Tag Archives: Metropolitan Police

Mementos of Steve Kitson

Posted on November 12, 2017 by Gavin Brown

Sunday 12 November 2017 marks the twentieth anniversary of the death of Steven Kitson. Steve was born in 1957 as the eldest child of the South African communists and anti-apartheid activists David and Norma Kitson. In the 1980s, he became … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival research, Interview material | Tagged ANC, City Group Singers, City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, David Kitson, James Madhlope-Phillips, Mayibuye, Metropolitan Police, Non-Stop Picket, Norma Kitson, SACP, Steve Kitson | 4 Comments

PW Botha, police spies, and the South African Embassy Picket Campaign 1984

Posted on May 30, 2014 by Gavin Brown

In June 1984, President PW Botha of South Africa was expected in Britain for talks with Margaret Thatcher. His tour of Europe that summer was intended to promote ‘constructive engagement’ with the apartheid regime (rather than sanctions) and stave of … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival research | Tagged Anti-Apartheid Movement, Camden Council, City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, defend the right to protest, Jeremy Corbyn, Margaret Thatcher, Metropolitan Police, police infiltration, PW Botha, Richard Balfe MEP, SAEPC, South African Embassy, South African Embassy Picket Campaign, Special Branch, Special Demonstration Squad, Stuart Holland MP, Tony Banks MP, Vienna Convention (1961) | 5 Comments

“I’m only doing my job”: a grandmother’s protest

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Gavin Brown

South African Freedom Day has long been celebrated on 26 June. The day commemorates the general strike and national day of protest that the African National Congress called on 26 June 1950. It also remembers the signing of the Freedom … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival research | Tagged City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, Communist Party, David Kitson, Mary Barnett, Metropolitan Police, Non-Stop Picket, Norma Kitson, Rochester Row Police Station, South Africa House, south african embassy in london, South African Embassy Picket Campaign | Leave a comment

Non-Stop Against Apartheid in 2013

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Gavin Brown

Two events in 2013 brought significantly increased traffic to the Non-Stop Against Apartheid blog: the first was Margaret Thatcher‘s death; the second, of course, was Nelson Mandela’s. The day after Thatcher died, this blog received its most traffic in a single … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival research, Dissemination, Interview material, Popular & Informal Education | Tagged Anti-Apartheid Movement, apartheid in south africa, City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, Dunnes Store Strikers, Dunnes Stores Strikers, Ken Bodden, Leicester, Margaret Thatcher, Metropolitan Police, Nelson Mandela, Nelson Mandela's death, Non-Stop Picket, Pan-Africanist Congress, South African Embassy, south african embassy in london, Trafalgar Square, workers' sanctions, Zolile Hamilton Keke | Leave a comment

When other geographers find themselves in ‘our’ archive

Posted on November 28, 2013 by Gavin Brown

On 19 November, I gave a seminar paper about the Non-Stop Picket to staff and students in the Geography Department at University College London. I had been invited to contribute to a series of seminars on participatory research methods in … Continue reading →

Posted in Academic, Archival research, Dissemination, Gavin Brown, Helen Yaffe, Project staff | Tagged City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, defending the right to protest, Jeremy Bray MP, Metropolitan Police, Non-Stop Picket, participatory research methods, Professor Andrew Barry, Sir Kenneth Newman | Leave a comment

Policing the Non-Stop Picket: more questions than answers

Posted on September 13, 2013 by Gavin Brown

When I first conceived of the Non-Stop Against Apartheid project, my main intention was to record the experiences of former participants in the Non-Stop Picket. I thought tracking them down and recording their memories would be more than enough work, … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival research | Tagged City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, Freedom of Information Act, Metropolitan Police, Non-Stop Picket, South African Embassy | 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

“Being arrested is now a way of life”

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Gavin Brown

One useful way for a protest group to gain sympathetic coverage in the mainstream media can be to enrol the assistance of a well-known and seemingly neutral observer. In June 1987 the novelist Lynne Reid Banks placed a feature article … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival research, Interview material | Tagged City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, Lynne Reid Banks, Metropolitan Police, Non-Stop Picket, Norma Kitson, South African Embassy, Soweto Uprising, Steve Kitson, The Observer | Leave a comment

“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

Non-Stop Picket temporarily interrupted

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Gavin Brown

Although the Metropolitan Police tried many tactics to curtail the Non-Stop Picket of the South African Embassy in the late 1980s, the Picket never had to endure the frequent eviction attempts that have characterised life at other long-term protest camps. … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival research, Gavin Brown, Interview material, Project staff | Tagged City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, evictions, Metropolitan Police, Non-Stop Picket, Protest Camps, temporalities | 3 Comments