1960s

Stop the Seventy Tour (STST) supporters blocked the coach taking the Springbok rugby team to Twickenham for their international against England on 20 December 1969. Earlier the team returned to their hotel after a protester chained himself to the steering wheel

Masked anti-apartheid supporters protest before the Springboks v Wales game in Cardiff, 24 January 1970. There were anti-apartheid protests at all 24 games in the Springboks 1969/70 tour of Britain and Ireland.

David Steel was first elected to Parliament as the Liberal MP for Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles in 1965 and was the Leader of the Liberal Party, 1976–88. He served as President of the Anti-Apartheid Movement, 1966–1969 and as a Vice-President until its dissolution in 1994. He now sits in the House of Lords as Lord Steel of Aikwood.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of the ‘Forward to Freedom’ AAM history project in 2013.

Mike Gerrard joined the Anti-Apartheid Movement in the early 1960s and was a member of its Executive Committee.

In this clip Mike Gerrard describes the attitude of the British labour movement to the decision by the Southern African liberation movements to take up armed struggle.

Dorothy Robinson joined the Boycott Movement soon after its formation in 1959. From 1960 to 1966 she worked as the Administrative Secretary of the Anti-Apartheid Movement. She later joined the staff of the International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF).

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out in 2000 by Håkan Thörn.

Dorothy Robinson joined the Boycott Movement soon after its formation in 1959. From 1960 to 1966 she worked as the Administrative Secretary of the Anti-Apartheid Movement. She later joined the staff of the International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF).

In this clip Dorothy Robinson describes the problems of finding new accommodation after the AAM’s office was damaged in a right-wing arson attack in 1961.

Peter Brayshaw joined protests against UDI in Rhodesia as a student in the mid-1960s. He joined the Committee for Freedom in Mozambique, Angola and Guinea and travelled to Angola soon after MPLA declared independence in 1975. On his return to Britain he campaigned for international recognition of the MPLA government and later became Chair of the Mozambique Angola Committee. He later served as Vice Chair of Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) and as a Labour Councillor in the London Borough of Camden. 

In this clip Peter Brayshaw describes the mood of support in Britain for armed liberation struggles in the late 1960s.