Local AA groups

 

Gerard Omasta-Milsom joined the Anti-Apartheid Movement as a student at Bristol University, where he was an activist in Bristol University AA Group. In 1988 he joined the staff of the Anti-Apartheid Movement as Field Officer, responsible for coordinating the activities of local anti-apartheid groups. He became the AAM’s Campaigns Officer, remaining in post through the period when the AAM dissolved itself and set up a successor organisation, Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) in 1994–95.

 

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of the Forward to Freedom AAM history project in 2013.

 

 

Joni McDougall became active in Camden Anti-Apartheid Group in 1984. She later worked full-time in the Anti-Apartheid Movement office for the Bishop Ambrose Reeves Trust as organiser of the international conference on ‘Children & Apartheid’, held in Harare in 1987. In 1988 she joined the Nelson Mandela Freedom March as one of the 25 marchers who walked from Glasgow to London as part of the ‘Nelson Mandela: Freedom at 70’ campaign.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of the ‘Forward to Freedom’ AAM history project in 2013.

Joni McDougall became active in Camden Anti-Apartheid Group in 1984. She later worked full-time in the Anti-Apartheid Movement office for the Bishop Ambrose Reeves Trust as organiser of the international conference on ‘Children & Apartheid’, held in Harare in 1987. In 1988 she joined the Nelson Mandela Freedom march as one of the 25 marchers who walked from Glasgow to London as part of the ‘Nelson Mandela: Freedom at 70’ campaign.

In this clip Joni talks about fundraising and campaigning in Camden Town.

Kath Harding was the Chair of Sheffield Anti-Apartheid Group and helped set up Sheffield’s Southern Africa Resources Centre. Sheffield AA Group was one of the AAM’s most active local groups and worked with Sheffield City Council, trade unions and churches to make Sheffield a centre of anti-apartheid activity in the 1980s and early 1990s.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out by students at Sheffield Hallam University in 2013.

Kath Harding was the Chair of Sheffield Anti-Apartheid Group and helped set up Sheffield’s Southern Africa Resources Centre. Sheffield AA Group was one of the AAM’s most active local groups and worked with Sheffield City Council, trade unions and churches to make Sheffield a centre of anti-apartheid activity in the 1980s and early 1990s.

In this clip Kath Harding explains how she and other Sheffield activists took their lead from the ANC and people struggling within South Africa.

Kath Harding was the Chair of Sheffield Anti-Apartheid Group and helped set up Sheffield’s Southern Africa Resources Centre. Sheffield AA Group was one of the AAM’s most active local groups and worked with Sheffield City Council, trade unions and churches to make Sheffield a centre of anti-apartheid activity in the 1980s and early 1990s.

In this clip Kath Harding describes how the Anti-Apartheid Movement brought together a broad range of people united in campaigning against apartheid.

Lela Kogbara was a member of the Anti-Apartheid Movement’s Black Solidarity Committee and Executive Committee, and an activist in South London AA Group. She was the Chair of Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) from 1994 to 2012, and still serves on its Executive Committee.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out by Christabel Gurney in 2005.

Amin Mawani came to London from Kenya in 1975, where he met Susi, who grew up in Heidelberg, Germany. They were both founder members of Ealing Anti-Apartheid Group in West London in the mid-1980s and Amin became the group’s first Secretary. In 1988 he was elected to the AAM’s National Executive Committee and Susi took over as Secretary. Ealing AA group campaigned for a boycott of South African goods and organised numerous concerts and social events to raise funds for the AAM.

This is a complete transcript of an interview carried out as part of the Forward to Freedom history project in 2013.