1980s

150,000 people marched from east, west and south London to Trafalgar Square on 2 November 1985 to demand British sanctions against South Africa. In the Square, ANC President Oliver Tambo, SWAPO leader Shapua Kaukungua and US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson all called for a change of government policy. The march was the culmination of an intensive campaign that reached every part of Britain. In the picture are ANC President Oliver Tambo, AAM President Trevor Huddleston and US civil rights activist Jesse Jackson.

US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and Sam McCluskie of the National Union of Seamen joined a picket of the Shell Centre in London in November 1985. Protesters were asking Shell and BP to end their operations in South Africa and Namibia.

Anti-apartheid supporters on Tyneside marched through Newcastle upon Tyne to show their support for sanctions against South Africa on 7 December 1985.

Members of the actors’ union Equity called for the resignation of Equity President Derek Bond after he performed for whites-only audiences in South Africa. Bond campaigned to reverse Equity’s support for the cultural boycott. Equity members picketed the first night of a play at Theatre Royal, Nottingham, in which Bond played a starring role.

Hackney and Tower Hamlets AA Group outside Tower Hamlets Town Hall in east London in 1985. They were protesting outside an exhibition sponsored by Barclays Bank. Barclays was the biggest high street bank in South Africa.

As resistance to apartheid grew in the 1980s more and more people were arrested and charged under South Africa’s draconian security laws. This pamphlet examined the apartheid legal system and showed how it was impossible for political prisoners to receive a fair trial.

At the height of the AAM campaign for sanctions in the mid-1980s, many local organisations produced their own campaign material. This pamphlet published in east London by Tower Hamlets Solidarity and Tower Hamlets Trades Council was a comprehensive campaign guide for trade unions, local authorities, community organisations and individuals.

Cartoons reproduced from Anti-Apartheid News by artists including Steve Bell, Ken Sprague and Peter Clarke.