1980s

Leaflet publicising a torchlight procession in the centre of Glasgow to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre in 1985.

Members of the AAM’s Multi-Faith Committee held daily silent lunch hour vigils outside the South African Embassy in the week before Easter. The committee was formed in 1985 to bring together people of different faiths in opposition to apartheid.

South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) representative Shapua Kaukungua spoke at a rally to mark SWAPO’s 25th anniversary on 18 April 1985. The rally was organised by the AAM and the Namibia Support Committee.

The uprising in the townships of the southern Transvaal from September 1984 triggered a new wave of repression by the apartheid government. On 21 March 1985 40 people were shot by the South African police at Langa in the Eastern Cape. Two days before this demonstration took place, South African forces killed 16 people in Gaborone, Botswana. Thousands of demonstrators marched through central London to protest against the killings. They called at the headquarters of Shell, Barclays Bank and the Ministry of Defence to demand that British companies and the Conservative government end their links with South Africa.

Poster advertising an AAM rally calling for sanctions against South Africa on 16 June 1985. The uprising in the townships of the southern Transvaal from September 1984 triggered a new wave of repression. On 21 March 1985 40 people were shot by the South African police at Langa in the Eastern Cape. Two days before, South African forces killed 16 people in Gaborone, Botswana. Thousands of demonstrators marched through central London to protest against the killings. They called at the headquarters of Shell, Barclays Bank and the Ministry of Defence to demand that British companies and the Conservative government end their links with South Africa.

25,000 anti-apartheid supporters marched up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square on 16 June 1985 to demand sanctions against South Africa. They carried coffins symbolising the victims of South African security force massacres in Namibia and South Africa.

25,000 anti-apartheid supporters marched up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square on 16 June 1985 to demand sanctions against South Africa. They carried coffins symbolising the victims of South African security force massacres in Namibia and South Africa.

A delegation entered Downing Street to deliver a letter calling on Prime Minister Thatcher to drop her opposition to sanctions against South Africa, as demonstrators marched up Whitehall on 16 June 1985. In the photograph are Zerbanoo Gifford from the Liberal Party, AAM Executive Secretary, Mike Terry, President, Trevor Huddleston and Chair, Bob Hughes MP, Hidipo Hamutenya and Shapua Kaukungua from SWAPO, Rivonia trialist Denis Goldberg and Clarence Thompson from the West Indian Standing Conference.