In the 1960s the AAM used theatre to alert the British public to the increasing use of torture in South Africa. Actors like the National Theatre’s Robert Lang took part in this dramatised presentation of what it was like to be a political prisoner. Students from the University of London’s Society Against Racial Discrimination held a torchlight march to the event.

London students demonstrated in support of Nelson Mandela and other South African political prisoners in February 1964. This leaflet publicised a march preceding a dramatised presentation of prisoners’ lives organised by the World Campaign for the Release of South African Political Prisoners in Central Hall, Westminster. It was organised by University of London Union (ULU) Society Against Racial Discrimination. ULU later elected Nelson Mandela as its Honorary President.

Sussex University students marched from Brighton to London on 12 and 13 June 1964, on the eve of the sentencing of Nelson Mandela and his co-accused. The march was organised by Thabo Mbeki, whose father Govan Mbeki was one of the accused.

Anti-apartheid supporters outside the South African Embassy in London holding wreaths in memory of the 69 people shot at Sharpeville, on the fifth anniversary of the massacre in 1965. An ‘in memoriam’ book was signed by 3,500 people in St Martin’s in the Fields and a public meeting was held there to commemorate the anniversary. Students at University College London held a South Africa week and Cambridge City Council voted to ban South African produce from its civic restaurant.

Leaflet advertising ‘Anatomy of Apartheid’, a dramatic presentation staged at Central Hall, Westminster on 21 March 1966. The show drew on court case records and personal affidavits from people who had suffered under apartheid. It was scripted by John Hales and Christopher Williams from the Royal Shakespeare Company and starred Joss Ackland, John Bird and Eleanor Bron. The show led to a big increase in the membership of the Anti-Apartheid Movement.

On 26 June 1966 a crowd estimated at between 3,000 and 5,000 people attended a rally in Trafalgar Square calling for majority rule in Rhodesia. This leaflet urged students to join the demonstration. At a press conference before the march the AAM released a Declaration on Rhodesia signed by 41 ‘eminent people’, including writers Brigid Brophy and Iris Murdoch, pianist Fou T’Song, naturalist Peter Scott and academics and trade unionists.

Nottingham students occupied the Nottingham University’s Portland building in 1968 in protest against the university’s links with the Smith regime in Rhodesia.

Leaflet advertising a march organised by the Zimbabwe Solidarity Action Committee on 12 January 1969. Demonstrators, mostly students and young people, tried to occupy Rhodesia House but were driven back by mounted police. Marchers then moved on to South Africa House, where only one policeman was stationed at the side entrance, and smashed the windows looking onto Trafalgar Square. Before the march, a group of writers had already infiltrated Rhodesia House and two climbers had scaled its flagpole to replace the flag of the illegal regime with the Union Jack.

In 1967 and 1968 ANC and ZAPU guerrilla units joined forces to try and fight their way through Zimbabwe to South Africa. This leaflet advertised an AAM conference that emphasised armed struggle as the main strategy for achieving liberation in Southern Africa. It gave a platform to representatives of the liberation movements from all the countries of the region. The conference took place in the climate of youth militancy that followed the 1968 student demonstrations in France and other European countries.

This leaflet advertised a fundraising event held on the evening of the AAM’s conference on liberation and guerrilla warfare, at the Round House in Camden, north London. It featured a film about Bob Dylan’s England tour ‘Don’t Look Back’ and poetry and music groups The Scaffold, Yes and Dry Ice. 

The Southern Africa Solidarity Committee was a coalition of youth and student groups set up in 1969 in the wake of the 1968 student demonstrations in France and other European countries. This leaflet publicised a march past the headquarters of companies involved in Southern Africa. It also advertised a conference on guerrilla warfare organised by the AAM and asked supporters to demonstrate against all-white South African sports teams.

Poster publicising a march past the headquarters of companies involved in Southern Africa – Unilever, Anglo American, the Daily Telegraph, Shell, Plessey and Barclays Bank – on 28 June 1969. The march was organised by the Southern Africa Solidarity Committee, a coalition of militant youth and student groups set up in 1969 in the wake of the 1968 student demonstrations in France and other European countries. 

