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.

This leaflet was distributed by anti-apartheid supporters in Leeds. It highlights the key AAM issues in 1961: arms sales and trade with South Africa, South West Africa (Namibia) and apartheid sports teams.

Leaflet for a public meeting organised in Finchley, north London, as part of the AAM’s November 1963 Anti-Apartheid Month. Margaret Thatcher was the local MP.

In June 1966, Thames Valley AA Group organised a motorcade from Slough to Reading to publicise the AAM’s campaign for no independence before majority rule in Rhodesia. The AAM asked the Labour government to support UN mandatory sanctions against Rhodesia and South Africa. The ‘Rhodesia Month’ culminated in a march through central London and rally in Trafalgar Square on 26 June.

Postcard circulated to local anti-apartheid committees and student groups in November 1966 and August 1967. Local groups collected signatures to the postcard on high streets and in student unions and thousands were sent to the House of Commons.

Portsmouth AA Group supporters marched through the town centre calling for an end to trade with South Africa and the cancellation of the all-white South African cricket tour in February 1970.

Anti-apartheid campaigners marked the tenth anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre with a vigil outside Exeter Cathedral on Sunday 22 March 1970.

One of the first decisions of the Conservative government elected in June 1970 was to resume arms sales to South Africa. This leaflet advertised a meeting held by Kensington & Chelsea Anti-Apartheid Group in West London to mobilise opposition. A Gallup poll showed that 71 per cent of the British public were opposed to arms sales. The only weapons sold to South Africa under the 1970–74 government were seven Wasp helicopters.

Leaflet advertising an AAM conference held in October 1975 to mark the tenth anniversary of UDI. The conference discussed the role of South Africa and Britain’s responsibility for Zimbabwe, and provided updates on the economic situation inside the country.

Hull AA Group picketed Barclays Bank in April 1977 as part of the long-running AAM campaign to force Barclays to withdraw from South Africa. Leafleting Barclays customers to persuade them to withdraw their accounts from Barclays was a regular activity for most local anti-apartheid groups during the 1970s and early 1980s. As a result of the campaign, Barclays Bank withdrew from South Africa in 1986.

Anti-apartheid supporters picketed around 250 branches of Barclays Bank all over Britain on 1 March 1978. The pickets were part of a March month of action against apartheid held to launch the UN International Anti-Apartheid Year. British-owned Barclays Bank was the biggest high street bank in South Africa. After a 16-year campaign by the AAM, Barclays withdrew from South Africa in 1986.

Anti-apartheid supporters picketed around 250 branches of Barclays Bank all over Britain on 1 March 1978. The pickets were part of a March month of action against apartheid held to launch the UN International Anti-Apartheid Year. The photograph shows a protest outside a branch of Barclays in Victoria, central London organised by End Loans to Southern Africa (ELTSA). British-owned Barclays Bank was the biggest high street bank in South Africa. After a 16-year campaign by the AAM, Barclays withdrew from South Africa in 1986.

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.

Southampton AA Group supporters delivered a giant Barclays cheque to the local Barclays branch on 4 April 1979. The cheque was made payable ‘for bribery and corruption by the South African Government’ and signed ‘Connie Muldergate’. South African Information Minister Connie Mulder was forced to resign because he established a government slush fund to promote South Africa’s image overseas.

From 1978 anti-apartheid local groups held sponsored walks on the anniversary of the Soweto uprising to raise funds for the ANC’s Solomon Mahlangu Freedom School in Tanzania. This photograph shows AAM members in Barnet, north London, getting ready for their walk in May 1979.

From 1978 anti-apartheid local groups held sponsored walks on the anniversary of the Soweto uprising to raise funds for the ANC’s Solomon Mahlangu Freedom School in Tanzania. In the photograph are Det Glynn of Camden AA Group and AAM staff member Chris Child getting ready for a sponsored walk in Camden, London in June 1979.

Anti-apartheid demonstrators marched through Exeter to protest at a visit by the South African ‘Barbarians’ rugby team in the autumn of 1979. The team’s game against Devon was part of an eight-match tour of Britain. There were protests at every match. The Sports Council, TUC, British Council of Churches, and Labour and Liberal Parties all called for the cancellation of the tour.

The South African Barbarians rugby team’s tour of Britain in 1979 was part of South Africa’s attempt to get back into world rugby. This leaflet publicised a protest at the team’s fixture against Coventry organised by the local anti-apartheid group. It appealed to British trade unionists to support their fellow workers in South Africa.

Demonstrators protested in Coventry on 17 October 1979 against a visit by the South African ‘Barbarians’ rugby team. The eight-match tour of Britain was part of South Africa’s attempt to get back into world rugby. There were protests at every match. The Sports Council, TUC, British Council of Churches, and Labour and Liberal Parties all called for the cancellation of the tour.

This sweatshirt featuring the AAM badge was produced in a range of colours by the AAM. The design was first used by Barnet AA Group, which pioneered the production of T-shirts and sweatshirts publicising AAM campaigns in the late 1970s.

Poster advertising an AAM fortnight of events to celebrate South Africa Freedom Day, 26 June 1980. The poster provided space for local anti-apartheid groups to insert information about local activities.

This programme of events organised by Merton AA Group in south London, October–December 1980, included a fundraising filmshow and concert, pickets of the local branches of Sainsbury’s and Barclays Bank, and a material aid collection for the liberation movements.

Merseyside AA Group prioritised campaigning for support among local trade unionists. This leaflet argued that unemployment in Britain was a direct consequence of the low wages and repression of South African workers.

As grassroots support for anti-apartheid campaigns grew from the early 1980s, local AA groups formed regional committees to co-ordinate activities. This conference, in south-west England in February 1981, discussed trade and investment in South Africa, solidarity with the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) in Namibia and campaigning in British trade unions.

Women on Merseyside set up a group to campaign for women in South Africa and Namibia in 1981, affiliated to the AAM and the SWAPO Women’s Solidarity Campaign. The group collected material aid for Namibian women refugees and material support for the ANC. In the 1980s women in many local AA groups set up women’s sub-committees or elected a women’s officer.

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.

This banner saying ‘No Shell-BP Oil for Apartheid’ was suspended from a footbridge in Southampton in June 1981. The action was part of a national Month of Boycott of Shell and BP organised by the AAM. Southampton AA Group members picketed local Shell and BP garages throughout the month. 

Poster publicising a meeting organised by Hackney AA Group and Hackney CND on 21 July 1981.

Leaflet publicising a Festival on Merseyside, north-west England, in January 1982, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the African National Congress.

Like other local AAM branches, Bristol AA Group held local meetings and demonstrations highlighting national anti-apartheid campaigns. This 1982 newsletter publicised a meeting on South African political prisoners, an international week of action on companies trading with Namibia and support for workers sacked by the British confectionery company Rowntree-Mackintosh’s South African subsidiary.

In 1982, the AAM and British trade unionists campaigned for support for striking South African workers at Wilson-Rowntrees, a subsidiary of the British confectionery maker Rowntree- Mackintosh. Southampton AA Group distributed this leaflet asking supporters to protest to the company’s managing director about the treatment of its black workers.

Merseyside AA Group ran a long-running campaign for support for independent trade unions in South Africa. This factsheet highlighted the refusal of the British rubber manufacturer Dunlop to negotiate with the South African Allied Workers Union at its plant in East London. 

Members of City of London Anti-Apartheid Group call for the release of South African political prisoner David Kitson. The Group launched a non-stop picket of South Africa House in August 1982. Kitson served 20 years imprisonment in South Africa and was released in 1984. In the picture on the right are David Kitson’s wife Norma Kitson and son Steve.

Tyneside AA Group picketed a concert by singer-songwriter Leo Sayer in Newcastle City Hall in May 1983. Sayer had played in Sun City, South Africa, in contravention of the cultural boycott. In 1983 the UN Special Committee against Apartheid set up a register of performers who had played in South Africa. Newcastle City Council tried to cancel the concert, but was forced to let it go ahead after consulting legal opinion. In the picture is Namibian student Gotthard Garoeb.

Members of City Anti-Apartheid Group picketed the Guardian newspaper’s head office in February 1984 in protest against its refusal to ban South African advertisements.

Nelson and Winnie Mandela were awarded the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen in 1984, with the support of Labour and Liberal members of the city council. This press release tells how Aberdeen AA Group won support for the award from local residents in the face of opposition from Conservative councillors and the Aberdeen Evening Express.

‘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.

Leaflet advertising an interdenominational meeting in Bristol Cathedral on the immorality of apartheid. The speaker was the AAM’s President Archbishop Trevor Huddleston and the meeting was sponsored by the Anglican, Catholic, Baptist and Methodist churches.

From the late 1970s local AA groups held annual sponsored walks to raise funds for the ANC’s Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College on Tanzania. The walks took place around 16 June, the anniversary of the school students uprising in Soweto. Anti-apartheid supporters in Brent, north-west London, wore this badge on their walk in 1984.

In June 1984 the police banned anti-apartheid protesters from the pavement in front of South Africa House. City of London AA Group supporters demonstrated against the ban on the steps of St Martin’s in the Fields, 22 June 1984.

Leaflet publicising a meeting to set up a new local anti-apartheid group in Wandsworth, south London, in 1984. 

Leeds City Council, local trade unions, and Leeds City and University AA Groups came together to organise a week of anti-apartheid events in October 1984. Activities included a vigil for political prisoners, collection of material aid, film shows and fundraising concerts, and an activists conference.

Leaflet advertising a public meeting in Islington, north London, in November 1984, highlighting South Africa’s war against the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) in Namibia. The main speaker was Labour shadow Foreign Secretary, Donald Anderson MP.

Over 500 people picketed the opening night of Funny Girl, starring Marti Caine, at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield in 1984. They were protesting against Marti Caine’s 14-month contract at Sun City and her outspoken defence of South Africa. Local Equity members signed a petition supporting the protest. The Crucible later agreed with Sheffield Council that it would not employ actors who appeared on the UN Register of performers who had appeared in South Africa.

