cul01. Equity referendum, 1976

The 1976 annual general meeting of the actors union Equity called for an extension of the union’s boycott of South Africa. It asked Equity’s Council to ban the sale of all filmed or taped material and to instruct all Equity members not to work there. This leaflet asked members to support the new policy in a referendum held to ratify the resolution. Members voted to support the union’s existing policy of banning sales of television programmes to South Africa and asking members to refuse to perform if they were prevented from appearing before multi-racial audiences. But the new proposals were narrowly defeated. Members also voted against a ban on performing in Zimbabwe. Performers Against Racism was set up to persuade actors to support the new policies; it worked closely with the AAM.