Thousands joined a march to Welford Road rugby ground in Leicester on 8 November 1969, to protest against the Springboks game against Midland Counties East. They included students and a big contingent from Leicester’s Afro-Caribbean community. Later, demonstrators tried to stop the game by running onto the pitch and two people were wounded in clashes between the police and protestors. There were anti-apartheid protests at all 24 games in the 1969/70 Springbok tour of Britain and Ireland.

More than 7,000 people took part in a march to protest against the South African rugby Springboks game against North West Counties on 26 November 1969. Many of the marchers were students from Manchester and Liverpool Universities. This poster was produced by Manchester students. Around 2,000 police were deployed to stop protesters running onto the pitch. There were anti-apartheid protests at all 24 games in the Springboks 1969/70 tour of Britain and Ireland.

Members of the rugby club at UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology) joined the 7,000-strong march at the North West Counties v Springboks game in Manchester on 26 November 1969. The march also included local priests and members of the university Conservative Association. It was led by students carrying a coffin painted with the words ‘Remember Sharpeville’.

Leaflet asking London students to help set up a fundraising appeal for the African National Congress (ANC) and Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) in 1969. Fundraising for the liberation movements was one of the main student activities on Southern Africa in the late 1960s and 1970s.

In March 1970 Liverpool students occupied the university’s Senate House to press five demands that included disinvestment from South Africa and the resignation of the University’s Chancellor, the Marquess of Salisbury. Lord Salisbury was an outspoken supporter of the minority white regime in Rhodesia. The sit-in lasted 10 days and got national press coverage. Nine students were suspended and one, Pete Cresswell, was expelled. This issue of Sphinx, the student newsletter, explains the background to the sit-in.

In March 1970 Liverpool students occupied the university’s Senate House to press five demands that included disinvestment from South Africa and the resignation of the University’s Chancellor, the Marquess of Salisbury. Lord Salisbury was an outspoken supporter of the minority white regime in Rhodesia. The sit-in lasted 10 days and got national press coverage. Nine students were suspended and one, Pete Cresswell, was expelled. Among the suspended students was Jon Snow, seen here interrupting a meeting with representatives of the university authorities.

Gerry Cordon remembers the student occupation of Liverpool University Senate House in March 1970 in support of ‘Five Demands’ that included an end to Liverpool University’s connections with South Africa.

In September 1971 the National Union of Students, AAM and the Committee for Freedom in Mozambique, Angola and Guiné set up a student network to coordinate student campaigning on Southern Africa. The aim was to recruit representatives at every British university and college. The network campaigned for universities to disinvest from companies involved in South Africa and for a boycott of Barclays Bank. It raised funds for the Southern African liberation movements and organised protests against the arrest of students within South Africa. This handbook provided information for student activists.

The first issue of the University of East Anglia Anti-Apartheid Group’s newsletter publicised fundraising for the African National Council of Rhodesia. The ANC was spearheading African rejection of British government proposals for an agreement with the white minority regime. Fundraising for the liberation movements was one of the main student activities on Southern Africa in the 1970s.

In the early 1970s University of East Anglia students set up a scholarship for a student from Southern Africa. This issue of the UEA Anti-Apartheid Group’s newsletter publicised events to raise funds for the scholarship. It also publicised African opposition to the British government’s proposals for a deal with the white minority regime in Rhodesia.

In September 1971 the National Union of Students, the AAM and the Committee for Freedom in Mozambique, Angola and Guiné set up a network to coordinate student campaigning on Southern Africa. The aim was to recruit representatives at every British university and college. This letter to student activists publicised the first of the annual conferences held by the network in the 1970s and 1980s. The 1972 conference set out three priorities: disinvestment from companies involved in South Africa, fundraising for the liberation movements and educational work on Namibia.

In September 1971 the National Union of Students, AAM and Committee for Freedom in Mozambique, Angola and Guiné set up a student network to coordinate student campaigning on Southern Africa. Every year through the 1970s the network held an annual conference to share information and discuss campaign priorities. This is the report of the first NUS/AAM student network conference, held in September 1972.

