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Britain was the biggest source of white immigrants to South Africa and Rhodesia throughout the 1960s and 1970s. In 1969 TUC annual congress passed a resolution urging affiliated unions to discourage their members from emigrating there. The AAM asked unions to follow up the resolution by circulating this leaflet or producing similar material themselves.

In the mid-1970s Namibia was the world’s biggest producer of karakul wool, marketed in London by Hudsons Bay & Annings Ltd. The sales contravened UN resolutions that declared South Africa’s administration of Namibia illegal. This leaflet was produced by the AAM in co-operation with the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) and the National Union of Students. It was distributed to buyers attending the sales by supporters of the AAM and Friends of Namibia.

British trade unionists picketed South Africa House calling for the recognition of African trade unions on 15 February 1973. In 1973 a work stoppage at British company Metal Box’s South African subsidiary in Durban sparked a wave of strikes by thousands of African workers. The AAM asked British trade unions to show their solidarity.

In October 1972 Manchester University students asked the university authorities to sell shares in companies with South African interests. This broadsheet publicised a picket of a meeting of the University Council called to discuss the university’s investment policy in February 1973. When the Council referred the issue to its investment sub-committee, students protested by occupying the administration building.

In 1971 a group of British architects launched a long-running campaign to end links between the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and South Africa. This factsheet supported a resolution put to a RIBA Council meeting in February 1973 calling on RIBA to withdraw recognition from architecture courses at five South African universities. The resolution was signed by over 300 architects, but was rejected by the RIBA Council.

John Gaetsewe of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) outside South Africa House on 15 February 1973. With him are T P Callinan from the shopworkers union USDAW and Eddie Marsden from the construction workers union. Embassy officials rejected a letter signed by the general secretaries of 12 British unions condemning apartheid.

In May 1972 the Pearce Commission found that the Smith-Home proposals for a settlement in Zimbabwe were unacceptable to the majority of Zimbabweans. The following year on 24 February 1973, the AAM organised a conference that looked at the significance of the new situation in Zimbabwe for developments in the rest of Southern Africa. It showed how South Africa was violating sanctions against the Smith regime and giving it military support. Left to right: Abdul Minty, John Sprack, Didymus Mutasa, chair of the multi-racial Cold Comfort Farm Society, and Guy Clutton-Brock.

In May 1972 the Pearce Commission found that the Smith-Home proposals for a settlement in Zimbabwe were unacceptable to the majority of Zimbabweans. This leaflet advertised an AAM conference looking at the significance of the new situation in Zimbabwe for developments in the rest of Southern Africa.