Local authorities

Booklet published by the Greater London Council (GLC) for the celebratory launch of its Anti-Apartheid Declaration on 9 January 1984. The booklet recorded the statements and speeches made at the ceremony. They included messages from the Indian, Tanzanian and Swazi governments and the UN Secretary-General. The booklet also reproduced the text of the Declaration.

ANC President Oliver Tambo was the main speaker at the London Against Racism rally held at Friends Meeting House by the Greater London Council on 21 March 1984. In December 1983 the GLC launched an Anti-Apartheid Declaration pledging that it would discourage all links between London and apartheid South Africa.

Poster advertising a rally organised by the Greater London Council on 21 March 1984, the anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre. The main speaker was ANC President Oliver Tambo. In December 1983 the GLC launched an Anti-Apartheid Declaration pledging that it would discourage all links between London and apartheid South Africa.

ANC President Oliver Tambo was the main speaker at the London Against Racism rally held by the Greater London Council on 21 March 1984. Earlier in the day he held a press conference at County Hall. In December 1983 the GLC launched an Anti-Apartheid Declaration pledging that it would discourage all links between London and apartheid South Africa.

This ‘Model Declaration’ for local authorities was produced by a committee set up at a conference of local authorities on Southern Africa, held in Sheffield in March 1983. It was widely circulated and taken up by many local councils.

Hackney Council press release announcing the renaming of an east London housing block as Mandela House in 1984. Many British local authorities named roads, public gardens and housing estates in honour of Nelson Mandela in the 1980s as part of the campaign for his release.

Lambeth Borough Council in south London published this review of the implementation of the Anti-Apartheid Declaration it adopted in 1984. It located the Declaration within the Councilís wider anti-racist and equal opportunities policies. The review showed the practical problems involved in ensuring that the Council did not make purchases from companies with South African interests.

The Greater London Council and the AAM held a press conference on 30 May 1984 to protest against the Conservative government’s invitation to South African President P W Botha to visit Britain. The GLC played a big role in the campaign against the visit, with national press ads, an anti-apartheid banner outside County Hall and an exhibition ‘Signs of Apartheid’ at the Royal Festival Hall. It sponsored a music festival in Jubilee Gardens after a march through London on 2 June. Left to right: Abdul Minty, Trevor Huddleston, GLC Labour Councillors Paul Boateng, Ken Livingstone, Bob Hughes and SDP-Liberal Alliance GLC Councillor Adrian Slade.