Membership leaflet produced by Manchester AA Group.

Anti-apartheid supporters unveiled the AA logo on the Mound in Edinburgh as part of a local authority week of action against apartheid, 18–22 March 1985. The week was organised by the Scottish Committee for Local Authority Action set up at a conference in Glasgow on 21 March. In the picture are Edinburgh District Councillor Chris McKinnon and members of Edinburgh AA Group.

Local AA groups all over Britain organised meetings, demonstrations and fundraising events as part of the AAM’s national month of action in March 1985. This leaflet publicised events organised by Edinburgh AA Group.

Exeter AA Group collected thousands of signatures to this petition in 1985, calling on Exeter City Council to to declare itself an apartheid free zone. Sheffield City Council was the first local authority in Britain end all links with South Africa, in 1981.

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. 

Bristol anti-apartheid supporters took part in an anti-racist demonstration in Bristol City Centre on 31 August 1985. Although the national AAM did not formally affiliate to organisations opposing racism within Britain, many AA groups joined local protests.

Leaflet advertising a 23-hour demonstration asking Dundee City Council to confer the freedom of the city on Nelson Mandela. The leaflet also publicised a meeting at Dundee Trades Council Club and a rally in Edinburgh calling for Mandela's release. Dundee Council gave Mandela the freedom of the city on 31 October 1985.

Petition circulated by Dundee AA Group as part of its campaign to persuade Dundee City Council to confer the freedom of the city on Nelson Mandela. The City Council gave Mandela the freedom of the city on 31 October 1985.

Leaflet advertising demonstrations opposing a visit by Dundee Chamber of Commerce to South Africa in 1985. The actions included an all-day picket in City Square, Dundee on 16 November.

Anti-apartheid supporters on Tyneside marched through Newcastle upon Tyne to show their support for sanctions against South Africa on 7 December 1985.

Hackney and Tower Hamlets AA Group outside Tower Hamlets Town Hall in east London in 1985. They were protesting outside an exhibition sponsored by Barclays Bank. Barclays was the biggest high street bank in South Africa.

Poster asking shoppers in Sheffield to boycott South African goods.

Sleeve for a cassette of freedom songs sung by Tyneside Anti-Apartheid Choir. The choir sang at many events on Tyneside in the 1980s. The cassette was produced to raise funds for Tyneside AA Group.

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.

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.

Many local AA groups formed links with trade union branches. In 1986 Brent AA group circulated this leaflet to local unions asking them to affiliate and asking trade unionists to join as individual members.

Leeds Women Against Apartheid was formed in 1986 to bring together women in support of their sisters in South Africa and Namibia. The group reached out to women’s organisations in West Yorkshire, raising funds for women in Southern Africa, boycotting apartheid goods and holding day schools publicising the situation of women under apartheid. It was linked to a women’s group in Soshunguve township, near Pretoria.  This leaflet advertised a meeting held in Leeds Civic Hall in July 1986.

Like many of the larger local AA groups, Aberdeen AA group published an annual report of its activities for local members.

Bristol City Council’s decision in 1986 to stop imports of South African coal through the Port of Bristol was opposed by some trade unionists who feared job losses in the docks. In this newsletter Bristol AA Group argued that trade union concerns should be taken into account. It suggested that the Port’s management should seek alternative imports and that steps should be taken to ensure South African goods were not diverted to other ports.

Hounslow AA Group distributed regular newsletters reporting on its activities and AAM campaigns. The October 1986 issue highlighted the campaign to stop executions of South African political prisoners and South Africa’s attacks against the frontline states. It advertised the group’s fortnightly pickets of a local supermarket and asked for support in making Hounslow an apartheid-free zone. 

AAM supporters in Oldham, Greater Manchester, call for sanctions against South Africa in 1986. At the head of the march is the Oldham AA Group banner.

Banner produced by the local AA Group in Oldham, Greater Manchester. Oldham AAM members campaigned for local support for a boycott of South African goods and for support for the ANC and SWAPO.

AAM supporters marched through the centre of Manchester to demand sanctions against South Africa on 8 November.

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.

Leaflet asking shoppers to donate sanitary items for Namibian and South African refugees forced to flee to Angola, Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania. The leaflet asked for items like sanitary towels, soap and antiseptic cream. 

Leafletting Barclays Bank customers to persuade them to withdraw their accounts was a regular activity for most local anti-apartheid groups. The leafletting sessions were part of the long-running campaign to persuade Barclays to pull out of South Africa. In the photograph supporters of Tyneside AA Group are asking customers at a Barclays branch in central Newcastle to close their accounts. Later in the same year Barclays withdrew from South Africa.

Supporters of North Shropshire AA Group marched through Shrewsbury in January 1987 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the African National Congress.

