Photos

Three thousand people marched through central London on 16 June 1974 to celebrate the defeat of the Portuguese colonial regime and call for the independence of Mozambique, Angola and Guinea-Bissau. At a rally in Trafalgar Square Mariano Matsinhe of FRELIMO stressed the role of international solidarity in the liberation struggle. Miners leader Jack Collins gave a message of support from British trade unions. The rally was organised by the AAM and the Committee for Freedom in Mozambique, Angola and Guinea-Bissau.

The AAM celebrated its 15th anniversary with a Freedom Convention at Camden Lock, London on 30 June 1974. Ray Buckton, General Secretary of the rail union ASLEF, was one of the speakers at a rally held during the afternoon. Stalls displayed information about South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Portugal’s African colonies. In the photograph (left to right): Labour MP Jo Richardson, Nigerian Ambassador Edwin Ogbu, Chair of the UN Special Committee on Apartheid, AAM President Bishop Ambrose Reeves, AAM Hon. Secretary Abdul Minty and Joan Hymans of the Movement for Colonial Freedom.

The AAM celebrated its fifteenth anniversary with a ‘Freedom Convention’ at Camden Lock, London on 30 June 1974. Stalls displayed information about South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Portugal’s African colonies. A petition for the release of South African prisoners with 30,000 signatures was presented to Nigeria’s UN Ambassador Edwin Ogbu, Chair of the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid. The Convention also highlighted the call for a boycott of all South African products.

South African former political prisoners took part in a walk from London to Manchester, 27 October–6 November 1974. They held meetings along the way to publicise the situation of political prisoners. In the photograph the marchers are leaving Banbury, where they were met by Labour councillors and held a meeting in the Town Hall.

US civil rights leader and former prisoner Angela Davis visited London to campaign for South African political prisoners, 10–13 December 1974. She spoke at a meeting at Friends House organised by the AAM, International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF) and Liberation. She said black Americans felt a special responsibility to support the struggle of their sisters and brothers in Southern Africa. On the right is future Labour Cabinet Minister Charles Clarke.

AAM demonstrators marched through central London on 23 March 1975 to call on the Labour government to stop all military collaboration with South Africa. The government ended the Simonstown Agreement, but continued to supply spare parts and hold joint training exercises with the South African navy. In the photograph is Nigeria’s UN Ambassador Edwin Ogbu, Chair of the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid.

AAM supporters picketed South Africa in solidarity with 13 SASO (South African Student Organisation) and BPC (Black People’s Convention) leaders on trial in Pretoria, on 21 April 1975. They were joined by marchers who had walked from Brighton to raise money for SATIS (Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society).

Bram Fischer was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1966 for conspiring to commit sabotage and membership of the South African Communist Party. In 1963–64 he led the defence team at the trial of Nelson Mandela and his co-accused. The following year he went underground to keep anti-apartheid resistance alive within South Africa. The South African government refused to release him until a few days before his death from cancer on 8 May 1975. More than 300 people people gathered to honour him outside South Africa House.