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Lenny Henry and David Yip were among the 200 entertainers at the launch of Performers Against Racism on 26 January 1986. They pledged to boycott all links with apartheid South Africa. The launch was triggered by a referendum in the actors union Equity seeking to relax the cultural boycott. Performers against Racism called for the boycott to be extended to films and video as well as radio and television.

Sleeve for a cassette of freedom songs sung by Tyneside Anti-Apartheid Choir. The choir sang at many events on Tyneside in the 1980s. The cassette was produced to raise funds for Tyneside AA Group.

Mug marking the tenth anniversary of the Soweto students uprising in 1976.

Anti-apartheid supporters in Penzance, Cornwall ask passers-by not to bank with Barclays in February 1986.

In the 1980s the AAM campaigned to give Namibia a higher profile and make more people aware of South Africa’s illegal occupation. Local AA groups disseminated information and asked their members to take up the issue. This leaflet publicised a meeting held by Barnet AA Group in north London. It called for the implementation of UN resolutions on Namibian independence, withdrawal of British companies and the release of Namibian political prisoners.

Programme for the AAM conference for trade unionists held on 1 March 1986. The conference focused on disinvestment and trade sanctions. It was attended by around 450 delegates representing 37 trade unions and 29 trades councils.

As local anti-apartheid groups mushroomed in the mid-1980s, they formed regional committees and alliances with local trade union organisations. This briefing for trade unionists was produced by the Yorkshire and Humberside AAM Committee with the support of the Yorkshire Region of the TUC.

Over 500 women demonstrated outside the South Africa Embassy on International Women’s Day, 8 March 1986. They called for the release of Theresa Ramashamola, sentenced to death by the apartheid regime, and sanctions against apartheid. They also demanded immediate independence for Namibia.