Leaflet publicising a public meeting organized by Haringey AA Group on Education in South Africa. The speakers were Roger Diski, editor of ‘The Child is Not Dead: Youth Resistance in South Africa’ and educationist Elaine Unterhalter. The meeting highlighted the ongoing brutality of the South African police after the 1976 Soweto uprising.

Leaflet publicising the London AA Committee’s 1987 annual conference. The committee was set up in the 1970s to co-ordinate the work of local London AA groups and student, trade union, faith and community groups. The committee was made up of elected delegates from local AA groups and affiliated organisations and held monthly meetings. In 1987 it organised London-wide events to promote the consumer boycott of South African goods and the Boycott Shell campaign.

Leaflet publicising a fundraising concert organised by Tower Hamlets AA Group at the Half Moon Theatre in east London in 1987. The event was sponsored by the local council’s arts committee.

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. 

This conference for trade unionists was one of many regional initiatives in the mid and late 1980s. It brought together local trade unionists and anti-apartheid activists. The conference focused on campaigning for sanctions and the role of the ANC in South Africa and SWAPO in Namibia.

Anti-apartheid demonstrators marched through Birmingham on 21 March 1987 in support of the AAM’s March Month of People’s Sanctions. They were remembering the South Africans shot by the police at Sharpeville in 1960 and at Langa in the Eastern Cape in 1985.

Leaflet distributed by Exeter AA Group advertising events held as part of the AAM’s March month of action for people’s sanctions in 1987.

Waltham Forest AA Group organised this meeting in north-east London to win local support for the AAM’s month of action for people’s sanctions in March 1987. 

Hounslow AA Group was formed at the end of 1985. Its 1987 AGM report highlighted the AAM’s 24 March day of protest action and reported on the local council’s funding for an anti-apartheid campaign event as part of the national ‘ten days of anti-apartheid action’ planned to take place in June 1987.

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.

Supporters of Birmingham AA Youth Committee took their banner on Birmingham’s May Day demonstration on 1 May 1987. They were joined by British miners leader Arthur Scargill (centre). In June the group launched a campaign to make the Handsworth district of Birmingham an apartheid-free zone.

The Peterborough Against Apartheid festival held in May 1987 featured British folk punk group ‘The Men they Couldn’t Hang’ and singer songwriter Rory McCloud, as well as stalls and speakers from the ANC and SWAPO. Over 1,000 people attended the festival, one of the most successful events ever held in the city. 

Poster for a folk concert to raise funds for the ANC and Nottingham Anti-Apartheid at Nottingham’s Trent Polytechnic Students Union in 1987.

This leaflet advertised a picket of Shell’s London headquarters on 13 May 1987, the eve of the company’s annual general meeting. Over hundred people, including Labour MPs, joined the demonstration, organised by the London Anti-Apartheid Committee. The following day protesters asked questions about Shell’s operations in Southern Africa at the AGM, forcing the directors to abandon the meeting. The action took place during an international week of action on Shell, 11–17 May, when the AAM’s London Committee organised demonstrations outside over 100 Shell garages.

Sheffield AAM picketed a Shell garage as part of an international week of action to force Shell to pull out of South Africa, 11–17 May 1987. All over Britain local anti-apartheid groups picketed Shell garages asking motorists to boycott Shell. The AAM launched its ‘Boycott Shell’ campaign on 1 March. Shell was joint owner of one of South Africa’s biggest oil refineries. It was a lead company in South Africa’s coalmining and petrochemicals industries.

The leader of Southwark Council in south London, Anne Matthews, joined a picket of a local Shell garage in May 1987. The picket was part of an international week of action, 11–17 May, when the AAM’s London Committee organised demonstrations outside over 100 Shell garages in London. Shell was joint owner of one of South Africa’s biggest oil refineries. It was a lead company in South Africa’s coalmining and petrochemicals industries. The AAM launched its ‘Boycott Shell’ campaign on 1 March 1987.

Nottingham AA Group supporters picketed a local Shell garage as part of the AAM’s ‘Boycott Shell’ campaign, launched on 1 March 1987. The boycott was part of an international campaign, co-ordinated with groups in the Netherlands and the USA. Shell was joint owner of one of South Africa’s biggest oil refineries. It was a lead company in South Africa’s coalmining and petrochemicals industries. 

Haringey AA Group published a regular newsletter for members and supporters in the London Borough of Haringey, north London. This issue carried news from Southern Africa and information about local and national anti-apartheid events.

Leaflet advertising an afternoon of videos, exhibition and stalls in support of South African women on International Women’s Day in 1987. The afternoon was followed by a gig with Artery Band. It was organised by Ealing AA Group wih sponsorship from the London Borough of Ealing.

Hackney AA Group joined with local community groups to organise a week of activities celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the African National Congress. The week included a meeting at the Turkish Community Centre, a filmshow at the Rio Cinema, culminating in a day of music, dance and poetry at the local leisure centre on 4 July 1987. The week was sponsored by the Race Relations Unit of Hackney Borough Council.

Leaflet publicising a conference for trade unionists and Labour Party members organised by Birmingham AA Group in 1987.

Letter from Reading Anti-Apartheid Campaign to local trade union branches advertising a meeting calling for the release of South African political prisoners.

Newsletter of Reading Anti-Apartheid Campaign. Issue 7, dated September 1987, focused on the South African National Mineworkers strike and called for an international boycott of South African coal. It also highlighted a strike by Namibian copper miners.

Reading Anti-Apartheid Campaign leaflet asking local people to take action in support of the campaigns for the reprieve of the Sharpeville Six, sentenced to death in South Africa, and the release of trade unionist Moses Mayekiso, one of five people charged with sedition. The leaflet also advertised the Shell boycott and the AAM’s national ‘Sanctions Now!’ demonstration on 24 October 1987.

In the late 1980s Bristol AA Group held an annual Festival against Apartheid. The 1987 Festival featured filmshows, music from Southern Africa and the BTR strikers play ‘The Long March’.

Leaflet advertising a day school on Namibia organised by Bradford AA Group in 1987. The following year the group held a march during the International Week of Action on Namibia, 27 October–3 November. Yorkshire and Humberside Regional AA Committee raised £5,000 for the SWAPO Election Appeal Fund in 1989.

Brochure advertising a free concert organised by Hounslow AA Group on 22 October 1987 at Hounslow Civic Centre. The brochure highlighted the strike by workers at the British-owned BTR company in South Africa and the AAM’s petition calling for the release of South African political detainees. The gig featured Attilla the Stockbroker.

In 1987 a report published by Sheffield AA Group, ‘Steel, South Africa & Sanctions’, called for an end to British steel imports from South Africa. The report, based on research by Sheffield City Council’s Employment Department, showed that Sheffield steelmakers could import the minerals they needed from other sources. This brochure summarises the report’s conclusions.

This leaflet was distributed by anti-apartheid supporters in the west Midlands district around Nuneaton. The local AA group held regular pickets of Barclays Bank, Shell garages and Tesco supermarkets asking residents to boycott apartheid goods. It also campaigned for an end to South Africa’s occupation of Namibia.

Greater Manchester AA Group co-ordinated seven local groups in the Greater Manchester area in the late 1980s. This leaflet publicised anti-apartheid activities planned over Christmas 1987.

Tyneside AA Group supporters told Zola Budd she should not run for England at Gateshead Stadium on 30 January 1988. The sprinter continued to live in South Africa but obtained a British passport to get round the sports boycott against apartheid.

Most local AA groups distributed regular newsletters to their supporters. This newsletter was published by Cheltenham AA Group in January 1988.

Local authorities all over Britain mounted ‘ten days of action against apartheid’, 16–26 June 1987. In the London Borough of Hounslow, the local council joined with Hounslow and Chiswick AA groups and community organisations to organise a programme of arts events and meetings. Hounslow Council said it was expressing its commitment to good race relations in the borough, as well as its opposition to apartheid. Other centres which took part in the ten days of action included Camden, Southwark and Lewisham in London, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh in Scotland, and Manchester and Sheffield.

Leaflet advertising a meeting and film show to mark South Africa Freedom Day, 26 June 1987. The meeting was sponsored by Camden Council's Race and Community Relations Committee. It took place during the 'ten days of action against apartheid' called for by the AAM, 16–26 June.

Glenys Kinnock opened Sheffield’s Southern Africa Resource Centre in February 1988. The Centre provided educational resources on Southern Africa for the city’s schools and community groups, as well as a headquarters for Sheffield Anti-Apartheid Group. Sheffield AA was one of the most active of the AAM’s local groups throughout the 1980s. With Glenys Kinnock are the Provost of Sheffield, Rev. Frank Curtis, and the Centre’s Co-ordinator, David Granville.

Hammersmith and Fulham AA Group members held a year-long weekly picket of this Shell garage on Fulham Road in west London. The photograph shows health workers from Charing Cross Hospital at the protest. On 1 March 1987 the AAM launched a boycott of Shell as part of an international campaign organised jointly with groups in the USA and the Netherlands. Shell was joint owner of one of South Africa’s biggest oil refineries and a lead company in its coalmining and petrochemicals industries.

Leaflet publicising a memorial meeting for Steve Biko and a collection for South African refugees.

Leeds Women Against Apartheid was formed in 1986 to bring together women in support of their sisters in South Africa and Namibia. The group reached out to women’s organisations in West Yorkshire, raising funds for women in Southern Africa, boycotting apartheid goods and holding day schools publicising the situation of women under apartheid. It was linked to a women’s group in Soshunguve township, near Pretoria. This leaflet advertised an event with stalls, entertainment and discussion on International Women’s Day, 8 March 1988.

Leaflet advertising a Latin American music night to raise funds for the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) in 1988. The concert was organised by Camden AA Group and Kings Cross Labour Party in central London.

Young AAM supporters at a vigil for the Sharpeville Six in front of Nottingham Town Hall on 13 April 1998.

Poster publicising an anti-apartheid conference organised by a coalition of groups in south London in April 1988. 

