Free Mandela

This petition was signed by nearly 200,000 people all over the world during the trial of Nelson Mandela and his co-accused in 1964. It was launched by the World Campaign for the Release of South African Political Prisoners, set up in response to a UN General Assembly resolution passed in October 1963. The campaign played a big part in preventing the death sentence being passed on the accused.

Five issues of this broadsheet were published by the World Campaign for the Release of South African Political Prisoners in 1964. The broadsheet reported on the world campaign to save the lives of Nelson Mandela and his co-accused in the Rivonia trial. The campaign played a big part in preventing the death sentence being passed on the accused.

Five issues of this broadsheet were published by the World Campaign for the Release of South African Political Prisoners in 1964. The broadsheet reported on the world campaign to save the lives of Nelson Mandela and his co-accused in the Rivonia trial. The campaign played a big part in preventing the death sentence being passed on the accused.

Five issues of this broadsheet were published by the World Campaign for the Release of South African Political Prisoners in 1964. The broadsheet reported on the world campaign to save the lives of Nelson Mandela and his co-accused in the Rivonia trial. The campaign played a big part in preventing the death sentence being passed on the accused.

Five issues of this broadsheet were published by the World Campaign for the Release of South African Political Prisoners in 1964. The broadsheet reported on the world campaign to save the lives of Nelson Mandela and his co-accused in the Rivonia trial. The campaign played a big part in preventing the death sentence being passed on the accused.

Five issues of this broadsheet were published by the World Campaign for the Release of South African Political Prisoners in 1964. The broadsheet reported on the world campaign to save the lives of Nelson Mandela and his co-accused in the Rivonia trial. The campaign played a big part in preventing the death sentence being passed on the accused.

Anne Page lived in South Africa as a teenager and was recruited to the staff of the Anti-Apartheid Movement as Information Officer during the Rivonia trial in 1963–64. She helped organise the Trafalgar Square demonstration held on 14 June 1964 to demand clemency for Nelson Mandela and his co-accused. In 1965 she became the founding editor of the AAM’s monthly newspaper Anti-Apartheid News. As a councillor in the London Borough of Islington in the late 1970s, she was the first Chair of the council’s Race Relations Committee.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of the Forward to Freedom history project in 2014.

Anne Page lived in South Africa as a teenager and was recruited to the staff of the Anti-Apartheid Movement as Information Officer during the Rivonia trial in 1963–64. She helped organise the Trafalgar Square demonstration held on 14 June 1964 to demand clemency for Nelson Mandela and his co-accused. In 1965 she became the founding editor of the AAM’s monthly newspaper Anti-Apartheid News. As a councillor in the London Borough of Islington in the late 1970s, she was the first Chair of the council’s Race Relations Committee.

In this clip she tells how the Anti-Apartheid Movement distributed information about the accused in the Rivonia trial and campaigned for their release.