Posters

This poster was one of a series about repression under apartheid. It featured South African exile Jan Hoogendyk dressed as a South African policeman. The 1967 Terrorism Act gave the police power to detain people indefinitely without disclosing where they were being held. At least 15 prisoners died in detention in the first few years of the Act.

Poster publicising an AAM conference held on 4 July 1971. The main issues discussed at the conference were the proposed settlement on Rhodesia and action against British firms with investments in South Africa. One of the speakers was Caroline Hunter from the US Polaroid Revolutionary Workers Movement. Polaroid supplied photographic equipment used to produce passbooks for black South Africans. After a long campaign by its largely black US workforce, Polaroid pulled out of South Africa in 1977.

One of the AAM’s priorities was to win support from the British trade union movement. At its Congress in Blackpool in September 1971, the TUC adopted a resolution that reflected a shift towards a comprehensive anti-apartheid policy. It provided the basis for campaigning among trade unionists on arms sales, investment and emigration to South Africa. This poster reproduces the resolution.

In November 1971 Conservative Foreign Secretary Lord Home published proposals for a settlement agreed with Ian Smith. The proposals fell far short of majority rule, but included a provision that they must be acceptable to the African majority. The British government sent a commission headed by Lord Pearce to test African opinion, which overwhelmingly rejected the settlement. This poster was produced for the AAM’s campaign against the sell-out.

Poster publicising an AAM demonstration on 13 February 1972 against the Conservative government’s proposals for a settlement on Rhodesia. The proposals fell far short of majority rule, but included a provision that they must be acceptable to the African majority. The British government sent a commission to test African opinion, which overwhelmingly rejected the settlement. The main speaker at the demonstration was Bishop Abel Muzorewa, President of the African National Council, which led the opposition to the proposals inside Zimbabwe. The Rhodesia Emergency Campaign Committee was a coalition of groups, set up by the AAM.

Poster showing a picture of Prime Minister Vorster superimposed on a picture of the South African police attacking African women. It asked British workers not to emigrate to South Africa and highlighted the role of leading British companies in supporting apartheid.

Poster for a meeting calling for a boycott of official celebrations of the  600th anniversary of the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance in July 1973. The main speakers were Oliver Tambo and FRELIMO Vice-President Marcellino dos Santos. Labour MP Judith Hart called for Portugal to be expelled from NATO and for an end to British support for the ‘unholy alliance’ of Portugal, South Africa and Rhodesia. The meeting was attended by over 1,500 people.

In July 1973 Portuguese dictator Marcelo Caetano visited London to mark the 600th anniversary of the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance. The AAM joined with other groups to oppose the visit. On 15 July over 12,000 demonstrators marched through central London calling for an end to British support for the ‘unholy alliance’ of Portugal, South Africa and Rhodesia. They included trade unionists and a delegation from the Black People’s Freedom Movement.