. It called for support for a week of action by British trade unionists in support of striking workers at Rowntree Mackintosh’s South African subsidiary. Sam Ramsamy, Chair of the South African non-racial sports organisation SANROC reviewed the campaign for a sports boycott of South Africa. TUC General Secretary Len Murray pledged the TUC’s support for black trade unionists in South Africa. Special correspondent Jan Marsh reported on her recent visit to Mozambique.

The July–August issue again featured the sabotaging of the UN Plan for Namibian independence by the Western members of the UN Contact Group. It reported on the decision by the London Borough of Brent to declare itself an apartheid-free zone and a recommendation by the Church of England’s Board of Social Responsibility that the church should disinvest from South Africa. It exposed South Africa’s fraudulent legal system. Under the headline ‘Women in Struggle’, it explained what apartheid meant for the lives of black women in South Africa and Namibia.

The September issue led on the assassination of Ruth First by South African agents in Mozambique. It featured the some of the many fronts of the British boycott campaign, including action to ban ads for South African products from the London Underground, for a ban on the import of Ford trucks from South Africa, and the withdrawal of several countries from the Stoke Mandeville Paraplegic Games in protest against the participation of apartheid sports teams. The newspaper reported on the ‘Culture and Resistance’ conference held in Botswana and on the reggae band UB40’s support for a cultural boycott of South Africa. 

The front page of this issue focused on South African and Namibian political prisoners, featuring campaigns to save the lives of six young men sentenced to death and a new international initiative calling for the release of Nelson Mandela. The newspaper carried horrifying pictures of a massacre by South African soldiers of women and children in northern Namibia. A centrespread reported on a new wave of strikes by black South African workers and highlighted British TUC support for mandatory UN sanctions. In a moving obituary, Ronald Segal remembered Ruth First, killed by a bomb placed by South African BOSS agents.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne was the latest British city to declare itself an apartheid-free zone, reported this issue of AA News. The newspaper initiated a discussion of the cultural boycott of South Africa and attitudes to visits by South African cultural groups opposed to apartheid. It reported on the trial of two men charged with breaking in to London offices of the ANC and SWAPO. In an interview, SWAPO Women’s leader Frieda Williams described the movement’s initiatives to support refugee women and children. The newspaper also carried extracts from an interview recorded in South Africa with Winnie Mandela.

The December issue exposed the complicity of the South African Embassy in smuggling British military equipment to South Africa in contravention of the UN arms embargo. The centrespread reproduced leaked documents showing how BOSS agents spied on anti-apartheid activists. The newspaper protested against the IMF’s decision to lend to South Africa and reported on action against British firms with operations in Namibia. It reported on British trade union support for South African workers and showed how African freedom songs were influencing British pop music.