Local AA groups

In the late 1980s Bristol AA Group held an annual Festival against Apartheid. The 1987 Festival featured filmshows, music from Southern Africa and the BTR strikers play ‘The Long March’.

Leaflet advertising a day school on Namibia organised by Bradford AA Group in 1987. The following year the group held a march during the International Week of Action on Namibia, 27 October–3 November. Yorkshire and Humberside Regional AA Committee raised £5,000 for the SWAPO Election Appeal Fund in 1989.

Brochure advertising a free concert organised by Hounslow AA Group on 22 October 1987 at Hounslow Civic Centre. The brochure highlighted the strike by workers at the British-owned BTR company in South Africa and the AAM’s petition calling for the release of South African political detainees. The gig featured Attilla the Stockbroker.

In 1987 a report published by Sheffield AA Group, ‘Steel, South Africa & Sanctions’, called for an end to British steel imports from South Africa. The report, based on research by Sheffield City Council’s Employment Department, showed that Sheffield steelmakers could import the minerals they needed from other sources. This brochure summarises the report’s conclusions.

This leaflet was distributed by anti-apartheid supporters in the west Midlands district around Nuneaton. The local AA group held regular pickets of Barclays Bank, Shell garages and Tesco supermarkets asking residents to boycott apartheid goods. It also campaigned for an end to South Africa’s occupation of Namibia.

Greater Manchester AA Group co-ordinated seven local groups in the Greater Manchester area in the late 1980s. This leaflet publicised anti-apartheid activities planned over Christmas 1987.

Tyneside AA Group supporters told Zola Budd she should not run for England at Gateshead Stadium on 30 January 1988. The sprinter continued to live in South Africa but obtained a British passport to get round the sports boycott against apartheid.

Most local AA groups distributed regular newsletters to their supporters. This newsletter was published by Cheltenham AA Group in January 1988.