Hull University Students Union appointed South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) leader Hermann Toivo ja Toivo as its Honorary Vice-President in the early 1970s. Toivo was serving a 20-year prison sentence on Robben Island.

This booklet tells the story of Hull students’ campaign to make the university sever its links with the food company Reckitt & Colman because of the company’s operations in South Africa. The Hull sit-in was one of many student disinvestment campaigns in the 1970s.

In October 1972 Manchester University students asked the university authorities to sell shares in companies with South African interests. This broadsheet publicised a picket of a meeting of the University Council called to discuss the university’s investment policy in February 1973. When the Council referred the issue to its investment sub-committee, students protested by occupying the administration building.

The apartheid government banned the entire leadership of the black student organisation SASO (South African Student Organisation) in February 1973. Leaders of NUSAS (National Union of South African Students) were also banned. British students picketed South Africa House on 2 March 1973 in protest against the bannings.

Manchester University students first asked the university authorities to sell shares in companies with South African interests In October 1972. In response to a vigorous student campaign and national publicity about the below subsistence wages paid to South African workers, the University Council agreed to press companies in which it held shares to pay higher wages. This was rejected by the student union and students occupied the Council Chamber in protest. Manchester students argued that all investment in South Africa supported apartheid and that the university must disinvest. This newsletter reprinted the statements issued by the university authorities and the student union, and urged students to attend a union general meeting to discuss the next step in the campaign. 

In 1973 the student union at University College Swansea voted to call on the university authorities to sell shares in companies with South African interests. This pamphlet set out the case for disinvestment.

In September 1971 the National Union of Students, AAM and Committee for Freedom in Mozambique, Angola and Guiné set up a student network to coordinate student campaigning on Southern Africa. Every year through the 1970s and early 1980s the network held an annual conference to discuss campaign priorities. This is the report of the second conference, held at Aston University, Birmingham in July 1973. It was attended by 80 delegates representing 24 colleges. Student action concentrated on disinvestment from Southern Africa, fundraising for the liberation movements, campaigning for political prisoners and the cultural, academic, sports and consumer boycotts.

The 1973 NUS/AAM student network conference agreed a programme of action that concentrated on persuading universities to disinvest from companies involved in South Africa and raising material support for the Southern African liberation movements.

Poster advertising the Southern Africa Liberation Fund set up by the NUS as a clearing house for funds raised by local student unions for the Southern African liberation movements. Collecting material aid was one of the main activities of British students who took action on Southern Africa in the 1970s.

In 1974, students at University College London asked the college authorities to establish whether companies in which the college held shares had dealings with the South African military or paid below subsistence wages.They demanded that the college disinvest from any such companies. This pamphlet reviewed the South African operations of firms in which University College held shares. In the early 1970s students at over half Britain’s colleges and universities took action for disinvestment from South Africa.

In September 1971 the National Union of Students, AAM and Committee for Freedom in Mozambique, Angola and Guiné set up a student network to coordinate student campaigning on Southern Africa. Every year through the 1970s and early 1980s the network held an annual conference to discuss campaign priorities. This is the report of the third conference, held at Keele University in July 1974. The conference agreed to prioritise raising material aid for the Southern African liberation movements, campaigning for disinvestment from South Africa and for a boycott of Barclays Bank.

In autumn 1974 students at Manchester University disrupted a meeting of the University Council in protest against its refusal to sell all the university’s shares in British companies with investments in South Africa. In response to earlier student demands, Manchester’s Vice Chancellor announced that shares in nine firms had been sold. At Durham University the student union held a vote which resulted a clear majority for the sale of holdings in companies involved in South Africa.

This letter from Durham University Students Union put the case for total disinvestment from South Africa. It asked Durham students to back the union’s call for the sale of the university’s holdings in all companies with South African interests by supporting it at special meetings of their Junior Common Rooms.

From 1972 students at Durham University campaigned for the university to sell its shares in all companies with interests in South Africa. The University Council responded by selling shares in Consolidated Gold Fields and writing to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry asking for the code of conduct for companies investing in South Africa to be given the force of law. This student press release set out the progress of the campaign to November 1974.

This circular to Durham University teaching staff asked them to choose between advocating the sale of the university’s shares in companies with South African interests and using the shares to press for higher wages for African workers. This was a major debate in the 1970s. The AAM and its supporters argued that all economic involvement in South Africa strengthened the apartheid system and called for total disinvestment.

As part of a long-running campaign to pressure Durham University to sell its shares in companies operating in South Africa, in the autumn of 1974 Durham Students Union asked Junior Common Rooms at all the university’s constituent colleges to discuss and vote on the issue. This poster asked students to call for disinvestment. In the subsequent votes, over 63% of those who voted supported the disinvestment campaign.

From 1972 Durham University Students Union ran a long-running campaign to pressure Durham University to sell its shares in companies operating in South Africa. This poster asked students to support the campaign. In the early 1970s more than half of all British universities and colleges campaigned for their governing bodies to disinvest from South Africa.

As part of a long-running campaign to pressure Durham University to sell its shares in companies operating in South Africa, in the autumn of 1974 Durham Students Union asked Junior Common Rooms at all the university’s constituent colleges to discuss and vote on the issue. This poster, asking students to vote for disinvestment, echoes an iconic first world war army recruitment poster. At the subsequent meetings, over 63% of students who voted supported the disinvestment campaign.

As part of a long-running campaign to pressure Durham University to sell its shares in companies operating in South Africa, in the autumn of 1974 Durham Students Union asked Junior Common Rooms at all the university’s constituent colleges to discuss and vote on the issue. This poster asked students to vote for disinvestment. At the subsequent meetings, over 63% of those who voted supported the disinvestment campaign.

Students at Durham University first asked the university authorities to sell shares in companies with South African subsidiaries in 1972. In 1974 they rejected the response of the University Council, which endorsed the British government’s code of conduct for companies investing in South Africa. This leaflet publicised a mass demonstration against the university’s refusal to sell, held in February 1975. Over 1,000 students marched through Durham. Durham University’s Vice-Chancellor responded by circulating other universities suggesting they should ensure British influence in South Africa was exerted against apartheid. This was rejected by Durham Students Union, which continued to campaign for disinvestment.

Students at Durham University first asked the university authorities to sell shares in companies with South African subsidiaries in 1972. In 1974 they rejected the response of the University Council, which endorsed the British government’s code of conduct for companies investing in South Africa. This poster publicised a national demonstration against the university’s refusal to sell, held in February 1975. Over 1,000 students marched through Durham. Speakers included trade unionist John Hosey, whose son Sean was imprisoned in South Africa. Durham University’s Vice-Chancellor responded by circulating other universities suggesting they should ensure British influence in South Africa was exerted against apartheid. This was rejected by Durham students, who continued to campaign for disinvestment.

In the mid-1970s students became the focus of opposition in South Africa, many of them supporters of the black consciousness movement. This leaflet highlighted the case of nine SASO members charged under the Terrorism Act. It also called for the release of NUSAS President Karel Tip.

In September 1971 the National Union of Students, AAM and Committee for Freedom in Mozambique, Angola and Guiné set up a student network to coordinate student campaigning on Southern Africa. Every year through the 1970s and early 1980s the network held an annual conference to discuss campaign priorities. This is the report of the conference held at Salford University in July 1975.

AAM demonstrators picketed South Africa House in August 1975 to protest against continuing detentions without trial in South Africa, including that of the Afrikaans poet Breyten Breytenbach. They also called for the release of the nine leaders of the South African Student Organisation (SASO) and Black People’s Convention (BPC) leaders on trial under the Terrorism Act.

Poster produced for the campaign to make Barclays Bank withdraw from South Africa. The campaign started in 1969 in response to Barclays’ involvement in financing the Cabora Bassa dam in Mozambique. Students played a big part in the campaign, which asked individuals and organisations to withdraw their accounts. Barclays finally pulled out of South Africa in 1986. 

