1980s

In 1984 a Dunnes supermarket shopworker in Dublin, Mary Manning, was sacked for refusing to check out Outspan oranges from South Africa. Eleven of her colleagues went on strike to demand her reinstatement. In the photograph are Dunnes strikers Cathryn O’Reilly and Mary Manning with GLC members Ken Livingstone and Valerie Wise.

The AAM held a conference in February 1985 to mobilise support for a consumer boycott month of action in March. The conference included workshops on local authority and trade union action, as well as on campaigning in the civil service and cooperative movement. During March campaigners distributed around three-quarters of a million leaflets in shopping centres  and door to door. The following year a Harris Poll found that 27% of people in Britain said they boycotted South African products.

Three hundred delegates attended the AAM’s boycott conference on 9 February 1985 to plan a month of boycott action in March. After the relaunch of the consumer boycott of goods from South Africa and Namibia in June 1984, the AAM produced new leaflets with brand names of South African products, car stickers, badges and posters. The main speaker at the conference was Mary Manning, who had been sacked from her job in Dunnes supermarket, Dublin for refusing to handle South African products. 

The AAM held a month of action in March 1985 to relaunch the consumer boycott of South African goods. Campaigners distributed around three-quarters of a million leaflets in shopping centres  and door to door. The month culminated with a nationwide day of action on Saturday 30 March when AAM supporters picketed over 1,000 shopping centres all over Britain. The following year a Harris Poll found that 27% of people in Britain said they boycotted South African products.

The AAM held a month of action in March 1985 to relaunch the consumer boycott. This multilingual leaflet was produced for the new campaign. AAM supporters distributed around three-quarters of a million leaflets at shopping centres all over Britain asking shoppers not to buy South African goods. Hundreds of thousands of leaflets were distributed door to door. The month culminated with a nationwide day of action on Saturday 30 March with pickets of over 1,000 shopping centres all over Britain. The following year a Harris Poll found that 27% of people in Britain said they boycotted South African products.

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.

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.