The project to set up a new Centre of Memory Learning in the former ANC London office at 28 Penton Street, Islington has taken a big step forward with the award of a £250,000 Heritage Lottery Fund development grant. The Centre will showcase anti-apartheid campaigning to stimulate action against injustice, racism and inequality. Watch this space for news of ongoing activities.
The Welsh People’s History Society, Llafur, recently held a roundtable event on the Wales Anti-Apartheid Movement. Hanef Bhamjee, Mick Antoniw, Hywel Francis, Mair Francis and Gaynor Legall shared their memories and sparked a discussion that explored the origins, development and wider historical and cultural impact of anti-apartheid campaigning in Wales. The session was introduced by Morwenna Osmond. It was one of a fascinating series focusing on race and identity in Wales. You can listen to the session here.
A new project has been launched at Nottingham University to trace anti-apartheid activists in Nottingham and record their stories. The project will also collect local photos, leaflets and other anti-apartheid publicity materials and deposit them in local archives for future generations. An exhibition of the new material will be shown at Nottingham Central Library, as soon as the Covid pandemic situation allows. Later it will move to St Ann’s library and tour selected county libraries. You can read more about the project here.
An exciting new project plans to convert the former London office of the African National Congress in Penton Street, Islngton into a Centre of Memory and Learning about the anti-apartheid solidarity movement. The project has been launched by the Liliesleaf Trust UK, working with the AAM Archives Committee and other groups. It has won support from the GLA’s Good Growth Fund and now needs to raise matched funding to convert the building into an exhibition and educational centre. Plans are currently on hold because of the Coronovirus crisis.
Fifty years ago the Anti-Apartheid Movement won its first big victory with the cancellation of the Springbok cricket tour scheduled for June 1970. A new pamphlet ‘Apartheid is Not a Game’ by Geoff Brown and Christian Hogsbjerg tells how direct action against the Springbok rugby tour in 1969-70 organised by the Stop the Seventy Tour campaign led to the ban on South Africa’s all-white cricket team. The pamphlet is available from Bookmarks, https://bookmarksbookshop.co.uk. Price: £4
Don’t miss – ‘Beneath the Surface: South Africa in the Seventies’, an exhibition of photographs by Steve Bloom at The Beaney, Canterbury, 19 October–19 January 2020. The exhibition covers 1976, a pivotal year in South Africa’s history, when school students protests marked the beginning of the end of apartheid. It also includes anti-apartheid posters, badges and artefacts. https://canterburymuseums.co.uk/events/steve-bloom-beneath-the-surface-south-africa-in-the-seventies/
Fifty years ago the Anti-Apartheid Movement and Stop the Seventy Tour launched the campaign that led to the AAM’s first big victory – the cancellation of the all-white Springbok cricket series in June 1970. Thousands of people took part in demonstrations and pitch invasions of the Springbok rugby tour that began in November 1969, and forced the cancellation of the cricket tour planned for the following summer. Were you there? If so, please send your memories for a new pamphlet about the campaign. Contact Geoff Brown at or Christian Hogsbjerg at
In 1984 shopworkers at Dunnes Stores in Dublin went on strike to demand the reinstatement of a colleague sacked for refusing to handle Outspan oranges from South Africa. The Irish trade union Mandate is celebrating their action with a festival of diverse culture and lively discussion which brings the energy of the 1984 anti-apartheid strike to the struggles and challenges we face today. The event will include a reading of Strike!, a play by Tracy Ryan based on the events of 1984. Saturday 2 November, 6–10.30pm, Liberty Hall, Dublin and Sunday 3 November, 10.30am-4.30pm, Connolly Hall, Dublin. https://mandate.ie
Oliver Tambo was President of the African National Congress, 1967–1991. More than anyone else, he held the organisation together during the long years when Nelson Mandela and other ANC leaders were imprisoned on Robben Island.
Oliver Tambo: Have You Heard From Johannesburg’ is a new film that tells his story. It is the latest in the Clarity Films series about the international struggle against apartheid. Director and producer: Connie Field. Executive producer: Albie Sachs. Available online at: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/olivertambo
‘Mandela 100’ is a new education pack showing how Nelson Mandela’s values are relevant to school students’ everyday lives. It is suitable for pupils aged 8–14 and has ideas for involving students through dance, drama and poetry, as well as classroom discussion.
The pack was commissioned by Portsmouth Black Women’s Forum and has been successfully trialled in Portsmouth schools. You can order a copy from: