1960s

The Consultation on Racism held in Notting Hill, London, 19–24 May 1969 led to the setting up of the WCC’s Programme to Combat Racism (PCR). The consultation concluded that force could be used to combat racism in situations where non-violent political strategies had failed. The PCR gave grants for humanitarian use to the Southern African liberation movements and other anti-apartheid organisations, including the AAM. In the centre of the photograph are the Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey and Trevor Huddleston.

Trevor Huddleston, then Bishop of Stepney, London, and ANC president Oliver Tambo at the World Council of Churches Consultation on Racism, held in Notting Hill, London, 19–24 May 1969. The consultation concluded that force could be used to combat racism in situations where non-violent political strategies had failed. The PCR gave grants for humanitarian purposes to the Southern African liberation movements and other anti-apartheid organisations, including the AAM.

Protesters from the National League of Young Liberals and Young Communist League stopped play in the Britain v South Africa Davis Cup Inter-Zone semi-finals on 17 July 1969. The demonstrators ran onto the court with banners and leaflets and then sat down, delaying the game for several hours. Eventually they were carried off by police.

In 1967 and 1968 ANC and ZAPU guerrilla units joined forces to try and fight their way through Zimbabwe to South Africa. This leaflet advertised an AAM conference that emphasised armed struggle as the main strategy for achieving liberation in Southern Africa. It gave a platform to representatives of the liberation movements from all the countries of the region. The conference took place in the climate of youth militancy that followed the 1968 student demonstrations in France and other European countries.

Background paper setting out the aims of the AAM conference on liberation and guerrilla warfare held on 6 July 1969. For a brief period in the late 1960s the AAM emphasised armed struggle as the main strategy for achieving liberation in Southern Africa. The conference gave a platform to representatives of the liberation movements from all the countries of the region. It followed the attempt by ANC guerrilla units to fight their way through Zimbabwe to South Africa in the Wankie and Sipolilo ‘incursions’ in 1967 and 1968, and took place in the climate of youth militancy that followed the 1968 student demonstrations in France and other European countries.

This leaflet advertised a fundraising event held on the evening of the AAM’s conference on liberation and guerrilla warfare, at the Round House in Camden, north London. It featured a film about Bob Dylan’s England tour ‘Don’t Look Back’ and poetry and music groups The Scaffold, Yes and Dry Ice. 

The Southern Africa Solidarity Committee was a coalition of youth and student groups set up in 1969 in the wake of the 1968 student demonstrations in France and other European countries. This leaflet publicised a march past the headquarters of companies involved in Southern Africa. It also advertised a conference on guerrilla warfare organised by the AAM and asked supporters to demonstrate against all-white South African sports teams.

Poster publicising a march past the headquarters of companies involved in Southern Africa – Unilever, Anglo American, the Daily Telegraph, Shell, Plessey and Barclays Bank – on 28 June 1969. The march was organised by the Southern Africa Solidarity Committee, a coalition of militant youth and student groups set up in 1969 in the wake of the 1968 student demonstrations in France and other European countries.