Report of the meeting held in Holborn Hall on 26 June 1959 to launch a boycott of South African goods. The speakers were Julius Nyerere, then President of the Tanganyika Legislative Council, Kanyama Chiume from Nyasaland (later Malawi), ANC representative Tennyson Makiwane, Vella Pillay, representing the South African Indian Congress, and Rev. Michael Scott. The meeting was organised by the Committee of African Organisations. This report appeared in the July issue of the Transvaal Indian Congress Bulletin and is the only known contemporary account of the meeting.

Leaflet published by the Committee of African Organisations at the launch of the boycott campaign. This was the first of many leaflets asking British shoppers to boycott South African goods. It was distributed in London shopping centres in the summer of 1959.

This letter asked supporters of the boycott of South African goods to distribute leaflets in three London shopping centres in August 1959. A special subcommittee of the Committee of African Organisations was set up to organise the boycott following the meeting to launch the Boycott Movement on 26 June. It was unable to sustain activity in the run-up to the October 1959 British general election and a re-formed boycott committee was set up in November.

This leaflet was published by the Caribbean Women’s National Assembly in Trinidad in response to the British boycott initiative in 1959. The Boycott Movement wrote to organisations all over the world to internationalise the boycott campaign. Caribbean countries were among the first to boycott South African goods in the 1950s.

This statement was published in the Boycott Movement’s broadsheet, Boycott News, early in 1960. It was signed by Chief Albert Luthuli, President of the ANC, Dr G M Naicker, President of the South African Indian Congress and Peter Brown, Chairman of the South African Liberal Party. For the next 35 years the AAM based its boycott campaigns on this appeal. Boycott News was widely circulated in the March Month of Boycott Action. Three issues of the broadsheet were produced.

Leaflet advertising a meeting organised by a local Boycott Committee in Finchley and Friern Barnet, north London on 18 February 1960. In the run-up to the March Month of Boycott meetings like this were held all over Britain. One of the first local boycott actions took place in Finchley on Saturday 11 July 1959, organised by the Committee of African Organisations and Finchley Labour Party.

Leaflet asking people to take part in the March Month of Boycott. Around 700,000 copies were distributed in the run-up to the campaign launch on 28 February 1960.

This leaflet advertised the march and rally on 28 February 1960 that launched the March Month of Boycott in 1960. Six thousand people marched from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square. The speakers included Labour Leader Hugh Gaitskell, Liberal MP Jeremy Thorpe, Conservative Lord Altrincham, ANC leader Tennyson Makiwane and Rita Smythe from the Co-operative Women’s Guild. The rally was chaired by Trevor Huddleston.

The crowd in Trafalgar Square at a rally to launch the March Month of Boycott Action. On the platform were the Leader of the Labour Party Hugh Gaitskell, ANC leader Tennyson Makiwane, Liberal MP Jeremy Thorpe, Lord Altrincham from the Conservative Party, Rita Smythe from the Co-operative Women’s Guild and Trevor Huddleston. During the month, local councils all over Britain banned South African goods and supporters distributed leaflets to shoppers calling for a boycott. 

Liberal MP Jeremy Thorpe speaking at the rally held  in Trafalgar Square to launch the March Month of Boycott Action. The other speakers were the leader of the Labour Party Hugh Gaitskell, ANC leader Tennyson Makiwane, Lord Altrincham from the Conservative Party, Rita Smythe from the Co-operative Women’s Guild and Trevor Huddleston. During the month, local councils all over Britain banned South African goods and supporters distributed leaflets to shoppers calling for a boycott. 

ANC leader Tennyson Makiwane speaking at the rally held in Trafalgar Square to launch the March Month of Boycott Action. The other speakers were the leader of the Labour Party Hugh Gaitskell, Liberal MP Jeremy Thorpe, Lord Altrincham from the Conservative Party, Rita Smythe from the Co-operative Women’s Guild and Trevor Huddleston. During the month, local councils all over Britain banned South African goods and supporters distributed leaflets to shoppers calling for a boycott. 

Leaflet asking shoppers to boycott South African produce during the March Month of Boycott Action. 200,000 of these leaflets were distributed during the month, together with a further 350,000 copies of a special Labour Party version.

Leaflet for window display in the March Month of Boycott Action.

Poster for the March Month of Boycott, 1960. During the month Boycott Movement supporters all over Britain picketed shops and distributed leaflets asking shoppers not to buy South African goods. The boycott was supported by the Labour and Liberal Parties and the TUC. It was launched at a 15,000-strong rally in Trafalgar Square on 28 February.

The Labour Party supported the March Month of Boycott Action as part of its 1960 Africa Year initiative. The Boycott Movement was initially wary about the boycott being taken over by the Labour Party, but its involvement made a big difference to the scale of the campaign. Twenty-one Labour local councils banned South African goods from their schools and town halls. The Party organised 27 local conferences all over Britain. The boycott was the main theme of a party political broadcast by Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell on 9 March.

