1960s

In an open letter to the AAM’s former President, Labour MP David Ennals, now a Minister in the Labour Government, AA News condemned the new Commonwealth Immigration Act. It carried an exclusive feature by FRELIMO President Eduardo Mondlane, who visited London in March, and the first article in a series contrasting the provisions of the Declaration of Human Rights with the situation in Southern Africa. Former South African political prisoner Ann Nicholson described conditions at Barberton women’s prison.

The May issue reported on the white Rhodesian reaction to the ongoing ANC/ZAPU guerrilla presence in Zimbabwe. It carried a special feature on racism in the US and the killings of black Americans in the aftermath of the assassination of Martin Luther King. It quoted British playwrights who had added their names to the pledge to impose a cultural boycott on apartheid South Africa and reported on South Africa’s exclusion from the Mexico Olympics.

The June issue advertised a march and rally in central London to mark 26 June, South Africa Freedom Day, under the slogan ‘Oppose Apartheid – Support African Freedom Fighters’. It exposed leading British businessmen with interests in white minority-ruled Rhodesia. News items included a report of plans to extend the playwrights boycott of South Africa to film, and for Marlon Brando to take part in the IDAF ‘Come Back Africa’ concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

Under the headline ‘Bold moves by ANC resistance’, AA News reported on the distribution of ANC leaflets in Durban and Johannesburg. It reported on evidence given by ANC President Oliver Tambo and Canon John Collins of the International Defence and Aid to hearings held by the UN Special Committee on Apartheid in London. It carried a letter from a US gaol by Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver and a report of a speech by novelist Nadine Gordimer in South Africa attacking apartheid censorship.

The October issue reported on rumours of new talks between the British Government and the Smith regime in Rhodesia and on FRELIMO’s second congress, held inside Mozambique. It revealed that South Africa was responsible for more than half the world’s executions and exposed the murder of a detainee by South African police.

The AAM’s annual general meeting was the scene of a vigorous debate in which young members called for ‘direct action on the streets’, reported this issue of AA News. It carried a feature article on the apartheid government’s attempts to attract British tourists and immigrants to South Africa and analysed the latest British government proposals for a settlement with the illegal white regime in Rhodesia. An article by a Labour MP argued that parliamentary lobbying was still an important form of action for the Anti-Apartheid Movement.

The December–January issue reported on ZAPU’s rejection of the British Government’s proposals for a settlement on Rhodesia. Norman Levy, recently released from prison in South Africa, told of the harsh conditions endured by David Kitson and other white political prisoners in Pretoria Central Prison. An article by Ruth First argued that South Africa would act against any move to achieve majority rule in Zimbabwe. The issue also exposed Australia’s racist treatment of its ‘Aboriginal’ people.

A centrespread in the February issue featured a march on Rhodesia House organised by the Zimbabwe Solidarity Action Committee, and a sit-in by anti-apartheid writers. AA News highlighted a conference in Khartoum held to mobilise material aid for the Southern African liberation movements. Students at the London School of Economics called for the withdrawal of LSE investments in companies with South African interests. A South African correspondent exposed the use of police dogs to remove ‘Coloured’ residents from beaches designated as ‘whites only’ in Cape Town.