Free Mandela

All over Britain anti-apartheid supporters celebrated Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday and called for his release. In Bristol a banner was hung from a housing block facing the Anglican cathedral. At the conclusion of the AAM’s ‘Nelson Mandela: Freedom at 70’ campaign, a poll showed that Nelson Mandela had become a household name in Britain and 70% of people  supported the call for his release.

Nelson Mandela was awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Islwyn in South Wales to mark his 70th birthday in 1988. In the photograph Neil Kinnock MP presents a scroll to Mandela’s lawyer Ismail Ayob with Beyers Naude and Imam Esack looking on. The presentation was one of hundreds of honours conferred on Mandela by British local authorities and other institutions in the 1980s.

Cutting a birthday cake for Nelson Mandela at the Mangrove, All Saints Road in west London.

Leaflet publicising a concert to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday organised by Nottingham AA Group. It featured La Danza Continua. Events like this were held all over Britain.

Card with design featuring Nelson and Winnie Mandela.