Twenty-five freedom marchers, one for each year of Mandela’s imprisonment, walked nearly 600 miles from Glasgow to London in June and July 1988. Along the way they held meetings and events calling for Mandela’s release. This leaflet advertised the march as it came through Tyneside in the north-east of England.

Sheffield AAM arranged a special programme of ‘Freedom at 70’ events to mark Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday on 18 July 1988, as well as sending coaches of supporters to the national rally in London on 17 July. Events included a live video screening of the Wembley Mandela tribute concert, a five-a-side football competition and a party on 18 July.

Sheffield AA Group celebrated Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday with a 5-a-side football competition and a birthday party. Special events took place all over Britain as part of the AAM’s ‘Freedom at 70’ campaign. At the end of the campaign a poll showed that Nelson Mandela had become a household name in Britain and 70% of people  supported the call for his release.

All over Britain special events were held to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday. In the photograph, anti-apartheid supporters in Inverness display a giant card in the town’s shopping centre. At the conclusion of the AAM’s ‘Nelson Mandela: Freedom at 70’ campaign, a poll showed that Nelson Mandela had become a household name in Britain and 70% of people  supported the call for his release.

Leaflet publicising a concert to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s 70^th birthday organised by Nottingham AA Group. Events like this were held all over Britain.

Many local AA groups produced regular members newsletters. This issue of Edinburgh AA Group’s newsletter reports on the Glasgow to London Freedom march and the campaign to save Robert McBride, sentenced to death in South Africa.

Front cover of a booklet about the ‘Sisters of the Long March’, a South African theatre group that toured Britain, September–December 1988, to win support for South African workers in their long-running dispute with the British-owned company BTR Sarmcol. The Sisters were a seven-woman song and dance group from Natal. They took their show to over 20 venues all over the country. The year before, a theatre group set up by the BTR workers brought their play about the strike ‘The Long March’ to Britain. Both tours were sponsored by the British TUC and supported by the AAM. 

Leaflet publicising a conference organised by the London AA Committee and Haringey Trades Council to build support for anti-apartheid campaigns in north London in 1988. The conference included workshops for healthworkers, teachers, trade unionists, church people, community workers and journalists.

Robert McBride was sentenced to hang for setting off a bomb in Durban in July 1986. This leaflet advertises a meeting calling for clemency. After an international campaign led by his mother, Doris McBride, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

Many new local AA groups were formed after the publicity surrounding the AAM’s Nelson Mandela tribute concert at Wembley Stadium in June 1988. This leaflet publicised a performance by the women’s grop ‘Sisters of the Long March’ and announced the formation of two new AA groups in north-east England at Wansbeck and Chester le Street.

Badge produced by anti-apartheid supporters in Guernsey, Channel Islands.

Card with design featuring Nelson and Winnie Mandela.

AAM supporters held a prayer vigil on the steps of Kingston Guildhall to show their opposition to a proposal by Kingston Council to invest pension funds in South Africa. Kingston Trades Council presented a petition to the Council asking it to reconsider.

In 1989 Bristol AA Group set up a Southern Africa Resource Centre to provide educational resources on Southern Africa and encourage links between groups in the south-west of England and the frontline states. The project was funded by individual donations.

Protesters in Southampton demonstrated against the import of uranium from Namibia through the city’s docks in February 1989. The protest was organised by Southampton AA Group and local supporters of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Green Party.

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.

Many local AA groups organised women’s campaigns in solidarity with their sisters in Southern Africa. This leaflet advertised a women only concert orgaised by Sheffield AAM women members on International Women’s Day 1989 to raise funds for women in Southern Africa.

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.

Anti-apartheid supporters in Leeds and Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire organised this sponsored bridge tournament to raise funds for the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) and medical supplies for Mozambique.

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.

In the late 1980s Bristol AA Group held an annual Festival against Apartheid. The 1989 Festival had an ambitious two-week programme featuring music from Southern Africa, an exhibition of Zimbabwean artworks and a children’s day with workshops on gumboot dancing, circus skills and drama.

Poster advertising Bristol AA Group’s 1989 Festival against Apartheid. The Festival had an ambitious two-week programme featuring music from Southern Africa, an exhibition of Zimbabwean artworks and a children’s day with workshops on gumboot dancing, circus skills and drama.

This Festival brought together speakers from the Namibia Support Committee and Wales AAM with the Cuban ambassador, who spoke about his country’s support for Angola against South African aggression. The conference was followed by an evening concert with music from the Cardiff Red Choir and singer songwriter Maria Tolly.

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.

South Devon AA Group mounted an exhibition about the lives of women and children under apartheid in the high street in Totnes, Devon in 1989.

The Southern Africa Coalition brought together a wide range of organisations, including trade unions, churches, overseas aid agencies and the AAM. In Tyneside, north-east England, local branches of the organisations that made up the coalition organised a week of anti-apartheid events in February 1990.

All over Britain people celebrated Nelson Mandela’s release on 11 February 1990. These two young women were taking part in a vigil on the steps of Sheffield Town Hall.

