In 1971 a group of British architects launched a long-running campaign to end links between the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and South Africa. This factsheet supported a resolution put to a RIBA Council meeting in February 1973 calling on RIBA to withdraw recognition from architecture courses at five South African universities. The resolution was signed by over 300 architects, but was rejected by the RIBA Council.

In January 1973 the Architectural Association (AA) barred its members from practising in South Africa. At the same time it asked the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) to sever its links with South Africa. This AA newssheet reported on a meeting held to debate the issue.

The Anti-Apartheid Health Committee tried to persuade British healthworkers not to emigrate to South Africa. Nurses were a special target of South African recruitment ads. This leaflet pointed out that South Africa only needed to recruit nurses from overseas because it trained so few black nurses.

The Anti-Apartheid Health Committee was set up in 1978 by anti-apartheid supporters working in the health professions. This leaflet, produced in 1983, set out its main objectives: to inform people about the impact of apartheid on the health of black South Africans; to end British health organisations’ links with South Africa; and to collect medical aid for the Southern African liberation movements.

This day school drew in many British health professionals to support the work of the Anti-Apartheid Health Committee. It created new interest in its campaigns, especially in fundraising for medical aid for the liberation movements.
 

This leaflet made the case for the expulsion of South Africa from the World Psychiatric Association. It was distributed at a seminar held at a WPA regional symposium in Helsinki in June 1984, which called for the expulsion of South Africa from world psychiatry. This was the start of a long campaign which won the support of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the British Psychological Society.

From 1985 Medical Aid for Southern Africa (MACSA) collected medical equipment and funding for the African National Congress hospital in Tanzania. It also liaised with the Namibia Support Committee in providing health kits for the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO). MACSA raised funds through social events and collections in hospitals and medical schools. Many local AA groups collected material aid and cash for MACSA appeals.

Architects Against Apartheid was relaunched in September 1986 after the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) withdrew recognition from architecture courses at four South African universities. This followed an earlier campaign in the 1970s which resulted in a compromise decision that RIBA would withdraw recognition if the universities did not open their architecture courses to students of all races. The new group campaigned for RIBA to end all its links with South Africa.

In the late 1980s Architects Against Apartheid drew architects and planners into anti-apartheid campaigns and showed how the apartheid system was reflected in the built environment. It supported architects within South Africa in trying to change the policies of the Institute of South African Architects (ISAA).

From its formation in 1978 the Anti-Apartheid Health Committee exposed the impact of apartheid on the health and well-being of black South Africans. This leaflet was widely distributed among health professionals and National Health Service workers in Britain.

Lawyers Against Apartheid was formed in December 1986 and held its inaugural meeting in April 1987. The group campaigned against the abuse of the laws by the apartheid regime. It gave advice to anti-apartheid activists who fell foul of the law in Britain. Left to right: Willem van Manen, Martin Mabiletsa (ANC), Geoffrey Bindman, Lord Gifford, Bience Gawanas (SWAPO), Adrienne Barnett.

Lawyers Against Apartheid was set up in December 1986 to expose the abuse of the law in South Africa and the travesties of justice in many political trials. This leaflet advertised its inaugural public meeting, held in April 1987, attended by over 200 people. At the meeting Geoffrey Bindman reported on his recent visit to South Africa, where he observed several high profile political trials. The meeting launched a petition calling for sanctions against South Africa and sent a message to the newly formed South African Democratic Lawyers Association.

Petition launched at Lawyers Against Apartheid’s inaugural public meeting on 30 April 1987. The petition declared that South Africa’s legal system violated principles of natural justice and asked the British government to impose sanctions against South Africa.

The first issue of Lawyers Against Apartheid’s Bulletin outlined the main planks of South Africa’s repressive legislation and exposed the illegality of the interim government set up by the apartheid regime in Namibia. It also publicised its guide to the impact of the new British Public Order Act on anti-apartheid protests in Britain.