The Boycott Movement circulated these guidelines for setting up local organising committees for the March Boycott Month in 1960. They stressed the need to win broad support for the boycott and suggested approaching faith and women’s groups, trade unions, students and chambers of commerce. They asked supporters to talk to shoppers on the streets, not just pass resolutions.

The TUC distributed this leaflet calling on trade unionists to boycott South African goods in response to a call from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). It asked them to support the Boycott Committee’s March Month of Boycott in 1959. It held back from taking the more radical step proposed by the ICFTU of asking its affiliated unions to instruct their members not to handle products from South Africa.

The March Month of Boycott in 1960 was supported by the local Africa Councils set up by the Africa Bureau. This leaflet was distributed by Tyneside Africa Council.

The Boycott Movement produced three issues of its broadsheet, Boycott News, early in 1960. The first issue printed an appeal by ANC President Chief Albert Luthuli for a boycott of South African goods. The appeal was also signed by Peter Brown, Chairman of the South African Liberal Party and GM Naicker, President of the South African Indian Congress. The broadsheet sold over 100,000 copies.

The Boycott Movement produced three issues of its broadsheet, Boycott News, early in 1960. The second issue reported on the progress of the boycott campaign after its launch at a national conference held on 17 January 1960. It printed messages of support from Labour Party leader Hugh Gaitskell and Liberal Party leader Jo Grimond.

The Boycott Movement produced three issues of its broadsheet, Boycott News, early in 1960. The third issue was published soon after the Sharpeville massacre. It endorsed the ANC’s call for the imposition of UN economic sanctions against South Africa and reported on opinion polls showing that 25% of people in Britain boycotted South African goods during the March Month of Boycott. It announced that the Boycott Movement had reconstituted itself as the Anti-Apartheid Committee with a wide programme of anti-apartheid activity. 

Leaflet publicising a meeting calling on the British government to support UN sanctions against South Africa in October 1962.

This leaflet stressed that the call for a boycott of South African goods in Britain was part of an international campaign by workers all over the world.

From its foundation as the Boycott Movement in 1959, the AAM put the consumer boycott at the centre of its campaigns. It produced regular updated lists of South African brands. This leaflet was produced soon after the AAM moved to its new offices in Charlotte Street in 1964.

This leaflet asking shoppers to boycott South African goods was produced as part of the AAM’s 1965 campaign.

Letter from Glyncorrwg Urban District Council stating that it had agreed to impose a boycott of South African goods until the South African Government established a government based on a universal adult franchise. Glyncorrwg was one of 40 Welsh local authorities which imposed a boycott in the mid-1960s, many of them in response to a letter from South Wales Anti-Apartheid Movement Chair, David Shipper, who wrote to every Welsh local council in 1964. Glyncorrwg was a coal-mining centre in the west of the South Wales valleys.

Correspondence from Glamorgan County Council responding to a letter from South Wales Anti-Apartheid Movement Chair David Shipper, asking it to boycott South African goods. The Council referred the letter to its Supplies Committee to consider problems in enforcing a boycott, and seven months later responded saying that it would stop buying South African groceries, provisions, fruit and vegetables. Glamorgan was one of 40 Welsh local authorities which imposed a boycott of South African goods in the mid-1960s.

List of British local authorities and co-operative societies which boycotted South African goods in 1966. The list included 13 English and 40 Welsh local councils, as well as Aberdeen City Council in Scotland. The authorities represented nearly six million people.

The Political Committee of the London Co-operative Society worked with the AAM to produce this list of alternative sources of supply of goods usually imported from South Africa. The AAM campaigned for a boycott of South African goods by the Co-operative Movement, but store managers were reluctant to implement a ban for commercial reasons.

The AAM circulated this list of sources of fresh and tinned fruit to shops and other retailers in the 1960s. It showed that there were many alternatives to South African imports.

The AAM celebrated its 15th anniversary with a ‘Freedom Convention’ at Camden Lock, London on 30 June 1974. Stalls displayed information about South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Portugal’s African colonies. A petition for the release of South African prisoners with 30,000 signatures was presented to Nigeria’s UN Ambassador Edwin Ogbu, Chair of the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid. The Convention also highlighted the call for a boycott of all South African products.

The AAM celebrated its fifteenth anniversary with a ‘Freedom Convention’ at Camden Lock, London on 30 June 1974. Stalls displayed information about South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Portugal’s African colonies. A petition for the release of South African prisoners with 30,000 signatures was presented to Nigeria’s UN Ambassador Edwin Ogbu, Chair of the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid. The Convention also highlighted the call for a boycott of all South African products.

Poster asking shoppers to boycott South African goods. This was a reprint of a poster first produced in 1978. Some of the items incorporate images of the shootings of school students in Soweto in June 1976.

Leaflet asking shoppers to boycott South African goods. Many anti-apartheid groups produced leaflets like this for distribution in local shopping centres, drawing on lists of products and statistics supplied by the national AAM.

Many local AA groups produced their own leaflets, like this one asking shoppers in Haringey, north London to pressure Tesco into withdrawing South African products.

The far-right National Front in the north London borough of Haringey distributed this leaflet urging shoppers to buy South African goods to show their support for apartheid South Africa. The AAM met with virulent opposition from a succession of far-right organisations in Britain throughout its 35-year history.

Sticker produced by the far-right British National Party (BNP) asking people to support apartheid by buying South African goods. The AAM met with virulent opposition from a succession of far-right organisations in Britain throughout its 35-year history.

Poster published by the British Communist Party asking shoppers not to buy South African goods. From the formation of the Boycott Campaign in the summer of 1959 the Communist Party supported the boycott of South Africa. Its newspaper, the Morning Star, continued to give full coverage to Anti-Apartheid Movement demonstrations and campaigns. 

Southampton anti-apartheid supporters asked shoppers to boycott South African goods outside Safeways on 25 April 1981. The action was part of a national consumer boycott day, with action at 40 shopping centres throughout the country. Activists also collected signatures for a national sanctions petition launched on 21 March as part of the AAM’s ‘Isolate Apartheid South Africa – Sanctions Now!’ campaign. Seventy thousand people signed the petition.

Gold was apartheid South Africa’s biggest export earner. This pamphlet was published as part of an international campaign to persuade governments to freeze the import of apartheid gold. It called for a boycott of Krugerrands and for support for the frontline states in stopping the recruitment of cheap labour for the South African mines.

Sticker displayed in shops that agreed not to stock South African goods.

‘Southern Africa – The Time to Act’ was the theme of a month of action against apartheid launched by the AAM in March 1984. The campaign was launched at a press conference in London by UN Special Committee Against Apartheid member Ambassador Sahnoun. It was taken up by anti-apartheid campaigners all over Britain. In the photograph supporters of West Glamorgan AA Group ask shoppers at a Tesco store in Swansea to boycott South African goods.

To mark its 25th anniversary on 26 June 1984, the AAM relaunched the campaign for a boycott of South African goods at a press conference at the House of Commons. It produced a new ‘boycott kit’ of stickers and leaflets asking shoppers to support the boycott, distributed by supporters all over Britain.

In 1984 a Dunnes supermarket shopworker in Dublin, Mary Manning, was sacked for refusing to check out Outspan oranges from South Africa. Eleven of her colleagues went on strike to demand her reinstatement. In the photograph are Dunnes strikers Cathryn O’Reilly and Mary Manning with GLC members Ken Livingstone and Valerie Wise.

Poster connecting the purchase of South African fruit with lynchings in the American south by quoting the Billie Holliday song ‘Southern trees bear a strange fruit’.

The AAM held a conference in February 1985 to mobilise support for a consumer boycott month of action in March. The conference included workshops on local authority and trade union action, as well as on campaigning in the civil service and cooperative movement. During March campaigners distributed around three-quarters of a million leaflets in shopping centres  and door to door. The following year a Harris Poll found that 27% of people in Britain said they boycotted South African products.

The AAM held a month of action in March 1985 to relaunch the consumer boycott of South African goods. Campaigners distributed around three-quarters of a million leaflets in shopping centres  and door to door. The month culminated with a nationwide day of action on Saturday 30 March when AAM supporters picketed over 1,000 shopping centres all over Britain. The following year a Harris Poll found that 27% of people in Britain said they boycotted South African products.

The AAM held a month of action in March 1985 to relaunch the consumer boycott. This multilingual leaflet was produced for the new campaign. AAM supporters distributed around three-quarters of a million leaflets at shopping centres all over Britain asking shoppers not to buy South African goods. Hundreds of thousands of leaflets were distributed door to door. The month culminated with a nationwide day of action on Saturday 30 March with pickets of over 1,000 shopping centres all over Britain. The following year a Harris Poll found that 27% of people in Britain said they boycotted South African products.

Postcard distributed during the AAM’s month of boycott action in March 1985. The year before, in June 1984, the AAM relaunched the consumer boycott of South African goods to mark its 25th anniversary.

Stickers distributed during the AAM’s month of boycott action in March 1985. They were designed for anti-apartheid activists to stick on South African products in supermarkets. The AAM relaunched the consumer boycott of South African goods to mark its 25th anniversary in June 1984.

Badge produced for the AAM’s Month of Boycott Action in March 1985.

Scottish AA groups campaigned to persuade the Dundee-based supermarket William Low to ban South African products. They distributed this leaflet outside William Low stores during the AAM boycott month in March 1985. After a long-running campaign the chain agreed to stop selling South African goods in the early 1990s.

Carrier bag produced for the AAM’s Month of Boycott Action in March 1985.

Badge calling for a boycott of South African goods, produced in the USA.

South Africa diversified its exports in the early 1980s to include textiles and household products. AAM campaigners targeted leading clothes chains like Next, Austin Reed and Country Casuals. In November 1984 Next announced it would not renew its contract for South African clothing.

Activists in the multi-racial area of St Paul’s, Bristol declared it an anti-apartheid free zone in the mid-1980s. Opposition to apartheid was so strong that the local Tesco’s stopped stocking South African goods.

In 1985 the local community association in the multi-racial St Paul’s area of Bristol launched a campaign to persuade local shops and businesses to end all links with South Africa. After a slow start, the great majority of local shops and all seven pubs in the area agreed to boycott apartheid products. This newsletter reproduced a Declaration signed by local businesses. The campaign gained such momentum that the local Tesco’s branch agreed not to stock South African goods.

In 1985 the local community association in the multi-racial St Paul’s area of Bristol launched a campaign to persuade local shops and businesses to end all links with South Africa. After a slow start, the great majority of local shops and all seven pubs in the area stopped selling apartheid products. The community association also asked local businesses to boycott Barclays Bank. Its annual report described the progress of the campaign. 

Anti-apartheid supporters in the multi-racial district of St Paul’s, Bristol campaigned to turn the area into an apartheid-free zone in the mid-1980s. Most of the area’s independent shops and businesses signed a declaration pledging themselves to boycott South African goods. The local branch of Tesco stopped stocking South African products.

The AAM followed up its 1985 March month of boycott with a day of action focusing on Tesco on 6 July. Anti-apartheid campaigners distributed this leaflet outside Tesco stores all over Britain. The Tesco branch in the multi-racial area of St Paul’s, Bristol, was the first to announce that it would stop selling South African products.

Maritime trade unions from around the world agreed to take direct action against ships supplying oil to South Africa at a conference in London on 30–31 October 1985. They were urged to take action by ANC President Oliver Tambo. The conference was sponsored by the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid and organised by the British National Union of Seamen.

Maritime trade unions from around the world agreed to take direct action against ships supplying oil to South Africa at a conference in London on 30–31 October 1985. The conference was sponsored by the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid and organised by the British National Union of Seamen. This badge was produced as part of the initiative.

Sticker produced by Islington Borough Council in north London asking shoppers not to buy South African goods.

Poster produced for the campaign for a boycott of South African goods. The text reads: ‘Fruit is mostly picked by black women and children in South Africa and Namibia. 60% of canned fruit and vegetables exported by South Africa is consumed by Britain and the EEC. Watch out for fresh fruit sold under the label of CAPE and OUTSPAN.’

Poster produced for the campaign calling for a boycott of South African goods.

Poster asking shoppers in Sheffield to boycott South African goods.

These healthworkers asked Portsmouth Area Health Authority to phase out the purchase of South African and Namibian produce in January 1986. When the management refused, they refused to handle tinned food from South Africa supplied for patients’ meals. Area Health Authority van drivers and 130 other workers joined the boycott action. They were supported by the public service workers union NUPE, health workers union COHSE and transport workers union TGWU.

In 1986 the British National Union of Mineworkers and the AAM launched a new campaign to stop South African coal imports into the UK. Coal imports to Western Europe rose sharply in the mid-1980s. Coal became South Africa’s second biggest export earner after gold. 30,000 copies of this leaflet were distributed to trade unionists at May Day rallies in 1987, asking them to take action to stop the trade.

Leaflet asking Dundonians to boycott South African goods. The leaflet publicised a day of action in Edinburgh on 22 March and a picket of Dundee-based supermarket chain William Low on 29 March. It also advertised a demonstration outside Dundee District Court to support two Dundee AA Group members for allegedly obstructing the police during the group’s weekly picket of Tesco in the Wellgate Shopping Centre. The Group set up the Wellgate Two Defence Campaign to protest against the arrests. The two were later acquitted.

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

This leaflet was produced as part of a citywide London campaign to persuade Sainsbury’s to stop stocking South African goods. The London AA Committee set up a special boycott group which met Sainsbury’s directors to put the case for a boycott. Sainsbury’s claimed to have reduced their South African products to less than 1 per cent of total sales.

South Africa diversified its exports in the early 1980s to include textiles and household products. This leaflet asked shoppers to boycott clothes made in South Africa and karakul furs exported from Namibia. In 1985 the TUC wrote to major clothing retailers asking them not to stock clothing made in South Africa. Several chains announced they would not renew their South African contracts. South African textile exports to Britain fell by 35% between 1983 and 1986.

Leaflet advertising a conference organised by the London Anti-Apartheid Committee to co-ordinate community action in the campaign to boycott South African goods. The aim of the conference was to share ideas for practical action to extend the boycott. Topics for discussion included liaison with trade unions and co-ordinating with community and religious leaders and ethnic minority communities.  

Ras Kuomba Balogun of St Paul’s Apartheid Free Zone Campaign in Bristol and Marion Wallace of End Loans of Southern Africa (ELTSA) at the London AA Committee’s ‘Making the Boycott Bite’ conference, 30 November 1986.

Exeter AA Group published this detailed guide for shoppers, showing which shops in Exeter did not stock products from South Africa.

Local residents in the Forest Fields and Hyson Green district of Nottingham declared the area an apartheid-free zone in 1986. They asked local shops to not to stock South African goods and called on local people to boycott them. Like St Paul’s, Bristol, Hyson Green was a multi-racial area with a history of racial tension and community protest.

Local residents in the Forest Fields and Hyson Green district of Nottingham declared the area an apartheid-free zone in 1986. This poster asked people to support the campaign. Like St Paul’s, Bristol, Hyson Green was a multi-racial area with a history of racial tension and community protest.

Local residents in the Forest Fields and Hyson Green district of Nottingham declared the area an apartheid-free zone in 1986. This letter was sent to local shopkeepers explaining the aims of the campaign. It told them that thousands of local residents supported a ban on South African goods and offered to discuss the issues raised by the boycott.

Leaflet asking shoppers in Chiswick in West London to boycott South African goods. The leaflet quoted Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu as calling for a boycott and said that public pressure was already having an impact. It cited a South African trade body as admitting that canned fruit exports from South Africa to the UK had fallen by 18% in 1986.

Brent AA Group supporters with their local MP Ken Livingstone asked shoppers to boycott South African goods sold by Tesco in February 1987 on the eve of the AAM’s March Month of People’s Sanctions.

Nottingham AA Group converted a local bus to publicise the campaign for a boycott of South African goods and of Shell. 

In 1987 the AAM called for ‘people’s sanctions’ in response to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s determination to oppose all sanctions measures against South Africa. In March 1987 it organised a month of local action when local AA groups targeted British companies with a big stake in the South African economy, like Standard Chartered Bank and RTZ. The highlight of the month was the launch of the Boycott Shell campaign on 1 March. This poster was used by local AA groups to advertise events in their own localities.

Marks and Spencer became the focus of the South Africa boycott campaign in Greater Manchester after it refused to discuss its purchasing policy. In 1987 local anti-apartheid campaigners collected 10,000 signatures to a petition asking it not to sell South African products. The petition was presented to the store by the Bishop of Manchester. M&S also had links with the South African company Wooltru, which stocked M&S merchandise.

The AAM made Tesco its main target in the consumer boycott campaign after Tesco reneged on a pledge to stop sourcing ‘own label’ products from South Africa. Tesco continued to sell South African tinned fruit, as well as well as expanding its lines of South African fresh fruit and vegetables. This leaflet was produced for a special day of action on 26 September 1987.

Poster produced for the campaign to pressure British supermarket Tesco’s to stop selling South African goods. The poster uses Tesco’s distinctive brand image. The chain was subjected to regular ‘days of action’, when campaigners handed out leaflets outside its stores asking shoppers to boycott South African products.

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

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.

This poster was produced for the Anti-Apartheid Movement’s ‘Boycott 89’ campaign. Its targets were Cape and Outspan, the brand names used for South African fruit in Britain. Using photomontage, the poster implied that if shoppers purchased South African fruit, they were helping the apartheid regime fund its war machine. The poster was used on 18 March and 24 June 1989, when local activists took part in nationally co-ordinated pickets of shops selling Cape and Outspan products.

The Boycott Bandwagon, a converted bus, was the centrepiece of the AAM’s ‘Boycott 89’ campaign. It visited over 140 towns, cities and villages all over Britain distributing information about the boycott of South African goods and showing a specially commissioned video, Fruits of Fear.

The AAM’s Boycott 89 campaign extended the boycott of South African fruit to gold and tourism. Its centrepiece 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. This brochure included a special pledge form and provided information about the campaign.

As part of the Boycott Apartheid 89 campaign the AAM converted a double-decker bus into a travelling exhibition area and video cinema. During the year the bus visited local communities all over Britain, displaying anti-apartheid material and showing a specially commissioned video, Fruits of Fear, on the consumer boycott.

As part of the Boycott Apartheid 89 campaign the AAM converted a double-decker bus into a travelling exhibition area and video cinema. The bus was launched in London on 8 June, when a group of MPs took a symbolic ride from the House of Commons to the South African Embassy in Trafalgar Square.

Badge produced for the AAM’s Boycott Apartheid 89 campaign.

T-shirt produced for the AAM’s Boycott Apartheid 89 campaign.

Leaflet produced for the AAM’s Boycott 89 campaign. It asked shoppers not to buy Cape or Outspan fruit.

Metal version of the badge produced for the AAM’s Boycott Apartheid 89 campaign.

This conference gave London anti-apartheid supporters information about the AAM’s Boycott 89 campaign. It was one of 18 regional meetings held all over Britain to mobilise support.

Regional anti-apartheid committees organised 18 area conferences all over Britain to mobilise support for the AAM’s Boycott 89 campaign. This meeting in Sheffield was for activists in Yorkshire and Humberside, north-east England.

This issue of Bath AA Group’s Newsletter proposed a programme for local activity in support of the AAM’s Boycott 89 Campaign. It publicised regular pickets of Sainsbury’s and a role-playing workshop for new members to help them deal with ‘unfriendly comments’.

Local AA groups all over Britain organised activities as part of the AAM’s Boycott Apartheid 89 campaign. Tyneside AA Group asked the supermarket chain William Laws to reinstate a local worker sacked for refusing to handle South African fruit. This leaflet publicised its Boycott Conference and a fundraising concert for workers on strike at BTR in South Africa.

Anti-apartheid supporters in Maidstone, Kent asked shoppers to boycott Cape Fruit as part of the AAM’s ‘Boycott Apartheid 89’ campaign. All over Britain local AA groups talked to shoppers and motorists outside supermarkets and Shell garages.

Poster advertising a benefit concert at the Tabernacle in Notting Hill, West London organised by Notting Hill Anti-Apartheid Group. The AAM received no government or large institutional grants and depended on membership subscriptions and events like this for funding.

Anti-apartheid supporters in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, talked to shoppers at the city’s main branch of Tesco as part of the AAM’s ‘Boycott Apartheid 89’ campaign in March 1989. All over Britain local AA groups gave out campaign leaflets outside supermarkets and Shell garages.

Bristol AA Group supporters asked shoppers not to buy South African wine. They were taking part in the AAM’s ‘Boycott Apartheid 89’ campaign in March 1989. All over Britain local AA groups gave out campaign leaflets outside supermarkets and Shell garages. As well as wine and fruit, the campaign focused on tourism and imports of coal and gold.

Labour MP Bernie Grant with Haringey AA Group activist Sean O’Donovan, signing the AAM’s ‘Boycott Apartheid 89’ petition.

In March 1989 the AAM held a month of anti-apartheid action on women. Women all over Britain held meetings, exhibitions and demonstrations outside supermarkets selling South African and Namibian products. The month had three themes: the collection of material aid for South African and Namibian women, freedom for women prisoners and the boycott of South African and Namibian products.

Tyneside AA Group asked spectators to boycott Shell products at Newcastle upon Tyne’s May Day carnival in1989. 

‘Don’t Buy South African goods’ was the message on Tyneside AA Group’s float at Newcastle upon Tyne’s May Day carnival in 1989. Local anti-apartheid supporters were asking spectators to support the AAM’s ‘Boycott Apartheid 89’ campaign.

Tyneside AA Group asked carnival goers to support the AAM’s ‘Boycott Apartheid 89’ campaign on May Day 1989.

Trade unionists from Teesside and Hartlepool protested against the unloading of South African coal at Teesport in north-east England on 11 May 1989. British miners and other trade unionists were at the forefront of the campaign against imports of South African coal. By the late 1980s the international campaign meant that it was often sold at a discounted price.

This Wales AAM supporter was asking passers-by not to buy products from South Africa. He was taking part in a demonstration outside the Holiday Inn in Cardiff. The Holiday Inn group had a chain of hotels in South Africa. The AAM’s countrywide Boycott Apartheid 89 campaign focused on tourism and imports of coal and gold, as well as wine and fruit.

Sheffield MP Richard Caborn and Lord Mayor Tony Damms with Sheffield AAM supporters outside Tesco on 13 October 1989. Over 2,000 shoppers signed Sheffield AA Group’s petition asking Tesco to stop selling South African goods. Earlier in the year, 320 of Tesco 380 stores all over Britain were picketed in a special Day of Action on 22 April.

Operation Orange was an AAM fundraising initiative designed to promote the consumer boycott campaign. This leaflet asked people to send a message to Prime Minister Thatcher asking her to impose sanctions against South Africa. At the same time it asked them to send a donation to the Anti-Apartheid Movement.

The AAM’s ‘Boycott Apartheid 89’ campaign extended the consumer boycott to tourism. London students and the London Anti-Apartheid Committee called for South Africa to be excluded from the World Travel Market at Kensington’s Olympia exhibition centre, 28 November 1989. The AAM wrote to the ten top British travel agents asking them not to book holidays in South Africa.

This booklet was produced by the London Borough of Lambeth in south London. It gave advice to Lambeth residents on how to check if goods on sale in local shops came from South Africa or Namibia. It was carefully worded so as not to break new laws restricting the powers of local authorities to support consumer boycott campaigns.

Mug produced for the campaign for a boycott of South African gold.

After the release of Nelson Mandela in February 1990 the AAM continued to campaign for a boycott of South African goods. It argued that economic pressure was necessary to force the apartheid government to agree to genuine majority rule. This leaflet quoted Mandela, ‘Take whatever action you can to isolate apartheid’.

In 1990 the AAM focused on gold jewellery as part of its consumer boycott campaign. South Africa’s main trading partners banned sales of Krugerrands in the mid 1980s. As a result of the campaign, the jewellery chain Ratners agreed to remove identifiable South African gold from the jewellery sold in its shops. This leaflet was one of a series published after the release of Nelson Mandela arguing that continued economic pressure was necessary to force the apartheid government into negotiations.

In 1990 the AAM made tourism a major part of its consumer boycott campaign. It wrote to major British holiday companies about their policy on selling trips to South Africa. Local AA groups campaigned to persuade local travel agents to stop promoting South African holidays. In London local activists held a sit-in next to the South African Airways stall at the World Travel Market in the Olympia exhibition centre. This leaflet was published after Prime Minister Thatcher lifted Britain’s voluntary ban on encouraging tourism to South Africa. It was one of a series published after the release of Nelson Mandela.

After the release of Nelson Mandela in February 1990 the AAM continued to campaign for a boycott of South African goods. It argued that economic pressure was necessary to force the apartheid government to agree to genuine majority rule. This leaflet quoted Mandela, ‘Take whatever action you can to isolate apartheid’.

During the on-off negotiations for a new South African constitution in 1991–93, the AAM called for a constituent assembly and an interim government to oversee the transition to majority rule. This leaflet argued that continued economic pressure was necessary to force the apartheid government to agree to majority rule.

Window sticker for independent retailers who agreed not to stock South African products.

Report making the case for sanctions against South Africa and examining the role played by Scottish companies in the apartheid economy. The report reviews Scottish anti-apartheid campaigns and assesses the impact of the boycott of South African goods.

At the concert held in his honour in Wembley Stadium on 16 April 1990, Nelson Mandela asked the people of Britain and the world to maintain sanctions against South Africa until a democratic constitution was in place. He also appealed for people to join the Anti-Apartheid Movement. This AAM membership leaflet reproduced parts of his speech.

Demonstrators blocked the entrance to the South African Airways office at Oxford Circus on 3 September. In 1990 the AAM campaigned stepped up its campaign to persuade holidaymakers to not to visit South Africa. One of the few sanctions Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher agreed to was a voluntary ban on the promotion of tourism to South Africa or Namibia, but the British government did nothing to put this into practice.

Representatives of British local authorities joined a protest against the inclusion of South Africa and Bophuthatswana in the World Travel Market at Olympia in November 1990. One of the few sanctions Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher agreed to was a voluntary ban on the promotion of tourism to South Africa and Namibia, but the British government did nothing to put this into practice.

In 1990 the AAM made tourism a major part of its consumer boycott campaign. It wrote to major British holiday companies about their policy on selling trips to South Africa. Local AA groups campaigned to persuade local travel agents to stop promoting South African holidays. In London local activists held a sit-in next to the South African Airways stall at the World Travel Market in the Olympia exhibition centre.

In 1990 a Newcastle branch of the William Low supermarket chain sacked a young worker, Clare Morgan, for refusing to handle South African products. Tyneside AA Group distributed this leaflet to shoppers asking them to boycott the store until it stopped stocking goods from South Africa.

Throughout the negotiations for a democratic constitution from 1991 to 1993 the AAM asked supporters to maintain the boycott of South African goods. It argued that continued pressure was needed on the South African government to force it to agree to a genuinely democratic constitution. The UN finally lifted the boycott in September 1993 after it was agreed to set up a transitional executive council. 

In September 1992 the AAM asked its supporters to take part in a month of action to press the de Klerk government to agree to an interim government and constituent assembly. It called for the maintenance of international sanctions and boycotts.  On 1 September the London AA Committee picketed Sainsbury’s headquarters, because Sainsbury’s sourced its ‘own label’ wines from South Africa. During the month AAM supporters distributed thousands of leaflets outside supermarkets asking shoppers to boycott South African goods.

In September 1992, in the aftermath of the massacre at Boipatong, the AAM organised a month of events calling for international support for negotiations for peace and democracy in South Africa. It argued that the consumer boycott must continue until the apartheid government agreed to a democratic constitution. This leaflet advertised a picket of the head office of Sainsbury’s supermarket chain.

Leaflet asking shoppers not to buy South African goods. It answered commonly asked questions about the boycott.

Bilingual leaflet calling for a boycott of South African goods distributed by anti-apartheid campaigners in Wales.

Leaflet asking shoppers in Southampton to boycott South African goods. Many anti-apartheid groups produced leaflets like this for distribution in local shopping centres, drawing on lists of products supplied by the national AAM.

Stickers publicising the consumer boycott of South African goods.

This leaflet asked shoppers in Walthamstow, north-eat London, not to buy goods from South Africa. Many AA groups produced local leaflets like this asking residents to support the boycott and to join the AAM.

This leaflet asking shoppers to boycott South African goods was distributed by Herefordshire AA group.

Card promoting the boycott of South African goods.

Carrier bag publicising the campaign to boycott South African goods.

Margaret Ling joined the Anti-Apartheid Movement as a student in 1972 and worked in the Information Department of the International Defence and Aid Fund from 1975 to 1984. In the 1980s she edited the AAM’s monthly newspaper Anti-Apartheid News. She was a co-founder of AA Enterprises, which traded with the front line states and marketed anti-apartheid T-shirts and other merchandise. She was active in the Haringey AA Group and served on the national executive of the AAM.

In this clip Margaret Ling describes how the boycott campaign succeeded.

