Barclays and Shell

This banner saying ‘No Shell-BP Oil for Apartheid’ was suspended from a footbridge in Southampton in June 1981. The action was part of a national Month of Boycott of Shell and BP organised by the AAM. Southampton AA Group members picketed local Shell and BP garages throughout the month. 

South Africa’s armed forces depended on imported oil to fight against SWAPO guerrillas in Namibia and Angola and to mount armed raids in Lesotho and Mozambique. This pamphlet exposed Shell’s role as a major supplier of oil to South Africa’s police and military. It argued that in the face of increasing guerrilla attacks against oil installations in South Africa, Shell’s investment there could turn into a liability. The pamphlet was produced by the WCC’s Programme to Combat Racism, Christian Concern for Southern Africa (CCSA), KAIROS and the Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR).

Barclays Bank was the biggest bank in South Africa and Namibia. This leaflet set out the many ways in which it supported the apartheid government. Anti-apartheid supporters campaigned for Barclays to withdraw from South Africa and Namibia from 1970 until the bank pulled out in 1986.

Students played a big part in the campaign to force Barclays Bank to withdraw from South Africa. This poster was displayed in student unions to persuade students not to bank with Barclays. By the mid-1980s Barclays share of student accounts had fallen to 17 per cent and this was a big factor in the bank’s decision to withdraw from South Africa in 1986.

Leaflet advertising a demonstration in Derby, organised by Derby AA Group, as part of the AAM's March Month of Action in 1985, marking the 25th anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre. The leaflet called for a boycott of South African goods and listed ten reasons for boycotting Barclays Bank. The demonstration assembled at the local Indian community centre. An anti-apartheid group was first formed in Derby in 1970.

A supporter of End Loans to Southern Africa (ELTSA) at a Barclays cashpoint on Victoria Street, central London, 16 June 1985. His P W Botha mask symbolised Barclays Bank’s support for the apartheid regime.

US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and Sam McCluskie of the National Union of Seamen joined a picket of the Shell Centre in London in November 1985. Protesters were asking Shell and BP to end their operations in South Africa and Namibia.