1980s

The April issue denounced South Africa’s plans to install a puppet government in Namibia and reported on a visit to London by a delegation from the recently formed Mineworkers Union of Namibia. Mike Terry reported on the British Government’s veto of a sanctions resolution at the UN Security Council and on the endorsement by British MPs of the AAM’s Sanctions Manifesto. Imports of South African textiles had fallen as a result of the AAM’s people’s sanctions campaign. On a visit to Britain in March, Archbishop Desmond Tutu warned that the alternative to sanctions was low level civil war.

AA News welcomed the formation of the South African Youth Congress (SAYC), launched in April at the University of the Western Cape. It put a spotlight in British companies illegal operations in Namibia and announced plans for an international week of action against Shell in May. In a call for support for the AAM’s National Convention for Sanctions against South Africa in June, it revealed that a Marplan poll showed that 40% of British people agreed that Britain should suspend trading links with South Africa. It celebrated ANC leader Walter Sisulu’s 70th birthday on 18 May and called for his release. 

The June issue heralded the success of the two-day strike called by the UDF in protest against South Africa’s whites only general election on 6 May. It announced a new campaign to end all involvement by British banks in South Africa, following the withdrawal of Barclays Bank in 1986. It exposed how the USA was arming UNITA in Angola. It reported on the public launch in London of Lawyers Against Apartheid, at a meeting which drew parallels between apartheid South Africa and Nazi Germany. 

AA News listed all those under sentence of death in South Africa for their opposition to apartheid and called for their release, as well as that of Nelson Mandela. It reported on ANC President Oliver Tambo’s Canon Collins Memorial Lecture in London, in which he said anti-apartheid boycotts must take account of the emerging people’s culture in South Africa. In an analysis of the British general election result, it reported that 130 newly elected MPs had signed the AAM’s Manifesto for Sanctions. The ten days of anti-apartheid action by British local authorities in June had included events focused on the Southern African frontline states. 

COSATU’s endorsement of comprehensive sanctions against South Africa was the front page headline in this issue of AA News. It reported on solidarity action by British trade unionists and on the National Petition Campaign for the release of all South African political detainees. Angela Davis was one of the speakers at a South African Women’s Day rally in Finsbury Park that welcomed the formation of the UDF Women’s Congress. A centrespread documented the history of the apartheid regime’s attempts to destroy non-racial trade unions in South Africa and Namibia.

This issue focused on the secret hangings of political prisoners revealed to the AAM by British Foreign Office minister Lynda Chalker. It reported on local anti-apartheid campaigns in Worksop, Bristol and Nottingham, and on the AAM’s plans to organise a conference for young activists. Young people had led resistance to the creation of a new Bantustan in KwaNdebele and school students in Namibia were staging protests and boycotts. AA News also reported on the trials of young white war resisters in South Africa.

The November issue again headlined the call for sanctions against South Africa, with statements from liberation movement leaders in South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique. It reported on the tour of Britain by SWAPO President Sam Nujoma and on UN legal action to stop the enrichment of illegally mined Namibian uranium in the Netherlands. Gavin Cawthra described the build-up of South Africa’s armed forces. A feature on the joint AAM/National Union of Mineworkers conference held in Sheffield exposed the growth in British imports of South African coal during the 1984–85 miners strike.

AA News accused the British media of ignoring a UN initiative to end South Africa’s illegal rule in Namibia. This issue reported on Commonwealth leaders condemnation of Prime Minister Thatcher’s characterisation of the ANC as ‘a typical terrorist organisation’ and on the Local Government Bill, which prohibited local authorities from banning purchases from South Africa and Namibia. Abdul Minty sent a special report from the Vancouver Commonwealth Conference, which endorsed comprehensive mandatory UN sanctions. A centrespread featured photos of the AAM demos calling for sanctions held in London and Cardiff on 24 October.