Sheffield Southern Africa Resources Centre provided educational resources on Southern Africa for the city’s schools and community groups, as well as a headquarters for Sheffield AA Group. Sheffield AA was one of the most active of the AAM’s local groups throughout the 1980s.

This festival was organised by Glasgow North-West AA Group as part of Glasgow’s 1990 European City of Culture celebrations.

Leeds Women Against Apartheid was formed in 1986 to bring together women in support of their sisters in South Africa and Namibia. The group reached out to women’s organisations in West Yorkshire, raising funds for women in Southern Africa, boycotting apartheid goods and holding day schools publicising the situation of women under apartheid. It was linked to a women’s group in Soshunguve township, near Pretoria. This leaflet advertised a meeting with women from the African National Congress and South West Africa People’s Organisation in 1990.

Southwark AA Group supporters picketed a Shell garage in South London in 1990. After Nelson Mandela’s release, the AAM kept up its campaign for a boycott of Shell and for sanctions to pressure the South African government to agree a genuinely democratic constitution.

Members of Notting Hill AA Group asked shoppers to boycott South African gold in Kensington High Street, West London, as part of the AAM’s Month of Action against apartheid gold sales in December 1990.

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.

Card advertising a sculpture made to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s release from prison.

Leaflet distributed by Notting Hill AA Group in west London as part of the national AAM campaign to pressure the South African government to release all political prisoners and stop fomenting ‘black on black’ violence.

Leeds Women Against Apartheid was formed in 1986 to bring together women in support of their sisters in South Africa and Namibia. The group reached out to women’s organisations in West Yorkshire, raising funds for women in Southern Africa, boycotting apartheid goods and holding day schools publicising the situation of women under apartheid. It was linked to a women’s group in Soshunguve township, near Pretoria. This poster advertised a fundraising skills auction in 1991.

Leeds Women Against Apartheid was formed in 1986 to bring together women in support of their sisters in South Africa and Namibia. The group reached out to women’s organisations in West Yorkshire, raising funds for women in Southern Africa, boycotting apartheid goods and holding day schools publicising the situation of women under apartheid. It was linked to a women’s group in Soshunguve township, near Pretoria. This poster advertised a fundraising karaoke night in November 1991.

Leaflet publicising a conference in Birmingham for the West Midlands region to discuss the AAM’s role in the final push to end apartheid. The conference was one of a series of conferences for local anti-apartheid activists covering every region of Britain. The conferences received first-hand reports from the ANC national consultative conference held in December 1990 and discussed proposals for twinning British regions with ANC branches in South Africa.

Leaflet publicising a fundraising concert of Latin American concert organised by Bath AA Group in 1991.

Leaflet publicising a fundraising concert organised by Birmingham AA Group and Birmingham Trades Council in 1992.

Birmingham AA Group collected signatures to a petition asking the British government to back an international commission on the Boipatong massacre in the summer of 1992. Its newsletter also publicised local action in support of the general strike called by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).

Sheffield AA Group published this newsletter publicising its collecton of funds for victims of violence in Natal in 1992. Yorkshire and Humberside was paired with Natal in the AAM’s twining programme.

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.

Exeter AA Group held a vigil in the main shopping centre on 20 March 1993 to ask the British government to help end the violence in South Africa. It said Britain should support the sending of international peace monitors. It forwarded 500 letters to Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd from local people urging him to take action

Sheffield AAM aimed to raise £5,000 for the ANC Election Fund in the run-up to South Africa’s first democratic election in April 1994. The Fund raised £1,000,000 in Britain, much of it from the trade union movement.

Poster for a concert to raise funds for the ANC election campaign in South Africa’s first democratic election in April 1994. The concert was organised by Nottingham anti-apartheid supporters and was supported by Nottingham City Council. It took place in the Marcus Garvey Centre, an Afro-Caribbean community centre in Nottingham’s Lenton district, and featured the Zimbabwean group, the Bhundu Boys.

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.

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.

Anna Kruthoffer (now Anna Murray) first became aware of the Anti-Apartheid Movement when she was a student in the late 1980s. She became an activist in her local AA group in Hackney when she moved to London. She was the secretary of Hackney AA Group and the London AA Committee, which co-ordinated the work of London anti-apartheid groups. In April 1994, she worked in the ANC’s Johannesburg regional office in the run-up to South Africa’s first democratic election.  

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

Anna Kruthoffer (now Anna Murray) first became aware of the Anti-Apartheid Movement when she was a student in the late 1980s. She became an activist in her local AA group in Hackney when she moved to London. She was the secretary of Hackney AA Group and the London AA Committee, which co-ordinated the work of London anti-apartheid groups. In April 1994, she worked in the ANC’s Johannesburg regional office in the run-up to South Africa’s first democratic election.  

In this clip Anna recalls how she was drawn into the Anti-Apartheid Movement, meeting political exiles from South Africa and Namibia and establishing links in the local community.

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. 

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out by students at Sheffield Hallam University in 2013.

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).

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

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.

