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Handwritten letter from Nelson Mandela ‘to the British public’ thanking them for their ‘overwhelming generosity’. The letter was written on the day Mandela attended the 16 April 1990 Wembley concert held to celebrate his release from prison on 11 February.

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

Poster featuring a photograph of Nelson Mandela with Ron Todd, General Secretary of the British Transport and General Workers Union, during Mandela’s visit to Britain in April 1990.

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

South African President de Klerk held talks with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on 19 May 1990, during a three-week tour of European capitals. The day before, the AAM held a rally protesting against the talks. It warned that de Klerk wanted to negotiate a new South African constitution that would fall far short of majority rule. Protests were held in every country de Klerk visited, co-ordinated by the Liaison Group of the Anti-Apartheid Movements of the European Community.

As part of Glasgow’s 1990 European City of Culture celebrations, Mandela Club Nights showcased bands from Southern Africa. The Sechaba Festival brought 60 South African poets, musicians, actors and dancers to Glasgow in a two-week programme of events. The Festival included a five-day international conference on cultural resistance to apartheid, and performances, exhibitions and films. The Club and the Festival were organised by Sechaba Festivals Ltd., established by the Scottish AAM Committee and the STUC with support from Glasgow City and Strathclyde Regional Councils and individual trade unions.

This leaflet tells the story of four railway workers who were sentenced to hang after a strike by employees of the South African Transport Service in 1987. They were alleged to have taken part in the killing of four non-strikers. The leaflet was produced by the Joint Campaign against the Repression of Trade Unionists with support from leading British trade unions.