1980s

Leaflet publicising a protest outside South Africa House on the third anniversary of the State of Emergency imposed by the apartheid government on 12 June 1986.

Islington AA Group supporters asked shoppers to boycott South African products outside Sainsbury’s in Holloway Road, north London, on 14 June 1986.

St George’s Place in central Glasgow was renamed Nelson Mandela Place on 16 June 1986. The South African consulate was located on the fifth floor of the Stock Exchange. The photograph shows the Lord Provost of Glasgow, Bob Gray,Glasgow Councillor Pat Chalmers and Essop Pahad from the ANC at the ceremony where the new name was unveiled. After the renaming, the consulate used a post office box number instead of the address.

From the late 1970s the AAM and local AA groups held annual sponsored walks to raise funds for the ANC’s Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College in Tanzania. This sponsor form was for a walk organised by the national Anti-Apartheid Movement.

Over 3,500 people lobbied their MPs to support sanctions against South Africa on 17 June 1986. The lobby was organised by the AAM and supported by the TUC, British Council of Churches and the National Union of Students. It was the biggest parliamentary lobby ever held to date on an international issue. Next day, the AAM’s President Bishop Trevor Huddleston led a delegation to meet Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe and appealed at a crowded House of Commons press conference for mass action to counteract Howe’s rejection of the AAM’s proposals.

AAM memorandum arguing that British and US policies were the main obstacles to effective international action against apartheid. The memorandum was presented to Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe by a delegation led by AAM President Bishop Trevor Huddleston on 18 June 1986.

This leaflet was produced as part of a citywide London campaign to persuade Sainsbury’s to stop stocking South African goods. The London AA Committee set up a special boycott group which met Sainsbury’s directors to put the case for a boycott. Sainsbury’s claimed to have reduced their South African products to less than 1 per cent of total sales.

Poster advertising a march through Cardiff, capital city of Wales, on 28 June 1986, calling for sanctions against South Africa. The march was organised by Wales AAM to coincide with the AAM’s March and Festival of Freedom in London. The demonstrations were the culmination of a month-long intensive campaign for sanctions organised by the AAM.