Browse the AAM Archive

The AAM issued this 10-point Programme of Action in response to the shootings in Langa and other townships in March 1985. It argued that the British government and British companies were complicit in the killings because of their support for the apartheid government. It proposed ten immediate steps that the British government could take to scale down Britain’s involvement in South Africa.

Leaflet advertising a public meeting to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). From the early 1970s SACTU had an office in London and in 1976 it set up a Liaison Committee to foster links with British trade unions. It worked closely with the AAM’s Trade Union Committee.

Local councillors handed in a petition for sanctions to the Prime Minister at 10 Downing Street on 18 March 1985. The petition was supported by 42 councils. Local authorities all over Britain organised exhibitions and film shows and supported local AA group activity during a week of action against apartheid, 18–22 March. Left to right: Councillors Mike Pye (Sheffield), Phil Turner, Phyllis Smith (Sheffield), Paul Boateng (GLC) and Hugh Bayley (Camden).

Anti-apartheid supporters unveiled the AA logo on the Mound in Edinburgh as part of a local authority week of action against apartheid, 18–22 March 1985. The week was organised by the Scottish Committee for Local Authority Action set up at a conference in Glasgow on 21 March. In the picture are Edinburgh District Councillor Chris McKinnon and members of Edinburgh AA Group.

Leaflet publicising a torchlight procession in the centre of Glasgow to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre in 1985.

Local AA groups all over Britain organised meetings, demonstrations and fundraising events as part of the AAM’s national month of action in March 1985. This leaflet publicised events organised by Edinburgh AA Group.

Survey of anti-apartheid policies adopted by British local authorities, compiled in 1985. The report found that more than 120 local councils had taken some form of action, ranging from banning South African and Nambian produce in their schools and town halls to granting the freedom of their city to Nelson Mandela. The survey was commissioned by the UN Centre Against Apartheid and published by Sheffield Metropolitan District Council.

Scottish AA groups campaigned to persuade the Dundee-based supermarket William Low to ban South African products. They distributed this leaflet outside William Low stores during the AAM boycott month in March 1985. After a long-running campaign the chain agreed to stop selling South African goods in the early 1990s.