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Many of the companies named in this leaflet were picketed during a Week of Action on Namibia, 27 October–3 November 1982. A former worker at RTZ’s Rossing uranium mine, Arthur Pickering, and a representative of SWAPO’s Women’s Council, Frieda Williams, spoke at 50 meetings all over Britain. The demonstrations were organised by the AAM and the Namibia Support Committee as part of a UN International Week of Solidarity with the people of Namibia. 

Over 2,000 mayors from 56 countries signed a declaration calling for the release of Nelson Mandela in 1982. The Declaration was initiated by the Lord Provost of Glasgow, Michael Kelly, after Glasgow conferred the Freedom of the City on Mandela. This booklet lists the mayors who signed the Declaration.

Wales AAM supporters asked Shirley Bassey to speak out against apartheid when she appeared at St David’s Hall, Cardiff in November 1982. The year before, she performed in Sun City, South Africa, breaking the cultural boycott. Shirley Bassey grew up in Cardiff’s multiracial Butetown area.

The AAM’s trade union conference held on 27 November 1982 was a milestone in winning support from British trade unions. TUC General Secretary Len Murray spoke on an AAM platform. The TUC declared its unequivocal support for economic sanctions against South Africa for the first time. The conference was attended by 264 delegates from 160 trade union organisations. Left to right: AAM Hon. Secretary Abdul Minty, TUC General Secretary Len Murray, General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union Jack Jones, and the AAM’s Trade Union Officer Chris Child.

The conference for trade unionists organised by the AAM on 27 November 1982 was a milestone in its attempts to win support from the British trade union movement. This report reproduces speeches made by TUC General Secretary Len Murray and Abdul Minty, Hon. Secretary of the AAM. This was the first time the TUC declared its unequivocal support for economic sanctions against South Africa. It was also the first time the TUC General Secretary spoke on an AAM platform. The conference was attended by 264 delegates from 160 trade union organisations.

Letter from Cranley Onslow, Minister of State at the Foreign Office, acknowledging receipt of the AAM’s petition calling for sanctions against South Africa in November 1982.

In December 1982 South Africa forces crossed the border into Lesotho and massacred 42 South African refugees and Lesotho nationals. This was part of a pattern of South African armed raids and destabilisation of the frontline states throughout the 1980s. The photograph shows anti-apartheid supporters holding a torchlight vigil at South Africa House immediately after the raid.

Leeds City Council formally welcomed ANC representative Ruth Mompati to Leeds in the winter of 1982. In the picture with Ruth Mompati is the Deputy Lord Mayor Rose Lund. The Council named the gardens in front of the Civic Hall the Nelson Mandela Gardens. Leeds was one of many local authorities to show its opposition to apartheid in the 1980s.