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Barclays Bank was first targeted by anti-apartheid campaigners because it guaranteed a loan for the Cabora Bassa dam project in Mozambique. The project planned to supply electricity to South Africa. This poster was produced by the Haslemere Group, one of the organisations that set up the Dambusters Mobilising Committee to oppose Western involvement in the project. The campaign against Barclays quickly escalated because Barclays DCO was South Africa’s biggest high street bank.

From December 1972 Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) guerrilla fighters infiltrated eastern Zimbabwe and launched their first major attack on a farm in Centenary District. The AAM worked closely with the Justice for Rhodesia Campaign, which produced this poster.

In the early 1970s AAM local groups adopted individual South African political prisoners and campaigned on their behalf. West London AA Group took up the case of Ahmed Kathrada, sentenced to life imprisonment at the Rivonia trial in 1964. Kathrada spent 25 years in prison and was released in November 1989.

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.

Anti-apartheid supporters campaigned to force Barclays Bank to withdraw from South Africa from 1970 until the bank pulled out in 1986. This booklet describes Barclays long history of involvement in South Africa. It set out the many ways in which Barclays supported apartheid. The booklet was produced in 1975 by the AAM and the Haslemere Group, which played a leading part in initiating the Barclays campaign.

This report was an update of the pamphlet published by the AAM and the Haslemere Group in 1975. It showed how Barclays co-operated with the apartheid government and argued that its presence in South Africa led to increased emigration, trade and investment there.

Letter from AAM Executive Secretary Basil Manning, written on behalf of Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS), to Foreign Secretary James Callaghan, asking the British government to send observers to the trial of black consciousness movement leaders in South Africa in 1975.