Thousands of people marched through central London on 27 June 1976 to protest against the South African police massacre of school students in Soweto. The march was led by ANC members carrying a symbolic coffin. Right to left: ANC members John Matshikiza, Billy Nannan and Garth Strachan.

Leaflet publicising the fifth annual conference held by the NUS/AAM student network, held at Sheffield University, 9–11 July 1976. The conference prioritised campaigns against investment in South Africa and collecting material aid for the liberation movements. It took place as student unrest erupted throughout South Africa after the police opened fire on school students in Soweto in June 1976.

Shortly after the Soweto uprising in 1976, NUS Executive Committee member Paul Blomfield made an undercover visit to South Africa at the request of the ANC. He visited Johannesburg, Cape Town, East London and Durban, and met leaders of the South African Students Organisation (SASO), trade unionists and representatives of the Christian Institute and Human Rights Committee. The report of his visit was published by the International Union of Students.

Southampton University Student Union banner on a march to Trafalgar Square calling for an end to British arms sales to South Africa and a freeze on investment, 6 March 1977. 

Poster advertising a march and rally on 18 June 1977 to mark the first anniversary of the Soweto student uprising, organised by the National Union of Students and the National Union of School Students with support from the AAM. The rally was addressed by future South African Cabinet minister Nkosazana Dlamini, then Vice-President of the South African Student Organisation (SASO), Stephen Dlamini, President of SACTU, and British student leaders, including future Labour Cabinet Minister Charles Clarke.

Demonstrators marched through central London on 18 June 1977 to mark the first anniversary of the Soweto uprising. The march was organised by the National Union of Students and National Union of School Students, with support from the AAM. Two days before, Nkosazana Dlamini and Canon Collins spoke at a commemoration service in the crypt of St Martin’s in the Fields. In Scotland AAM supporters held a vigil outside South Africa’s Glasgow consulate. 

In 1977 Hull students renewed their campaign for the university to sell its shares in companies with South African interests. This pamphlet set out the case for disinvestment.

In September 1971 the National Union of Students, AAM and Committee for Freedom in Mozambique, Angola and Guiné set up a student network to coordinate student campaigning on Southern Africa. Every year through the 1970s and early 1980s the network held an annual conference to discuss campaign priorities. This is the programme for the sixth conference, held at Loughborough University in July 1977.

In September 1971 the National Union of Students, AAM and Committee for Freedom in Mozambique, Angola and Guiné set up a student network to coordinate student campaigning on Southern Africa. Every year through the 1970s and early 1980s the network held an annual conference to discuss campaign priorities. This is the report of the conference held at Loughborough University in July 1977. It was attended by 98 delegates from 45 student unions. The conference asked British students to step up action in response to the repression following the Soweto student uprising of 1976 and for pressure on the Labour government to act against the racist regimes in Southern Africa.

Leeds students campaigned for Leeds University to sell its shares in all companies with South African interests throughout the 1970s. In response to student pressure the university sold its holdings in ICI in 1973 and agreed to disinvest from firms whose South African involvement exceeded 5% of their total interests. This bulletin pointed out that this excluded firms which made a strategically important contribution to the apartheid economic like the oil companies Shell and BP.

Leeds students produced this badge for their campaign to persuade Leeds University to sell its shares in companies with South African interests. They set up Leeds University South Africa Anti-Investment Group as part of a campaign co-ordinated by the NUS-AAM student network in the 1970s. In response to student pressure, the university sold its holdings in ICI in 1973 and agreed to disinvest from firms whose South African involvement exceeded 5% of their total interests. 

Agenda for the seventh NUS/AAM student conference held at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology in July 1978. Every year through the 1970s and early 1980s the NUS/AAM student network held an conference to discuss campaign priorities.

The National Union of Students elected Nelson Mandela as its Vice-President after he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia trial in 1964. In 1971 the NUS set up a student network to campaign on Southern Africa jointly with the Anti-Apartheid Movement. This poster was produced as part of its Southern Africa Campaign.