This poster advertised an international conference held in Harare, Zimbabwe on September 1987 about ‘Children, Repression and the Law in Apartheid South Africa’. The conference brought together representatives of international anti-apartheid movements and activists from within South Africa. They heard testimony from children who had been detained by the South African security forces. The British delegates later formed the Harare Working Group, which organised a conference at City University, London, attended by 700 people. Participants formed groups such as Teachers against Apartheid, Social Workers against Apartheid and Youth & Community Workers against Apartheid.

In September 1987 a conference in Harare heard testimony from children who had been tortured by the South African security forces. Over 200 health workers, lawyers, social workers and representatives of student, trade union, religious and women’s organisations from 45 countries met children living in South Africa and the frontline states. This pamphlet told some of the children’s stories and appealed for support for the Trevor Huddleston Children’s Fund.

In September 1987 a conference in Harare heard testimony from children who had been tortured by the South African security forces. Over 200 health workers, lawyers, social workers and representatives of student, trade union, religious and women’s organisations from 45 countries met children from within South Africa and exiles living in the frontline states. The conference was organised by Bishop Ambrose Reeves Trust (BART). In the photograph Glenys Kinnock listens to one of the witnesses.

The second issue of Lawyers Against Apartheid’s Bulletin highlighted the detention and torture of children in South Africa and Namibia. It analysed the implications of the new British Local Government Bill for action by local authorities against apartheid.

The ‘Children, Apartheid and Repression in South Africa’ conference held in London in April 1988 was a follow-up to an international conference held in Harare in 1987. It examined how professional groups could support children in South Africa and wider anti-apartheid campaigns. The conference gave a big boost to anti-apartheid campaigning among British healthworkers, social workers, lawyers, architects and teachers.

Briefing papers prepared for the conference on ‘Children Apartheid and Repression’ held in London in 1988. The papers showed how children suffered from the impact of apartheid on education, health, the law, social work and architecture.

Over 300 people attended this meeting to hear Tina Forbes, whose son Ashley was serving a 15-year sentence on Robben Island, and Silus Mkanunu from the South African Association of Democratic Lawyers. The meeting launched SATIS’s ‘No Apartheid Executions’ petition.

This speaking tour of Scotland and northern England was a follow-up to the 1988 conference on ‘Children and Apartheid’. Childcare experts and representatives from South Africa, Namibia and  Mozambique spoke at seminars and meetings at the main regional centres.

After the international conference on ‘Children, Repression and the Law in Apartheid South Africa’ in Harare in September 1987, professionals working with children set up a group under the auspices of  SATIS (Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society) to publicise the treatment of childen under apartheid. This poster advertised a national information tour organised by the group, 22 April–17 May 1989.

T-shirt produced for the campaign to highlight the detention of children in South Africa organised by Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS). The campaign arose from a conference held in Harare in 1987 at which children from South Africa testified about their torture in detention. It was carried forward at a meeting held on 23 April 1988 at City University, London by the Harare Working Group.

By the late 1980s the Anti-Apartheid Health Committee had built awareness among British health professionals of the chronic discrimination in health provision in South Africa and Namibia. One of the aims of this conference was to discuss how health workers in Britain could support their colleagues in South Africa, as well as joining in wider anti-apartheid campaigns.

Lawyers Against Apartheid’s 1989 Bulletin called for captured Umkhonto we Sizwe combatants to be treated as prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions. It also focused on South Africa’s violation of the Namibian peace accord.

In the late 1980s UK Architects Against Apartheid made new links with planning groups within South Africa affiliated to the Mass Democratic Movement. It also worked with groups fighting racial discrimination in the architectural profession in Britain. This issue of the UKAAA Newsletter proposed a joint meeting with the newly formed Society of Black Architects.

Leaflet publicising a public meeting in April 1991 highlighting the continued imprisonment and detention of political prisoners in South Africa.

