1970s

The planned tour of England by an all-white Springbok cricket team in 1970 sparked widespread protest. The photograph shows protesters outside Lord’s cricket ground. On the left is Chris de Broglio from the South African Non-Racial Olympic Commttee (SANROC) with AAM staff member Alan Brooks. After a campaign involving threats of direct action from Stop the Seventy Tour (STST) and mass protests co-ordinated by the AAM, the Cricket Council cancelled the tour in May 1970.

The planned tour of England by an all-white Springbok cricket team in 1970 sparked widespread protest. The photograph shows an AAM delegation at Lord’s cricket ground to present a petition to a meeting of the Test and County Cricket Board asking it to cancel the tour. Left to right: Chris de Broglio from the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (SANROC), Labour MP James Dickens, AAM staff member Alan Brooks and AAM EC member Vella Pillay. After a campaign involving threats of direct action from Stop the Seventy Tour (STST) and mass protests co-ordinated by the AAM, the tour was cancelled in May 1970.

Portsmouth AA Group supporters marched through the town centre calling for an end to trade with South Africa and the cancellation of the all-white South African cricket tour in February 1970.

The huge Cabora Bassa dam project in Mozambique was a collaboration between South Africa, Rhodesia and Portugal. The project was intended to supply electricity to South Africa. This poster advertised a teach-in to mobilise opposition to investment by British companies in the dam. The campaign was organised by the Dambusters Mobilising Committee, a coalition of groups that included the AAM, Haslemere Group and Committee for Freedom in Mozambique, Angola and Guiné.

The huge Cabora Bassa dam project in Mozambique was a collaboration between South Africa, Rhodesia and Portugal. Barclays Bank was first targeted by anti-apartheid campaigners because it was one of the British companies involved. The project was intended to supply electricity to South Africa.

Barclays Bank was first targeted by anti-apartheid campaigners because it was involved in the Cabora Bassa dam project in Mozambique. The campaign against it grew because it was one of the biggest banks in Southern Africa. The Dambusters Mobilising Committee was a coalition of groups including the AAM set up on the initiative of the African National Congress.

Peter Hain at a press conference called by the Stop the Seventy Tour (STST) campaign on 7 March 1970. The planned tour of England by an all-white Springbok cricket team in 1970 sparked widespread protests. After a campaign involving threats of direct action from STST and mass protests co-ordinated by the AAM, the tour was cancelled in May 1970. Left to right: Jeff Crawford, Secretary of the West Indian Standing Conference, England cricketer Mike Brearley, STST member Mike Craft and STST Chair Peter Hain.

The AAM staged a re-enactment of the Sharpeville shootings in Trafalgar Square on 21 March 1970 to mark the tenth anniversary of the massacre. Bishop Ambrose Reeves, Bishop of Johannesburg at the time of the shootings, spoke about life under apartheid ten years on. The following evening, the AAM presented a programme of specially commissioned short plays by leading British playwrights before an audience of 1,500 at the Lyceum Theatre. Both events received wide media coverage.