Boycott

Leaflet advertising a fundraising party marking the first anniversary of the founding of Enfield Anti-Apartheid Group in November 1986. The group produced a map of local Palmers Green shops that sold South African goods and asked shoppers to boycott the products. The local branch of the far right National Front announced it would bulk buy South African goods in an attempt to stymie the boycott.

British miners and other local trade unionists marched through Nottingham to protest against the import of South African coal by local company Burnett & Hallamshire.

This list of 162 local British local authorities that boycotted all South African products was compiled as part of the AAM’s campaign against the Local Government Bill introduced into the British Parliament in 1987. The effect of the Bill was to prohibit local authorities from banning the purchase of South African goods and from barring companies with links to South Africa and Namibia from local government contracts. It became law in 1988.

In 1987 the Conservative Government introduced a Bill prohibiting local authorities from banning the purchase of South African goods and barring companies with links to South Africa and Namibia from contracts. This statement set out arguments against the Bill put forward by Local Authorities Against Apartheid (LAAA)’s National Steering Committee. It said the Bill would damage race relations in Britain and prevent peaceful pressure being brought against the apartheid regime. The Bill became law in 1988.

This statement by the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) explained that in 1977 the authority had adopted a policy of not buying South African goods and only doing business with companies that complied with British anti-discriminatory legislation. ILEA stated that the 1988 Local Government Act had made it impossible for it to continue to implement this policy. Until its abolition by the Thatcher Government in 1990, ILEA ran the schools in the 12 inner London boroughs.

AAM Chair Bob Hughes MP signed a giant Outspan orange at the launch of the AAM’s ‘Boycott Apartheid 89’ campaign on 20 February 1989. The launch took place outside Cape Fruit’s London headquarters. The AAM asked shoppers to impose ‘people’s sanctions’ against apartheid in the face of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s refusal to impose government sanctions. As well as Cape fruit and Outspan oranges, the campaign focused on tourism and imports of coal and gold.

This petition was circulated as part the AAM’s Boycott Apartheid 89 campaign. The centrepiece of the campaign was the Boycott Bandwagon, a bus converted to display exhibition material and show a specially commissioned video about the boycott. It toured 140 towns and cities during the year. The campaign was launched outside Cape Fruit’s London headquarters on 20 February. AAM Chair Bob Hughes MP signed a giant inflatable Outspan orange with a pledge not to buy South African fruit.

In February 1989 the Anti-Apartheid Movement launched the ‘Boycott 89’ campaign to intensify the boycott of products of apartheid. The material produced for the campaign included a video, Fruits of Fear, and leaflets focusing on Cape and Outspan products, as well as major supermarket chains like Tesco. The centrepiece was the Boycott Bandwagon, a converted double-decker bus, which visited over 140 towns, cities and villages during the year.