1990s

This conference series was organised by the AAM to involve grassroots activists in discussing the AAM’s role in the final push to end apartheid. The conferences received first-hand reports from the ANC national consultative conference held in December 1990 and discussed proposals to twin regions of Britain with ANC branches in South Africa.

Leaflet publicising a conference in Birmingham for the West Midlands region to discuss the AAM’s role in the final push to end apartheid. The conference was one of a series of conferences for local anti-apartheid activists covering every region of Britain. The conferences received first-hand reports from the ANC national consultative conference held in December 1990 and discussed proposals for twinning British regions with ANC branches in South Africa.

Demonstrators told President de Klerk he must honour his promise to free all political prisoners by the 30 April deadline agreed with the ANC, as he arrived for a reception at the South African Embassy in April 1991.

The AAM converted its ‘Boycott Bandwagon’ into a ‘Freedom Bus’ after the release of Nelson Mandela in February 1990. The bus toured Britain in the summers of 1990 and 1991 asking people to campaign for support for genuine democracy in the negotiations for a new constitution in South Africa. The bus was destroyed by arsonists in February 1992 and reduced to a burnt-out shell.

The AAM converted its ‘Boycott Bandwagon’ into a ‘Freedom Bus’ after the release of Nelson Mandela and the opening of negotiations for a democratic constitution in South Africa. The bus was destroyed by arsonists in February 1992 and reduced to a burnt-out shell.

The AAM launched its ‘Vote for Democracy’ campaign at the TUC Congress in Glasgow in September 1991. The campaign called for ‘one person one vote’ in response to the National Party’s constitutional proposals, which gave special voting rights to the white minority. In the photograph are AAM President Trevor Huddleston and railway workers’ union leader Jimmy Knapp.

Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown and former leader David Steel MP cast symbolic votes as part of the AAM’s ‘Vote for Democracy’ campaign at their party conference in September 1991. The AAM was calling for ‘one person one vote’ in response to the National Party’s constitutional proposals, which gave special voting rights to the white minority.

Local councillors in the London Borough of Lambeth cast symbolic votes as part of the AAM’s ‘Vote for Democracy’ campaign in 1991. The campaign called for ‘one person one vote’ in response to the National Party’s constitutional proposals, which gave special voting rights to the white minority.