Sir Geoffrey Bindman is a lawyer and was Chair of Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS ). SATIS publicised political trials, called for the release of those detained without trial and mobilised public opinion against the hanging of political prisoners.It campaigned for the release of thousands of anti-apartheid activists, including many children, detained under the States of Emergency imposed in the mid-1980s.

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

Sir Geoffrey Bindman is a lawyer and was Chair of Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS ). SATIS publicised political trials, called for the release of those detained without trial and mobilised public opinion against the hanging of political prisoners.It campaigned for the release of thousands of anti-apartheid activists, including many children, detained under the States of Emergency imposed in the mid-1980s.

In this clip Sir Geoffrey describes his experience of investigating the legal aspects of apartheid and visiting political prisoners in South Africa.

 Sir Geoffrey Bindman is a lawyer and was Chair of Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS ). SATIS publicised political trials, called for the release of those detained without trial and mobilised public opinion against the hanging of political prisoners.It campaigned for the release of thousands of anti-apartheid activists, including many children, detained under the States of Emergency imposed in the mid-1980s.

In  this clip Sir Geoffrey describes the lesson he learnt from Trevor Huddleston never to give up in apparently hopeless campaigns.

Peter Ahrends was born in Berlin in 1933. His family fled the Nazis and arrived in South Africa in 1937. He left at the age of 18 to study architecture in London. Peter became chair of UK Architects Against Apartheid, an affiliate of the Anti-Apartheid Movement. He campaigned for a cultural and academic boycott of South Africa and called for the de-recognition of the Institute of South African Architects by the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects).

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

Peter Ahrends was born in Berlin in 1933. His family fled the Nazis and arrived in South Africa in 1937. He left at the age of 18 to study architecture in London. Peter became chair of UK Architects Against Apartheid, an affiliate of the Anti-Apartheid Movement. He campaigned for a cultural and academic boycott of South Africa and called for the de-recognition of the Institute of South African Architects by the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects).

In this clip Peter describes his memory of witnessing racism in South Africa as a child.

Glenys Kinnock became active in the Anti-Apartheid Movement as a student at Cardiff University. In the 1980s she spoke at numerous anti-apartheid meetings and conferences and played a central role in the ‘Children & Apartheid’ conference in Harare in 1987. She was MEP for Wales from 1994 to 2009 and served as Minister of State in the Foreign Office, 2009–10. Later she sat in the House of Lords as Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead.

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

Glenys Kinnock became active in the Anti-Apartheid Movement as a student at Cardiff University. In the 1980s she spoke at numerous anti-apartheid meetings and conferences and played a central role in the ‘Children & Apartheid’ conference in Harare in 1987. She was MEP for Wales from 1994 to 2009 and served as Minister of State in the Foreign Office, 2009–10. Later she sat in the House of Lords as Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead.

In this clip Glenys Kinnock describes how the testimony of child detainees, given at the conference in Harare, changed the way the world viewed apartheid South Africa.

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.

Brian Hurwitz grew up in South Africa and came to Britain in the late 1970s. He joined the Anti-Apartheid Movement as a local group activist, campaigning for a consumer boycott and for the release of Southern African political prisoners. As a qualified solicitor, he was a founder member of Lawyers Against Apartheid. After 1994, Brian went back to South Africa and worked for the Land Claims Commission. Since his return to Britain in 1999, he has been active in ACTSA (Action for Southern Africa).

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) See https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13619462.2021.1976154

Mark Guthrie came to Britain from South Africa as a teenager in 1976 and joined the Anti-Apartheid Movement soon after his arrival. As a law student and member of Manchester University Senate in 1983, he proposed that the university should give an honorary degree to Nelson Mandela. He was later active in Camden Anti-Apartheid Group and was a founder member in 1987 of Lawyers Against Apartheid, serving as its Secretary and later its Chair until it was dissolved in 1994.

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). See https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13619462.2021.1976154