Anti-Apartheid Movement

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In response to an appeal by Albert Luthuli, the British Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) was founded in London on 26 June 1959 at a meeting of South African exiles and their supporters ^[1]. Julius Nyerere would summarize its purpose:

We are not asking you, the British people, for anything special. We are just asking you to withdraw your support from apartheid by not buying South African goods. ^[2].

Originally called the Boycott Movement, it would expand its focus after the Sharpeville massacre eight months later. At the time, Britain was South Africa's largest foreign investor and the ANC was still committed to peaceful resistance. Armed struggle through Umkhonto we Sizwe would only begin a year later.

Based in Ruskin House, the organisation published the newspaper Boycott News. It organised public meetings in support of the African National Congress and the Pan Africanist Congress. Not limited to South Africa, it supported the struggles for freedom in Namibia, Zimbabwe and the former Portuguese colonies of Angola, Mozambique and, in West Africa, Guinea-Bissau.

The Anti-Apartheid Movement continued to operate in Britain until 1994^[3]. After the first democratic elections in South Africa, AAM changed its name to Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA)

The phrase "anti-apartheid movement" was also used as a general term to describe both the international movement against apartheid and the movement within South Africa.

1 Anti-apartheid movement in the US
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Anti-apartheid movement in the US

In 1977, Reverend Leon Sullivan developed a code of conduct for companies operating in South Africa called the Sullivan Principles, as an alternative to complete disinvestment. As part of the Board of Directors at General Motors Sullivan lobbied GM and other large corporations to voluntarily withdrawal from doing business in South Africa while the system of apartheid was still in effect.

Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan had this to say about Reverend Sullivan's contributions:

“

It shows how much one individual can do to change lives and societies for the better (...) He was known and respected throughout the world for the bold and innovative role he played in the global campaign to dismantle the system of apartheid in South Africa.^[4]

”

In the US in the 80s, students organized to demand that universities divest: cease investing in companies which did business in South Africa. In April, 1986, 61 students were arrested after building a shantytown in front of the chancellor's office at UC Berkeley. ^[5] . The University of California dropped three billion dollars worth of investments--something that Nelson Mandela noted was significant in helping to abolish white-minority rule.