Local authorities

Hounslow AA Group was formed at the end of 1985. Its 1987 AGM report highlighted the AAM’s 24 March day of protest action and reported on the local council’s funding for an anti-apartheid campaign event as part of the national ‘ten days of anti-apartheid action’ planned to take place in June 1987.

The Peterborough Against Apartheid festival held in May 1987 featured British folk punk group ‘The Men they Couldn’t Hang’ and singer songwriter Rory McCloud, as well as stalls and speakers from the ANC and SWAPO. Over 1,000 people attended the festival, one of the most successful events ever held in the city. 

The leader of Southwark Council in south London, Anne Matthews, joined a picket of a local Shell garage in May 1987. The picket was part of an international week of action, 11–17 May, when the AAM’s London Committee organised demonstrations outside over 100 Shell garages in London. 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. The AAM launched its ‘Boycott Shell’ campaign on 1 March 1987.

Leaflet advertising an afternoon of videos, exhibition and stalls in support of South African women on International Women’s Day in 1987. The afternoon was followed by a gig with Artery Band. It was organised by Ealing AA Group wih sponsorship from the London Borough of Ealing.

Hackney AA Group joined with local community groups to organise a week of activities celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the African National Congress. The week included a meeting at the Turkish Community Centre, a filmshow at the Rio Cinema, culminating in a day of music, dance and poetry at the local leisure centre on 4 July 1987. The week was sponsored by the Race Relations Unit of Hackney Borough Council.

Local authorities all over Britain mounted ‘ten days of action against apartheid’, 16–26 June 1987. In the London Borough of Hounslow, the local council joined with Hounslow and Chiswick AA groups and community organisations to organise a programme of arts events and meetings. Hounslow Council said it was expressing its commitment to good race relations in the borough, as well as its opposition to apartheid. Other centres which took part in the ten days of action included Camden, Southwark and Lewisham in London, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh in Scotland, and Manchester and Sheffield.

Local authorities all over Britain mounted ‘ten days of action against apartheid’, 16–26 June  1987. In Camden activities included a picket of a local Shell station, a sponsored swim for Southern African refugees and a celebration of Mozambique’s independence day. Other centres which took part in the ten days of action included Hounslow, Southwark and Lewisham in London, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh in Scotland, and Manchester and Sheffield.

Leaflet advertising a meeting and film show to mark South Africa Freedom Day, 26 June 1987. The meeting was sponsored by Camden Council's Race and Community Relations Committee. It took place during the 'ten days of action against apartheid' called for by the AAM, 16–26 June.