Boycott

In 1990 the AAM focused on gold jewellery as part of its consumer boycott campaign. South Africa’s main trading partners banned sales of Krugerrands in the mid 1980s. As a result of the campaign, the jewellery chain Ratners agreed to remove identifiable South African gold from the jewellery sold in its shops. This leaflet was one of a series published after the release of Nelson Mandela arguing that continued economic pressure was necessary to force the apartheid government into negotiations.

In 1990 the AAM made tourism a major part of its consumer boycott campaign. It wrote to major British holiday companies about their policy on selling trips to South Africa. Local AA groups campaigned to persuade local travel agents to stop promoting South African holidays. In London local activists held a sit-in next to the South African Airways stall at the World Travel Market in the Olympia exhibition centre. This leaflet was published after Prime Minister Thatcher lifted Britain’s voluntary ban on encouraging tourism to South Africa. It was one of a series published after the release of Nelson Mandela.

After the release of Nelson Mandela in February 1990 the AAM continued to campaign for a boycott of South African goods. It argued that economic pressure was necessary to force the apartheid government to agree to genuine majority rule. This leaflet quoted Mandela, ‘Take whatever action you can to isolate apartheid’.

During the on-off negotiations for a new South African constitution in 1991–93, the AAM called for a constituent assembly and an interim government to oversee the transition to majority rule. This leaflet argued that continued economic pressure was necessary to force the apartheid government to agree to majority rule.

Window sticker for independent retailers who agreed not to stock South African products.

Report making the case for sanctions against South Africa and examining the role played by Scottish companies in the apartheid economy. The report reviews Scottish anti-apartheid campaigns and assesses the impact of the boycott of South African goods.

At the concert held in his honour in Wembley Stadium on 16 April 1990, Nelson Mandela asked the people of Britain and the world to maintain sanctions against South Africa until a democratic constitution was in place. He also appealed for people to join the Anti-Apartheid Movement. This AAM membership leaflet reproduced parts of his speech.

Demonstrators blocked the entrance to the South African Airways office at Oxford Circus on 3 September. In 1990 the AAM campaigned stepped up its campaign to persuade holidaymakers to not to visit South Africa. One of the few sanctions Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher agreed to was a voluntary ban on the promotion of tourism to South Africa or Namibia, but the British government did nothing to put this into practice.