Margaret Ling joined the Anti-Apartheid Movement as a student in 1972 and worked in the Information Department of the International Defence and Aid Fund from 1975 to 1984. In the 1980s she edited the AAM’s monthly newspaper Anti-Apartheid News. She was a co-founder of AA Enterprises, which traded with the front line states and marketed anti-apartheid T-shirts and other merchandise. She was active in the Haringey AA Group and served on the national executive of the AAM.

In this clip Margaret Ling describes the positive purchase campaign that accompanied the boycott.

Sean O’Donovan became involved in the Anti-Apartheid Movement in 1984 as a student at Middlesex Polytechnic. He joined Haringey Anti-Apartheid Group in north London and served as its Secretary, and later Chair, until it disbanded in 1994.  He was active in the London AA Committee, the co-ordinating body for London anti-apartheid groups, and served on the AAM National Executive. He now works as a  caseworker for a Labour MP.

In this clip Sean describes a demonstration at the opening of a local supermarket, where the mayor of Haringey and the local MP joined members of Haringey AA Group in asking the store not to sell South African goods.

David Hillman became an Anti-Apartheid Movement activist in 1985, joining Hammersmith and Fulham AA Group.  He was a member of the London Anti-Apartheid Committee and the AAM Boycott Committee, where he led activities on the Boycott Shell campaign across London. After 1994, he served for over 10 years as a member of the National Executive Committee of Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA).

In this clip David Hillman describes how he and other anti-apartheid activists attempted to sabotage the tourist industry’s promotion of holidays in South Africa.

David Granville joined the Anti-Apartheid Movement in London in the early 1980s and later moved to Sheffield, where he was active in Sheffield AA Group. He was the Co-ordinator of Sheffield Southern Africa Resource Centre, set up in 1988 to provide educational resources on Southern Africa to schools and community organisations. 

In this clip David Granville explains how most British institutions and companies had links with apartheid South Africa and how the AAM selected key supermarkets and banks on which to campaign. 

David Hillman became an Anti-Apartheid Movement activist in 1985, joining Hammersmith and Fulham AA Group. He was a member of the London Anti-Apartheid Committee and the AAM Boycott Committee, where he led activities on the Boycott Shell campaign across London. After 1994, he served for over 10 years as a member of the National Executive Committee of Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA).

In this clip David Hillman describes how he pretended to be a journalist to infiltrate South Africa House during a tourist industry convention.

Gerard Omasta-Milsom joined the Anti-Apartheid Movement as a student at Bristol University, where he was an activist in Bristol University AA Group. In 1988 he joined the staff of the Anti-Apartheid Movement as Field Officer, responsible for coordinating the activities of local anti-apartheid groups. He became the AAM’s Campaigns Officer, remaining in post through the period when the AAM dissolved itself and set up a successor organisation, Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) in 1994–95.

In this clip Gerard describes the outreach work carried out in the 1980s and 90s with the AAM’s 1989 Boycott Bandwagon, converted the following year into the Freedom Bus.

Simon Korner was Secretary and then Chair of Hackney AA Group from about 1986 to 1994. The group organised a weekly stall outside Sainsbury’s in Dalston and a regular picket of the local Shell garage in Clapton. It put on major fundraising shows at the Hackney Empire, featuring artists like Jack Dee, Eddie Izzard and the Pogues. Simon was a member of the London Anti-Apartheid Committee, and organised political dayschools and a mass picket of Shell HQ.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of the ‘Forward to Freedom’ AAM history project in 2013.

Talal Karim came to Britain from Bangladesh in 1971 and supported anti-apartheid campaigns as a student at Warwick University. He later became a Labour councillor in the London Borough of Islington and a member of its Race Equality Committee. He represented Islington Council on Local Authorities Against Apartheid (LAAA) and was one of the main movers behind the Council’s Declaration on Southern Africa, and support for the African National Congress (ANC) and South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO).

In this clip Talal Karim remembers how he checked that there were no South African products on sale in the Council’s staff canteen.

Christabel Gurney was active in the Anti-Apartheid Movement from 1969 to 1994. She joined the Anti-Apartheid Movement in the late 1960s and took part in demonstrations against the Springbok rugby and cricket tours in 1969-70. She was Secretary of the Dambusters Mobilising Committee, which gave rise to the campaign to persuade Barclays Bank to pull out of South Africa.  She edited the AAM’s monthly newspaper Anti-Apartheid News in the 1970s and was later secretary of Notting Hill Anti-Apartheid Group. More recently she has researched and written about the history of the AAM. 

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of the ‘Forward to Freedom’ AAM history project in 2013.

Bob Hughes MP was the Chair of the Anti-Apartheid Movement from 1976 to 1995. He was the Labour MP for Aberdeen North from 1970 to 1997 and served as Under Secretary of State for Scotland in 1974–75. He now sits in the House of Lords as Baron Hughes of Woodside.

In this clip Lord Hughes describes the arguments over boycotting South African products.