![]() 3 Moreover, the Free Nelson Mandela Campaign (FNMC) was critical in entrenching the anti-apartheid cause into the mainstream of British public consciousness and in popular culture. ![]() 2 The enduring images and memories that symbolise the impact of the AAM are rooted within an array of innovative campaigns against multinationals such as Barclays Bank and Shell, the cultural and sporting isolation of the white-minority regime, and the widespread consumer boycott of South African goods which was supported by almost a third of the British population by the mid-1980s. ![]() 1 Even within an international context, the AAM is considered one of the most important components in the transnational solidarity network of anti-apartheid organisations which emerged during the second half of the twentieth century. As Hilary Sapire notes, the AAM was ‘the largest and most sustained international solidarity movement ever mounted in the United Kingdom’. The British Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) is often regarded as one of the most influential transnational social movements of the twentieth century. This enabled the AAM to make a tangible contribution, primarily through fundraising, to the African National Congress’ successful election victory in May 1994. Despite encountering numerous (trans)national and local challenges which inhibited its impact after 1990, this article concludes that the AAM’s persistent campaigning presence allowed it to capitalise following renewed British interest in South Africa following the announcement in June 1993 of a date for the first non-racial democratic election. The pervasive sense that apartheid was over, coupled with the complexity, uncertainty and violence of South Africa’s political transition, created a difficult campaigning environment for the AAM, who found it hard to maintain the momentum generated through the FNMC. ![]() It argues that the successful framing and impact of the Free Nelson Mandela Campaign (FNMC) of the 1980s, inadvertently created a series of challenges for the AAM in the years after Mandela’s release from prison in February 1990, as many in Britain came to associate this moment with the end of apartheid. Based on original archival research and oral history interviews, this article examines how the British Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) adapted to the evolving circumstances during South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy between 19. ![]()
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