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Southampton anti-apartheid supporters asked shoppers to boycott South African goods outside Safeways on 25 April 1981. The action was part of a national consumer boycott day, with action at 40 shopping centres throughout the country. Activists also collected signatures for a national sanctions petition launched on 21 March as part of the AAM’s ‘Isolate Apartheid South Africa – Sanctions Now!’ campaign. Seventy thousand people signed the petition.

Gold was apartheid South Africa’s biggest export earner. This pamphlet was published as part of an international campaign to persuade governments to freeze the import of apartheid gold. It called for a boycott of Krugerrands and for support for the frontline states in stopping the recruitment of cheap labour for the South African mines.

In 1981 the AAM asked the British government to stop the sale of radar equipment manufactured by Plessey, a British electronics company, to the South African Defence Force. This pamphlet argued that the contract was in breach of the mandatory UN arms embargo.

A FRELIMO delegation led by future Mozambican President Armando Guebuza visited Britain in June 1981 as guests of the newly formed group Stop the War in Angola and Mozambique (SWAM). This leaflet advertised a meeting addressed by Guebuza in Manchester. On 26 June he spoke at a South Africa Freedom Day meeting in London together with ANC President Oliver Tambo. The delegation held discussions with leaders of the AAM on international solidarity with Mozambique.

Poster produced for a month of boycott of Shell and BP organised by the AAM in June 1981. Oil was the one major commodity that South Africa did not possess. In the 1970s the chief oil exporting countries imposed an oil embargo on South Africa. This was circumvented by the major Western oil companies, including Shell and BP. The two companies were joint owners of South Africa’s largest oil refinery. 

FRELIMO Central Committee member and future Mozambique President Armando Guebuza at a meeting with representatives of London’s black community, 24 June 1981.

Every year the AAM lobbied delegates and held a fringe meeting at the TUC annual congress. This leaflet advertised a meeting at the 1981 TUC.

Oil was the one major commodity that South Africa did not possess. In the 1970s the chief oil exporting countries imposed an oil embargo on South Africa. This was circumvented by the major Western oil companies, including Shell and BP. The two companies were joint owners of South Africa’s largest oil refinery. This leaflet was produced for a special month of boycott of Shell and BP in June 1981.