Namibia

In December 1980 the AAM, with the Namibia Support Committee and International Defence and Aid Fund, hosted a visit by a delegation from the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO). The delegation held meetings with Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington and the leaders of the Labour and Liberal Parties. It was led by SWAPO General Secretary Moses Garoeb. This leaflet publicised a rally addressed by members of the delegation. The rally was preceded by a torchlight march calling for the release of Namibian political prisoners.

Leaflet criticising the 1974–79 Labour government’s record on Namibia. It asked Labour Party to members to campaign within the party to ensure that a future Labour government refused to recognise South African control of Namibia.

On 14 March 1981 the National Union of Students organised a National Day of Action against British Nuclear Fuels contract for the supply of uranium from the Rossing mine in Namibia. In the photograph are protesters at the Department of Energy in Millbank, London. The day was marked by 30 demonstrations all over Britain outside Electricity  Board depots. The action was part of a long-running campaign co-ordinated by the Campaign Against the Namibian Uranium Contract (CANUC). Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Britain imported Namibian uranium in contravention of UN resolutions. 

Vigil outside the US Embassy in London on 10 September 1981 to protest against US and UK funding of the South African military in its war against SWAPO guerrillas fighting for independence for Namibia. In the summer of 1981 the South African army crossed Namibia’s northern border to invade Angola.

Letter to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher calling on the British government to support UN mandatory economic sanctions against South Africa in response to South Africa’s invasion of Angola in 1981.

In the 1970s and 1980s Britain imported uranium from RTZ’s Rossing mine in Namibia in contravention of UN resolutions that said the country’s natural resources should only be sold with the consent of the UN Council for Namibia. The uranium was imported under contracts signed in the late 1960s by the UK Atomic Energy Authority and Rio Tinto Zinc. Lord Carrington, featured in the poster, was a Director of RTZ and British Foreign Secretary,1979–1982.

In the 1970s and 1980s Britain imported uranium from RTZ’s Rossing mine in Namibia in contravention of UN resolutions that said the country’s natural resources should only be sold with the consent of the UN Council for Namibia. The uranium was imported under contracts signed in the late 1960s by the UK Atomic Energy Authority and Rio Tinto Zinc. The Campaign Against the Namibian Uranium Contract (CANUC) was set up in 1977 by the Namibia Support Committee, the Haslemere Group and the AAM.

One of a set of posters produced for the AAM’s ‘Southern Africa: The Time to Choose’ demonstration on 14 March 1982. At the same time as it called for the total isolation of South Africa, the AAM called for support for the liberation movements and all those fighting for freedom in Southern Africa. After Zimbabwe won its independence in 1980, the AAM concentrated its activities on Namibia and South Africa.