Tag Archives: Direct Action

A suitable anniversary: youth and student action to close apartheid’s embassy

Posted on October 19, 2017 by Gavin Brown

It is a joyful coincidence that our book Youth Activism and Solidarity: the Non-Stop Picket against Apartheid has been published on 19 October 2017. On this day, thirty-two years ago, hundreds of students and other young people took mass direct action … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival research, Dissemination, Gavin Brown, Popular & Informal Education, Project staff | Tagged apartheid in south africa, City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, Direct Action, National Union of Students, South African Embassy, Trafalgar Square, Youth activism | 2 Comments

Opposing apartheid then, defending human rights now

Posted on November 27, 2015 by Gavin Brown

On Tuesday 8 December (at 18.30), as part of the Leicester Human Rights Arts and Film Festival, Gavin Brown will be giving a talk, at the Secular Hall, exploring what anti-apartheid campaigning in the 1980s can teach human rights defenders … Continue reading →

Posted in Dissemination, Gavin Brown, Media coverage, Popular & Informal Education, Project staff, Uncategorized | Tagged Anti-Apartheid Movement, City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, Direct Action, Non-Stop Picket, Solidarity, South African Embassy | Leave a comment

Working with anti-apartheid memories

Posted on July 8, 2014 by Gavin Brown

By researching the historical geographies of the Non-Stop Picket, we are constantly confronting the multiple ways in which memory operates. The very act of remembering the Non-Stop Picket is an intervention into the ways in which the struggle against apartheid is … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival research, Gavin Brown, Interview material, Project staff | Tagged AAM, Anti-Apartheid Movement, Direct Action, Leicester Memory Studies Network, memory studies, Non-Stop Picket, PW Botha, South African Embassy, South African Embassy Picket Campaign, Young Liberals | Leave a comment

Marking South Africa House with ‘blood’ on election day 1987

Posted on May 6, 2014 by Gavin Brown

As South Africa celebrates twenty years since the end of apartheid, and prepares for tomorrow’s election, I want to remember a protest that responded to a very different South African election. On 6 May 1987, there was a white-only general … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival research, Interview material | Tagged apartheid in south africa, City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, Direct Action, election day, Elections in South Africa, Non-Stop Picket, South Africa, South Africa House, South African Embassy, south african embassy in london, Trafalgar Square | 1 Comment

“Did you really think I wouldn’t write on your walls?”

Posted on August 21, 2013 by Gavin Brown

One of the pleasures of writing this blog is the opportunity it provides to record the stories of small incidents from the history of City Group’s anti-apartheid activism that might not end up being used in our other work. This … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival research, Interview material | Tagged City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, criminal damage, Direct Action, Greenham Common, greenham woman, international solidarity, legal defence, Metropolitan Police, Non-Stop Picket, police evidence, political graffiti, political slogans, prison solidarity, Solidarity, South African Embassy | Leave a comment

Obstructing the highway from inside a building

Posted on June 21, 2013 by Gavin Brown

In addition to maintaining the Non-Stop Picket outside the South African Embassy, the City of London Anti-Apartheid Group frequently protested at the offices of South African Airways in Oxford Circus. A favourite tactic was to occupy the airways’ offices. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival research | Tagged apartheid in south africa, City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, consumer boycott, Direct Action, leg, South African Airways | 1 Comment

The Poll Tax Riot and the burning of the South African Embassy II

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Gavin Brown

Last year, I wrote about how the South African Embassy was attacked, with its windows smashed and a tourist display set ablaze, during the Poll Tax Riot in Trafalgar Square on 31 March 1990. Recently we have obtained new photos … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival research, Interview material | Tagged City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, Direct Action, international solidarity, Non-Stop Picket, Poll Tax Riot, Solidarity, South African Embassy, Trafalgar Square | 2 Comments

“Pik off Botha”: attempting to arrest the South African Foreign Minister

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Gavin Brown

On the evening of Wednesday 15 March 1989, South African Foreign Minister Pik Botha visited the South African Embassy in London for ‘secret’ talks with his British counterpart, Geoffrey Howe. The City of London Anti-Apartheid Group (and the national Anti-Apartheid … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival research, Interview material | Tagged Anti-Apartheid Movement, apartheid in south africa, City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, defending the right to protest, Direct Action, Geoffrey Howe, Metropolitan Police, Non-Stop Picket, Pik Botha, South African Embassy | Leave a comment

Trying to stop Zola Budd in her tracks

Posted on February 10, 2013 by Gavin Brown

Helen Yaffe’s recent talk about the lessons of the anti-apartheid sports boycott for contemporary Palestinian solidarity reminded me of a particular action in the sports boycott taken by City of London Anti-Apartheid Group activists. On 31 January 1988, City Group’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival research | Tagged apartheid in south africa, City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, Direct Action, Gateshead, sports boycott, Zola Budd | Leave a comment

Lessons of the anti-apartheid sports boycott for Palestinian solidarity

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Gavin Brown

On Tuesday 5 February, Helen Yaffe represented the Non-Stop Against Apartheid project at a meeting organised by Football Beyond Borders at SOAS. The meeting asked, “What can the boycott of the U21 UEFA Football Championships in Israel learn from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Dissemination, Helen Yaffe, Popular & Informal Education, Project staff | Tagged City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, Direct Action, Palestine, Solidarity, sports boycott | 1 Comment