Browse the AAM Archive

The November issue again headlined the call for sanctions against South Africa, with statements from liberation movement leaders in South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique. It reported on the tour of Britain by SWAPO President Sam Nujoma and on UN legal action to stop the enrichment of illegally mined Namibian uranium in the Netherlands. Gavin Cawthra described the build-up of South Africa’s armed forces. A feature on the joint AAM/National Union of Mineworkers conference held in Sheffield exposed the growth in British imports of South African coal during the 1984–85 miners strike.

AA News accused the British media of ignoring a UN initiative to end South Africa’s illegal rule in Namibia. This issue reported on Commonwealth leaders condemnation of Prime Minister Thatcher’s characterisation of the ANC as ‘a typical terrorist organisation’ and on the Local Government Bill, which prohibited local authorities from banning purchases from South Africa and Namibia. Abdul Minty sent a special report from the Vancouver Commonwealth Conference, which endorsed comprehensive mandatory UN sanctions. A centrespread featured photos of the AAM demos calling for sanctions held in London and Cardiff on 24 October.

The campaign to save the lives of the Sharpeville Six, who lost their appeal against the death penalty in December 1987, was one of the lead stories in this issue. AA News also condemned South Africa’s continued attacks deep inside Angola in defiance of a new UN resolution. It welcomed the attendance of a wide spread of British community organisations at the ANC’s solidarity conference held at Arusha, Tanzania in December and reported on the AAM’s first ever delegate annual general meeting held under its new constitution in Sheffield in November 1987. 

The March issue again focused on the Sharpeville Six, calling on Prime Minister Thatcher to intervene with President Botha. It hailed the defeat of South Africa’s armed forces at Cuito Cuanavale in Angola. It focused on the role of the frontline states and outlined plans for the AAM’s March Month of Solidarity Action. AA News exposed the myth of ‘black on black’ violence within South Africa, arguing that so-called tribal attacks in KwaZulu Natal were initiated by undercover provocateurs. It advertised a meeting on ‘Children, Apartheid and Repression’, planned as a follow-up to the conference on children in South Africa held in Harare in 1987.

The banning of the UDF and other anti-apartheid organisations within South Africa made a nonsense of the British Government’s policy of encouraging the reform of apartheid, argued AA News. The newspaper announced plans for the ‘Nelson Mandela: Freedom at 70’ campaign, to be launched at a concert at Wembley Stadium on 11 June. It featured the growing resistance to apartheid from students in Namibia and again accused Western governments of supporting South Africa’s illegal occupation. It exposed the apartheid government’s increasing use of the death penalty, revealing that 50 political prisoners were now facing execution.

AA News mourned the death of Dulcie September, assassinated in Paris by agents of the apartheid government. It welcomed new prospects for the independence of Namibia, insisting that the withdrawal of South African forces from Angola was an essential precondition for negotiations. It revealed that nearly a fifth of British companies operating in South Africa had pulled out in the last two years. It reported on a visit by members of the British local government trade union NALGO to South Africa and support from the Women’s TUC conference for anti-apartheid campaigns. The issue also exposed a big drop in British financial support for the frontline states.

‘I will return’, declared Nelson Mandela in a message read by his daughter Zinzi at a rally in Soweto, reported AA News. The newspaper exposed military collaboration with South Africa by the governments of Israel, Chile and Taiwan in contravention of the UN mandatory arms embargo. In an interview, AAM President Trevor Huddleston explained the importance of the movement’s ‘Nelson Mandela: Freedom at 70’ campaign. AA News featured the Commission of Inquiry set up inside South Africa into the detention and torture of children by the security forces and the explosion in the number of anti-apartheid activists detained without trial.

This issue featured the explosion in mass protests in South Africa and Namibia and in international solidarity action. Four hundred million people in 60 countries watched the Nelson Mandela 70th birthday concert at Wembley stadium. The newspaper analysed hurdles in the talks between the USA, South Africa, Cuba and Angola designed to lead to Namibian independence. It reported on the launch of the World Gold Commission, set up to campaign against sales of South African gold, and on the TUC’s award-winning commercial promoting the boycott of South African goods. It featured events organised by local AA groups all over Britain to celebrate Mandela’s 70th birthday.