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In 1976 the AAM publicised Barclays Bank’s purchase of South African defence bonds, issued to help the apartheid government fight SWAPO guerrillas in Namibia. This letter from Prime Minister James Callaghan to AAM Chair Bob Hughes MP acknowledged that public opinion in Britain was opposed to the purchase and promised to raise the matter with Barclays.

Leaflet explaining why the Anti-Apartheid Movement singled out Barclays Bank in its anti-apartheid boycott campaign. As well as owning South Africa’s biggest high street bank, Barclays operated in illegally occupied Namibia and was undermining sanctions against the illegal Smith regime in Rhodesia. The boycott had succeeded in forcing Barclays to sell the £6 million worth of South African defence bonds it had purchased in 1976.

After the Soweto student uprising in June 1976, the AAM stepped up its campaign to stop Britain selling arms to South Africa. This poster uses the iconic photo of Hector Pieterson, the first student killed in the protests.

In the mid-1970s there was a big increase in the number of detainees tortured to death by the South African security police. In 1977 Steve Biko was the 46th detainee known to have died in police custody. This poster was one of a set of three published as part of the international campaign for South African political prisoners.

This poster features a photograph of Joseph Mdluli, an ANC activist killed by Security Police after being detained without trial in March 1976. In the mid-1970s there was a big increase in the number of detainees tortured to death. Daily pickets were held outside South Africa House in London for six weeks in May–June 1976 to protest against the deaths. This poster was one of a set of three published as part of the international campaign for the release of South African political prisoners.

This poster was one of a set of three published as part of the international campaign for South African political prisoners.

Poster for the international campaign for the release of South African political prisoners. It shows prisoners breaking rocks on Robben Island.

TUC staff and members of the film technicians union ACTT picketed South Africa House on 20 January 1977. They were supporting the worldwide Week of Trade Union Action against Apartheid called by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) from 17 to 24 January. Among the protesters were Alan Sapper, General Secretary of ACTT, and Charles Grieve, General Secretary of the Tobacco Workers Union.