Browse the AAM Archive

January’s new year issue set out the AAM’s priorities for 1983, including a pledge to step up its demands for an inquiry into South African undercover agents operating in Britain. It carried an eyewitness account of the Maseru massacre, when the South African Defence Force killed 42 South African refugees and local residents. In a special feature on British local government action against apartheid, it reviewed action taken by Sheffield Council to implement its apartheid-free zone declaration. It showed how the British Government had failed to implement the Commonwealth Gleneagles Agreement on ending sporting contacts with South Africa.

AA News again called for economic sanctions against South Africa, in the context of Western countries collusion with the apartheid government over its illegal occupation of Namibia. Alan Brooks argued that the AAM had won the debate over codes of conduct for British companies in South Africa and that they had failed to improve black workers wages. The newspaper paid tribute to Canon John Collins, President of the International Defence and Aid Fund, who died in January 1983. It reported on the ‘Culture and Resistance’ conference held in Amsterdam, which pledged to step up the cultural boycott of South Africa and promote an alternative resistance culture.

AA News asked voters to ‘elect to act against apartheid’ in the run-up to the June 1983 British General Election. In a special interview, Dr Yusuf Dadoo showed how South Africa’s new constitution perpetuated apartheid. The newspaper reported on ongoing South African student opposition to apartheid and on SWAPO’s armed struggle in Namibia. It revealed the names on a long list of British MPs who had visited South Africa on freebies paid for by the South African government. Elaine Unterhalter described how black families were being dumped in the Bantustans after their homes in Johannesburg and the Cape had been pulled down by apartheid local authorities. 

The May issue called for action to ‘Save the ANC Six’, six young ANC members sentenced to death for sabotage. Labour MEP Alf Lomas wrote about a row in the European Parliament over its failure to take action against South Africa. AA News reported on plans by the London Borough of Greenwich to make Nelson Mandela an honorary freeman and on a conference of local authorities in Sheffield to coordinate the campaign for setting up more apartheid-free zones. It reported on a new co-ordinating committee to campaign for Mandela’s release. A centrespread described campaigns by British nurses and students to end emigration to South Africa.

AA News listed the names of artists who had visited South Africa in defiance of the cultural boycott and celebrated the many musicians who supported the liberation struggle. This issue revealed how the British electronics company Marconi was selling equipment for the South African military and questioned IMF support for the apartheid government. It outlined plans to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s 65th birthday and relayed a message from the mother of Jerry Mosololi, one of the six ANC freedom fighters condemned to death in Pretoria.

AA News led on the hanging of three young South African freedom fighters in defiance of protests from all over the world. Trevor Phillips, Chair of the Free Nelson Mandela Campaign Coordinating Committee, explained Mandela’s importance as a symbol of resistance to apartheid. Father Michael Lapsley told AA News why he had joined the ANC and supported its policy of armed struggle. A centrespread celebrated 9 August, South Africa Women’s Day and the part played by South African and Namibian women in the anti-apartheid struggle.

The September issue accused the re-elected Thatcher government of moving towards an open alliance with apartheid South Africa. It reported on the strengthening alliance between Israel and South Africa and on British imports of uranium from Namibia. In a special interview, Hugh Masekela told AA News how he was given his first trumpet by Archbishop Trevor Huddleston. AA News reported on moves towards forming a new trade union federation by South Africa’s independent trade unions and on the election of veteran trade unionist Oscar Mpetha as president of the anti-apartheid United Democratic Front.

The October issue hailed the formation of the United Democratic Front in Cape Town as a big step forward in the anti-apartheid struggle. It outlined plans for a Week of Action against South Africa’s illegal occupation of Namibia, and exposed endemic malnutrition and disease in the Bantustans and black townships. It showed how the Western mainstream media misrepresented the war in Angola. Former political detainee Rev Cedric Mason described the tactics used by the South African security police to break the spirit of political prisoners.