Local AA groups

Mug marking the tenth anniversary of the Soweto students uprising in 1976.

Anti-apartheid supporters in Penzance, Cornwall ask passers-by not to bank with Barclays in February 1986.

In the 1980s the AAM campaigned to give Namibia a higher profile and make more people aware of South Africa’s illegal occupation. Local AA groups disseminated information and asked their members to take up the issue. This leaflet publicised a meeting held by Barnet AA Group in north London. It called for the implementation of UN resolutions on Namibian independence, withdrawal of British companies and the release of Namibian political prisoners.

Leaflet advertising a rally at Manchester City Hall on the anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre. The meeting was organised by Manchester City Council, the Anglican Diocese of Manchester and Manchester AA Group.

Leaflet advertising the launch of City of London AA Group’s non-stop picket calling for the release of Nelson Mandela. CLAAG supporters kept up a 24-hour picket of the South African embassy for nearly four years from 19 April 1986 until Mandela’s release on 11 February 1990. The picket attracted hundreds of enthusiastic young activists.  CLAAG was formed as a branch of the AAM in 1982, but internal arguments led to its disaffiliation in February 1985.

This issue of the City of London AA Group’s newsletter advertised a torchlight protest at the group’s non-stop picket of the South African embassy on the day of the AAM’s March and Festival for Freedom at Clapham Common. The newsletter highlighted the upsurge of resistance to apartheid by school students in South Africa since 1984 and the brutal repression of young children by the South African police. CLAAG was formed as a branch of the AAM in 1982, but internal arguments led to its disaffiliation in February 1985.

Leaflet advertising a May Day fundraising social for the AAM organised by Haringey AA Group and Haringey Trades Union Council on 3 May 1986. The evening included live music sponsored by the Musicians Union and a speaker from the African National Congress.

Islington AA Group supporters asked shoppers to boycott South African products outside Sainsbury’s in Holloway Road, north London, on 14 June 1986.