Zimbabwe

Poster produced for a Week of Action on Zimbabwe, 9–14 May 1977. The illegal Smith regime held regular executions of captured Zimbabwe freedom fighters. Public meetings and film shows took place in major centres throughout Britain during the week.

Leaflet highlighting the atrocities committed against Zimbabwe’s civilian population by the security forces and the secret hangings carried out by the Smith regime.

In 1977 the British government put forward new proposals for a settlement in Rhodesia. This AAM Briefing presented a comprehensive description of the white minority government’s armed forces. It argued that the control and composition of the security forces in a transition to majority rule was of crucial importance.

In March 1978 the Smith regime agreed an ‘internal settlement’ with three African leaders, which opened negotiations for a new constitution. The constitution conceded one person one vote, but kept the security forces and civil administration in the control of the white minority. This leaflet argued that there could be no progress towards democracy in Zimbabwe without the involvement of the liberation movements.

The Bingham Inquiry found that British oil companies Shell and BP had supplied oil to Rhodesia in contravention of UN sanctions. This memorandum asked the British government to ensure that the companies restricted oil supplies to South Africa to pre-UDI levels to prevent the re-export of oil to the illegal Smith regime. It called for the extension of sanctions to South Africa unless it gave assurances that it would implement UN sanctions against Rhodesia.

Thousands marched through central London on 21 October 1978 to mark  International Anti-Apartheid Year. They protested against the massacre of Zimbabwean refugees in Zambia by white Rhodesian security forces and called for international sanctions against the Rhodesian and South African regimes. At a rally in Trafalgar Square, Angolan ambassador, Luis de Almeida, pledged solidarity with freedom fighters in Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

The Katumba Brothers, 16-year-old Benchard and 19-year-old Leavit, were sentenced to death in 1979 by the illegal government headed by Bishop Abel Muzorewa. They were convicted of ‘carrying arms of war’. This poster was produced by the Zimbabwe Emergency Campaign Committee, set up by the AAM, to ask the British government to intervene to stop the hangings.

Badge produced in the run-up to the Lancaster House talks on the future of Zimbabwe in the summer of 1979. The AAM campaigned to stop the Conservative government elected in May 1979 from recognising the Muzorewa government in Zimbabwe and against any agreement that would not lead to majority rule. In June 1979 it joined with other groups to set up the Zimbabwe Emergency Campaign Committee.