Browse the AAM Archive

Education under apartheid was totally segregated by race, with schools for black students hugely inferior to those for whites. Under the misnamed ‘Extension of Universities’ Act universities were also segregated. Published just after the 1976 school students uprising, this pamphlet exposes how the apartheid education system was designed to confine black students to the ranks of unskilled labourers. It was published by the International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF) and distributed by the Anti-Apartheid Movement.

Women played a big role in the liberation struggles in Namibia and Zimbabwe, as well as in South Africa. This pamphlet tells the stories of Southern African women who were imprisoned and banned because they fought back against apartheid and racism. It was published by the International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF) and distributed by the Anti-Apartheid Movement.

Under apartheid black workers were exploited to provide high living standards for the white minority. This pamphlet describes the web of legislation which controlled where Africans could work and imposed a rigid ‘colour bar’ confining them to unskilled jobs and poverty wages. It shows how in the 1970s African workers fought back against restrictions on their right to organise and, against all the odds, began to build an independent trade union movement.  

In 1980 the AAM circulated a declaration calling for the release of Nelson Mandela, signed by trade unions, politicians, academics and playwrights. It distributed badges, leaflets and stickers calling for Mandela’s release, in response to a campaign launched inside South Africa. Thousands of this leaflet were circulated as part of the campaign.

In 1980 the AAM circulated a declaration calling for the release of Nelson Mandela, signed by trade unions, politicians, academics and playwrights. It distributed thousands of badges, leaflets and stickers calling for Mandela’s release, in response to a campaign launched inside South Africa. More than 5,000 copies of this postcard were sent to the South African Sunday Post, which backed the South African campaign.

Poster produced for the AAM campaign for freedom for Nelson Mandela in response to a petition launched by the South African Sunday Post in 1980. A declaration calling for Mandela’s release was endorsed by MPs, trade unions, playwrights, musicians and academics in Britain. The AAM distributed thousands of badges, leaflets and stickers calling for Mandela’s release. The following year Glasgow became the first British city to award him the freedom of the city. In the 1980s buildings, streets and public gardens all over Britain were renamed in his honour.

Badge produced for the AAM campaign for the release of Nelson Mandela in response to a petition launched by the Sunday Post in South Africa in 1980. The AAM distributed thousands of badges, leaflets and stickers calling for Mandela’s release. A ‘Free Mandela’ declaration was endorsed by British MPs, trade unions, playwrights, musicians and academics.

The 1980 NUS/AAM annual student conference, held at Coventry Polytechnic, discussed on the new situation in Southern Africa after the independence of Zimbabwe. One of its main focuses was the need to set up more student anti-apartheid societies.