Local AA groups

This booklet was produced by the London Borough of Lambeth in south London. It gave advice to Lambeth residents on how to check if goods on sale in local shops came from South Africa or Namibia. It was carefully worded so as not to break new laws restricting the powers of local authorities to support consumer boycott campaigns.

South Devon AA Group mounted an exhibition about the lives of women and children under apartheid in the high street in Totnes, Devon in 1989.

Ealing Anti-Apartheid Group produced this brochure to encourage local residents to boycott South African products in protest against the detention and torture of children by the apartheid police. It was produced with support from the London Borough of Ealing’s Race Equality Unit.

The Southern Africa Coalition brought together a wide range of organisations, including trade unions, churches, overseas aid agencies and the AAM. In Tyneside, north-east England, local branches of the organisations that made up the coalition organised a week of anti-apartheid events in February 1990.

All over Britain people celebrated Nelson Mandela’s release on 11 February 1990. These two young women were taking part in a vigil on the steps of Sheffield Town Hall.

Sheffield Southern Africa Resources Centre provided educational resources on Southern Africa for the city’s schools and community groups, as well as a headquarters for Sheffield AA Group. Sheffield AA was one of the most active of the AAM’s local groups throughout the 1980s.

Flyer for a rock concert organised by Cheltenham AA Group and sixth form students at Bournside High School, Cheltenham in February 1990. The students set up an anti-apartheid group which held a week of events to raise awareness of apartheid culminating in a debate on sanctions against South Africa in November 1989. The concert raised funds for multiracial schools in South Africa. 

Cheltenham AA Group’s spring 1990 newsletter advertised a national AAM march on 25 March, as well as the London demonstration against the poll tax on 31 March. It welcomed the release of Nelson Mandela, but reflected the general public’s feeling that apartheid was ended by cancelling future meetings because of low attendance.