In September 1971 the National Union of Students, AAM and Committee for Freedom in Mozambique, Angola and Guiné set up a student network to coordinate student campaigning on Southern Africa. Every year through the 1970s and early 1980s the network held an annual conference to discuss campaign priorities. This notice publicises the conference held at the University of Warwick in July 1979. The conference programme included seminars on armed struggle, disinvestment, scholarships for students for Southern Africa and the internal settlement in Zimbabwe.

The eighth NUS/AAM annual student conference, held at the University of Warwick in July 1979, took place just after the Conservative Party won the British general election. This conference paper asked students to campaign against a British government ‘sell-out’ on Zimbabwe, to oppose Britain’s economic links with South Africa and to raise material support for the Southern African liberation movements.

From 1970 the National Union of Students worked closely with the AAM, and students all over Britain joined anti-apartheid campaigns. This poster, showing South African school students in Soweto in 1976, called for a boycott of South African goods and support for the ANC.

The 1980 NUS/AAM annual student conference, held at Coventry Polytechnic, discussed on the new situation in Southern Africa after the independence of Zimbabwe. One of its main focuses was the need to set up more student anti-apartheid societies.

On 14 March 1981 the National Union of Students organised a National Day of Action against British Nuclear Fuels contract for the supply of uranium from the Rossing mine in Namibia. In the photograph are protesters at the Department of Energy in Millbank, London. The day was marked by 30 demonstrations all over Britain outside Electricity  Board depots. The action was part of a long-running campaign co-ordinated by the Campaign Against the Namibian Uranium Contract (CANUC). Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Britain imported Namibian uranium in contravention of UN resolutions. 

The tenth NUS/AAM annual student conference, held at Queen Mary College, London in July 1981, focused on campaigning for the isolation of South Africa and placed renewed emphasis on the consumer boycott. This paper highlighted campaigns for an oil embargo, against South Africa’s nuclear bomb, against Barclays Bank’s involvement in South Africa, for disinvestment and an academic and recruitment boycott. The conference was attended by around 100 students from 50 colleges.

Students from King’s College, London blocked the entrance to the government-owned South African Airways at Oxford Circus on 10 February 1982 in protest against the death in detention of South African trade unionist Neil Aggett.

Agenda and registration form for the annual NUS/AAM student conference held at City University, London in June 1982.

This Action Programme was adopted by the annual NUS/AAM conference held at City University, London in June 1982. It called attention to military action by SWAPO in northern Namibia and Umkhonto we Sizwe in South Africa and to anti-apartheid protests by workers, students and churches. The conference was attended by 50 delegates, fewer than in previous years.

Because of a shortage of skilled white labour, South African companies were keen to recruit students from British universities. The National Union of Students produced this poster to urge students not to emigrate to South Africa.

Students at Newcastle University protested against a visit by representatives of South African mining companies Gencor and Rand Mines in April 1983. The companies were recruiting mining and metallurgy graduates to work in South Africa. Newcastle students also banned the sale of South African Airways tickets through the Student Union and named part of their union building after Nelson Mandela.

Students from University College London built a hut from scrap materials on the steps of St Martin’s in the Fields to show passers-by how black South Africans lived in shanty towns like Crossroads, October 1983.

Poster advertising a concert organised by University of London students to raise funds for the AAM. 

ANC representative Ruth Mompati spoke at the renaming of Sheffield Polytechnic Student Union building as the Nelson Mandela Building. Sheffield Polytechnic was one of many student unions to rename buildings after Nelson Mandela in the 1980s.

Leaflet advertising an Anti-Apartheid Week of meetings and film shows on South Africa and Namibia organised by students at Leeds University in February 1984.

In August 1984 the South African government detained the leaders of the United Democratic Front (UDF). The UDF organised a boycott of the segregated elections held under South Africa’s new constitution. After being temporarily freed, six of the detainees took refuge in the British consulate in Durban. Students in Britain picketed the South African embassy to demand safe passage for the detainees.

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.

The National Student Convention held in November 1984 was the final event in a five-week speaking tour of British colleges by representatives of the ANC (African National Congress) and SWAPO (South West Africa People’s Organisation). It was attended by over 200 students.

