Artists

Leaflet advertising events promoted by the Tsafrika record label at The Town and Country Club in Camden, London and the 100 Club in 1987. They included a gig featuring Julian Bahula’s Jabula and a ‘Free South Africa’ concert by the ANC’s cultural group Amandla.

Musicians Little Steven and Jerry Dammers sign the SATIS petition calling for the release of detainees in South Africa. Altogether 30,000 South Africans were held in detention under the State of Emergency imposed in June 1986. The petition was supported by the British Council of Churches and the TUC and signed by a third of a million people. It was presented to the South African authorities, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the UN Secretary-General on Human Rights Day, 10 December 1987.

Promotional flyer for ‘Twilight Freedom – Zulu Blood’ by Bryan Oliver, a drama featuring life under apartheid. The show was put on by Sassafras Theatre Company and sponsored by Haringey Community Arts and Entertainment in 1987. It toured alternative theatre venues in the London boroughs of Haringey, Hounslow, Camden and Islington.

Leaflet advertising a concert with music by South African jazz musician Dudu Pukwana's group Zila to celebrate South African Heroes Day in December 1987. The leaflet listed the regular meeting dates of local anti-apartheid groups in the Greater Manchester area and the local branch of the Namibia Support Committee.

Artists Against Apartheid called for the release of the Sharpeville Six, 16 March 1988. In the photograph with Trevor Huddleston are (l to r) Jerry Dammers, Pat and Greg Kane from the pop duo Hue and Cry, and Suggs from the ska band Madness. The Sharpeville Six were sentenced to death in December 1985 because they were present at a protest where black collaborators were killed. In December 1987 the South African Appeal Court rejected their appeal for clemency. After an international campaign their sentence was commuted in July 1988.

Leaflet advertising a Latin American music night to raise funds for the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) in 1988. The concert was organised by Camden AA Group and Kings Cross Labour Party in central London.

Leaflet publicising an Anti-Apartheid Festival in Southall Park, West London on 18 June 1988. The Festival featured South African jazz musician Jonas Gwangwa and poet Benjamin Zephaniah, as well as children’s events and food stalls. It was organised by Ealing AA Group, with support from the London Borough of Ealing.

The Nelson Mandela 70th birthday tribute concert held at Wembley Stadium on 11 June 1988 was attended by a capacity audience of 72,000 and broadcast to over 60 countries. The concert was the opening event in the AAM’s ‘Nelson Mandela: Freedom at 70’ campaign. The concert programme carried features on the artists taking part, including Stevie Wonder, Whoopi Goldberg, Whitney Houston, George Michael, Sting, Dire Straits and Simple Minds.