1970s

After the 1976 Soweto uprising the AAM stepped up its campaign for the Labour government to end all contacts between the British and South African armed forces and support a mandatory UN embargo. This petition was signed by 64,000 people and presented to the Foreign Secretary David Owen on 21 March 1977, the anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre. In November Britain dropped its veto and the UN imposed a mandatory arms ban on South Africa.

AAM Hon. Secretary Abdul Minty, Chair Bob Hughes MP and Liberal MP Jeremy Thorpe delivered a petition to Labour Foreign Secretary David Owen on the anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre, 21 March 1977. It asked the British government to impose a strict British arms ban against South Africa and support a UN mandatory embargo. Next day Abdul Minty travelled to New York to represent the AAM at a special UN Security Council meeting on South Africa. The UN imposed a mandatory arms embargo against South Africa in November 1977.

Hull AA Group picketed Barclays Bank in April 1977 as part of the long-running AAM campaign to force Barclays to withdraw from South Africa. Leafleting Barclays customers to persuade them to withdraw their accounts from Barclays was a regular activity for most local anti-apartheid groups during the 1970s and early 1980s. As a result of the campaign, Barclays Bank withdrew from South Africa in 1986.

Participants in a conference on Repression in Southern Africa organised by the AAM and Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS) on 16 April 1977. Specialist groups discussed campaigning among lawyers, trade unionists, students, church people and journalists. Two groups focused on Zimbabwe and Namibia. Left to right: Rev Cecil Begbie, Nkosazana Dlamini, Horst Kleinschmidt, SWAPO representative Shapua Kaukungua and ZAPU representative Arthur Chadzingwa.

In the year after the 1976 Soweto student uprising, many more people were detained by the South African police and brutally tortured. On 18 August 1977, as the number of people who died in detention continued to rise, a poster parade around Trafalgar Square was organised by Southern Africa the Imprisoned Society (SATIS). The parade was attended by over 300 people and successfully publicised the plight of those interned in detention centres and gaols in South Africa. 

Leaflet advertising a public meeting during the AAM Week of Action on Zimbabwe, 9–14 May 1977. The meeting was preceded by a picket of the Foreign Office to protest against the British government’s refusal to condemn the hanging of freedom fighters by the Smith regime.

The AAM organised a Week of Action on Zimbabwe, 9–14 May 1977, to demand that the British government stop talking to the Smith regime and support the struggle of the liberation movements. Public meetings were organised in major centres and Shell and BP service stations were picketed to expose the way in which the companies were busting oil sanctions. This leaflet was produced by the Zimbabwe Ad Hoc Campaign, a coalition of groups campaigning on Zimbabwe.

Poster produced for a Week of Action on Zimbabwe, 9–14 May 1977. The illegal Smith regime held regular executions of captured Zimbabwe freedom fighters. Public meetings and film shows took place in major centres throughout Britain during the week.