Students played a big part in the campaign to force Barclays Bank to withdraw from South Africa. This poster was displayed in student unions to persuade students not to bank with Barclays. By the mid-1980s Barclays share of student accounts had fallen to 17 per cent and this was a big factor in the bank’s decision to withdraw from South Africa in 1986.

This debate at the Oxford Union featuring Bantustan chief Gatsha Buthelezi, South African Cabinet minister Allan Hendrickse and South African Ambassador Denis Worrall was cancelled after protests from Oxford students. Instead, students held a torchlight march through Oxford. They heard Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa of the United Democratic Front call for the unconditional release of all South African political prisoners.

Poster publicising a student demonstration in Trafalgar Square on 19 October 1985. Hundreds of students staged a sit-down protest in front of the South African Embassy as part of a national week of student anti-apartheid action. More than 300 colleges all over the country took part in the week. Several Barclays branches were occupied by demonstrators and the NUS renamed its north London headquarters Nelson Mandela House.

Hundreds of students staged a sit-down protest against apartheid in front of the South African Embassy on 19 October 1985. In a national week of student solidarity more than 300 colleges all over the country took some form of anti-apartheid action. Several Barclays branches were occupied by demonstrators and the NUS renamed its north London headquarters Nelson Mandela House.

Labour students poster advertising the AAM’s March and Festival for Freedom on 28 June 1986, the culmination of a month-long intensive campaign for sanctions. Thousands marched from central London to Clapham Common, where 250,000 people attended a star-studded concert organised by Artists Against Apartheid. Speakers at the concert included Thabo Mbeki of the ANC and Moses Garoeb of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO).

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

NUS leaflet calling on students to vote for candidates who supported the imposition of sanctions against South Africa in the June 1987 British general election. The AAM circulated a questionnaire to prospective parliamentary candidates from all parties asking them about their stand on anti-apartheid campaigns.

This weekend conference was part of a drive to attract more young people into the Anti-Apartheid Movement. It was attended by 200 young people and students. It included workshops in practical campaigning skills and led to the recruitment of school students and others into local anti-apartheid groups.

After  Nelson Mandela’s release in February 1990, the AAM campaigned for support for the ANC in its negotiations for a democratic constitution. This leaflet asked students and young people to support the AAM’s ‘South Africa: Freedom Now!’ campaign.

After agreement was reached on 27 April 1994 as the date for one person one vote elections in South Africa, the AAM campaigned to ensure the elections were free and fair. Its Countdown to Democracy programme focused on voter education. This leaflet asked for donations for a special Education for Democracy in South Africa Fund, supported by the main British teacher unions and the National Union of Students.

Chris Child became involved in the campaign to make Barclays Bank withdraw from South Africa when he was a student at Durham University. He was an Anti-Apartheid Movement staff member from 1976 to 1982, initially as Trade Union Secretary and later as Deputy Executive Secretary. He was responsible for the AAM’s work with trade unions, the disinvestment campaign, Namibia and liaising with local AA groups.

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

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.

Tim Oshodi joined the Anti-Apartheid Movement as a student activist in 1985. He was Chair of the London School of Economics AA Group and took part in an occupation of the LSE to pressure it to disinvest from South Africa. He was a researcher for the AAM's disinvestment campaign, and a member of the AAM National and Black Solidarity Committees. He was a founding member of Friends of Simukai, an group that worked in solidarity with freedom fighters in Zimbabwe. Tim is currently involved in solidarity work with South African based housing activists.

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

Vijay Krishnarayan became involved in the Anti-Apartheid Movement in 1984 while studying town and country planning at Oxford Polytechnic. As student union president, he was elected to the National Council of the student section of the Labour Party and in 1988 took part in the Mandela Freedom March from Glasgow to London. In 1989, he campaigned against the rebel cricket tour to South Africa before moving on to a career in civil society organisations, promoting people-to-people solidarity.

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

Colin Adkins was a student activist at the University of Essex, where he joined the university Anti-Apartheid Society and was later elected as President of the Student Union. He was the Anti-Apartheid Movement’s trade union and labour movement organiser from 1987 to 1990. He later worked as an organiser for trade unions including Unite and the education union NASUWT.

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