Boycott

Scottish AA groups campaigned to persuade the Dundee-based supermarket William Low to ban South African products. They distributed this leaflet outside William Low stores during the AAM boycott month in March 1985. After a long-running campaign the chain agreed to stop selling South African goods in the early 1990s.

Badge calling for a boycott of South African goods, produced in the USA.

Carrier bag produced for the AAM’s Month of Boycott Action in March 1985.

South Africa diversified its exports in the early 1980s to include textiles and household products. AAM campaigners targeted leading clothes chains like Next, Austin Reed and Country Casuals. In November 1984 Next announced it would not renew its contract for South African clothing.

Activists in the multi-racial area of St Paul’s, Bristol declared it an anti-apartheid free zone in the mid-1980s. Opposition to apartheid was so strong that the local Tesco’s stopped stocking South African goods.

In 1985 the local community association in the multi-racial St Paul’s area of Bristol launched a campaign to persuade local shops and businesses to end all links with South Africa. After a slow start, the great majority of local shops and all seven pubs in the area agreed to boycott apartheid products. This newsletter reproduced a Declaration signed by local businesses. The campaign gained such momentum that the local Tesco’s branch agreed not to stock South African goods.

In 1985 the local community association in the multi-racial St Paul’s area of Bristol launched a campaign to persuade local shops and businesses to end all links with South Africa. After a slow start, the great majority of local shops and all seven pubs in the area stopped selling apartheid products. The community association also asked local businesses to boycott Barclays Bank. Its annual report described the progress of the campaign. 

Anti-apartheid supporters in the multi-racial district of St Paul’s, Bristol campaigned to turn the area into an apartheid-free zone in the mid-1980s. Most of the area’s independent shops and businesses signed a declaration pledging themselves to boycott South African goods. The local branch of Tesco stopped stocking South African products.