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

Joni McDougall became active in Camden Anti-Apartheid Group in 1984. She later worked full-time in the Anti-Apartheid Movement office for the Bishop Ambrose Reeves Trust as organiser of the international conference on ‘Children & Apartheid’, held in Harare in 1987. In 1988 she joined the Nelson Mandela Freedom March as one of the 25 marchers who walked from Glasgow to London as part of the ‘Nelson Mandela: Freedom at 70’ campaign.

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

Joni McDougall became active in Camden Anti-Apartheid Group in 1984. She later worked full-time in the Anti-Apartheid Movement office for the Bishop Ambrose Reeves Trust as organiser of the international conference on ‘Children & Apartheid’, held in Harare in 1987. In 1988 she joined the Nelson Mandela Freedom march as one of the 25 marchers who walked from Glasgow to London as part of the ‘Nelson Mandela: Freedom at 70’ campaign.

In this clip Joni talks about fundraising and campaigning in Camden Town.

Kath Harding was the Chair of Sheffield Anti-Apartheid Group and helped set up Sheffield’s Southern Africa Resources Centre. Sheffield AA Group was one of the AAM’s most active local groups and worked with Sheffield City Council, trade unions and churches to make Sheffield a centre of anti-apartheid activity in the 1980s and early 1990s.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out by students at Sheffield Hallam University in 2013.

Kath Harding was the Chair of Sheffield Anti-Apartheid Group and helped set up Sheffield’s Southern Africa Resources Centre. Sheffield AA Group was one of the AAM’s most active local groups and worked with Sheffield City Council, trade unions and churches to make Sheffield a centre of anti-apartheid activity in the 1980s and early 1990s.

In this clip Kath Harding explains how she and other Sheffield activists took their lead from the ANC and people struggling within South Africa.

Kath Harding was the Chair of Sheffield Anti-Apartheid Group and helped set up Sheffield’s Southern Africa Resources Centre. Sheffield AA Group was one of the AAM’s most active local groups and worked with Sheffield City Council, trade unions and churches to make Sheffield a centre of anti-apartheid activity in the 1980s and early 1990s.

In this clip Kath Harding describes how the Anti-Apartheid Movement brought together a broad range of people united in campaigning against apartheid.

Lela Kogbara was a member of the Anti-Apartheid Movement’s Black Solidarity Committee and Executive Committee, and an activist in South London AA Group. She was the Chair of Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) from 1994 to 2012, and still serves on its Executive Committee.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out by Christabel Gurney in 2005.

Amin Mawani came to London from Kenya in 1975, where he met Susi, who grew up in Heidelberg, Germany. They were both founder members of Ealing Anti-Apartheid Group in West London in the mid-1980s and Amin became the group’s first Secretary. In 1988 he was elected to the AAM’s National Executive Committee and Susi took over as Secretary. Ealing AA group campaigned for a boycott of South African goods and organised numerous concerts and social events to raise funds for the AAM.

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

Amin Mawani came to London from Kenya in 1975, where he met Susi, who grew up in Heidelberg, Germany. They were both founder members of Ealing Anti-Apartheid Group in West London in the mid-1980s and Amin became the group’s first Secretary. In 1988 he was elected to the AAM’s National Executive Committee and Susi took over as Secretary. Ealing AA Group campaigned for a boycott of South African goods and organised numerous concerts and social events to raise funds for the AAM.

In this clip Susi Mawani reflects on why people joined Ealing AA Group and on how attitudes to apartheid changed.

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.

Paul Blomfield set up Sheffield Anti-Apartheid Group in 1978 and served as its Secretary until the early 1990s. In 1976 he visited South Africa after the Soweto school students uprising at the request of the ANC. His report of the visit is on this website (stu25. IUS Solidarity Mission Report). He is now the Labour MP for Sheffield Central.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out by students at Sheffield Hallam University in 2013.

Paul Blomfield set up Sheffield Anti-Apartheid Group in 1978 and served as its Secretary until the early 1990s. In 1976 he visited South Africa after the Soweto school students uprising at the request of the ANC. His report of the visit is on this website (stu25. IUS Solidarity Mission Report). He is now the Labour MP for Sheffield Central.

In this clip Paul Blomfield describes how Sheffield AA Group organised a city-wide campaign to pressure Barclays Bank into withdrawing from South Africa.

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.

Allison Barrett was born in South Africa and came to Britain as a child. She was an activist in Tyneside Anti-Apartheid Group from the early 1980s and represented it on the AAM National Committee. Tyneside AA Group included artists and designers and set up an anti-apartheid choir, which performed at the Edinburgh Festival. In 1988, it hosted the South African dance group ‘Sisters of the Long March’. Allison was a sculptor, who made a head of Nelson Mandela, sold to raise funds for the Anti-Apartheid Movement.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of a research project on the British Anti-Apartheid Movement and South Africa’s transition to majority rule, conducted by Dr Matt Graham (History programme, University of Dundee) and Dr Christopher Fevre (International Studies Group, University of the Free State) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13619462.2021.1976154