1980s

The End Conscription Campaign was launched in South Africa in 1984 to defend young South Africans who refused compulsory service in the South African Defence Force. South African war resisters forced into exile in Britain set up their own organisation, the Committee on South African War Resistance (COSAWR), which worked closely with the AAM. This meeting, held on 3 February 1987, was organised by the Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR), War Resisters International (WRI) and the AAM.

AAM supporters marked the centenary of mining company Consolidated Gold Fields on 9 February 1987 by demonstrating outside its headquarters with this birthday cake. The slices show that the company paid 34% of its turnover in taxes to the South African government and only 13% in wages to its black workers.

Brent AA Group supporters with their local MP Ken Livingstone asked shoppers to boycott South African goods sold by Tesco in February 1987 on the eve of the AAM’s March Month of People’s Sanctions.

In 1987 the AAM called for ‘people’s sanctions’ in response to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s determination to oppose all sanctions measures against South Africa. In March 1987 it organised a month of local action when local AA groups targeted British companies with a big stake in the South African economy, like Standard Chartered Bank and RTZ. The highlight of the month was the launch of the Boycott Shell campaign on 1 March. This poster was used by local AA groups to advertise events in their own localities.

After the publication of its Manifesto for Sanctions in 1987, the AAM organised a March Month of People’s Sanctions. Hundreds of thousands of this leaflet were distributed during the month by local anti-apartheid groups. Action days focused on companies like Standard Chartered Bank on 4 March and the mining company RTZ on 9 March. The campaign culminated in a National Convention for Sanctions on 27 June.

On 1 March 1987 the AAM launched a boycott of Shell as part of an international campaign. Shell was joint owner of one of South Africa’s biggest oil refineries and a lead company in South Africa’s coalmining and petrochemicals industries. During the March Month of People’s Sanctions activists picketed Shell garages all over Britain. The photo shows Frances Morrell, Leader of the ILEA (Inner London Education Authority) with David Haslam from Embargo outside a Shell garage in north London with a mock gun symbolising Shell’s support for the South African Defence Force. Embargo was a co-ordinating group campaigning against oil supplies to South Africa.

On 1 March 1987 the AAM launched a boycott of Shell as part of an international campaign organised with groups in the USA and the Netherlands. Shell was joint owner of one of South Africa’s biggest oil refineries. It was a lead company in South Africa’s coalmining and petrochemicals industries. During the March Month of People’s Sanctions activists picketed Shell garages all over Britain. The photograph shows members of the local Liberal Party picketing a Shell garage in Hackney, north London.

Anti-apartheid demonstrators marched through Birmingham on 21 March 1987 in support of the AAM’s March Month of People’s Sanctions. They were remembering the South Africans shot by the police at Sharpeville in 1960 and at Langa in the Eastern Cape in 1985.