0147 Anti-Apartheid
In my second year at Imperial, after Jon had left, I found it was up to me to move forward the anti-apartheid movement in the University of London. By then I had also met up with Dan Elwyn Jones. Dan was a born political leader. He been brought up as such. His father was a barrister and -- in the first Wilson government which soon followed -- was to become Attorney General!. Thus, I observed a different sort of patronage. We are all aware of nepotism which allows the rich to further the careers of their offspring, but socialists were supposed to be against this. In fact, as Dan's progress showed, there was a different form of nepotism amongst those of the left. Thus, it was generally assumed by those with whom we worked that he would dominate everything he got involved with and, as he discretely dropped his father's name to his contacts, of course he did.
Having said all that, I found it quite convenient to follow along on Dan's coat-tails!
The small group of us who used to run the London University Anti-Apartheid movement was made up mainly of girls -- as socialist movements then were. They were an interesting crowd. Pat Louis was a very avid left-winger, and great activist. Most of the others were followers. I remember one I was fascinated by. She was a very bright, studying at SOAS (School of African & Oriental Studies), and clearly had a great future ahead of her. But she was engaged to a coalminer back in South Wales and I wondered how that prospective marriage would survive. The only one I fancied, but I didn't tell Pat this, was a girl called Jancis. She was nice and slim - something I have always lusted after (where I have always attracted Reubenesque girls myself!) but she had hairy legs. It is surprising how the small things put you off!
We worked with the main anti-apartheid movement, to generate a student movement throughout the United Kingdom. In particular we organised a big rally in Trafalgar Square. We invited universities from around the country to send people to the march; as usual it was from Hyde Park Corner to Trafalgar Square. To my surprise we managed to get something like 5000 students on the march – though, as usual, the press (who for once supported us) exaggerated this and claimed there were 20,000 of us. It was an interesting experience organising this. I was in a loudspeaker van telling everyone, over the loudspeakers, what to do. It ended with me circling Trafalgar Square, trying to marshal all the students into the central space in the Square to hear the various speakers. While I was doing this the amplifier, for the loudspeaker, developed a short; and the van filled with smoke. Unfortunately I had to carry on marshalling the various students and was almost made unconscious by the smoke, even though I had all the windows open with smoke pouring out of these. It was a spectacular demonstration of my commitment to the anti-apartheid cause!
The other major event was more subtle, but much more far-reaching. Dan and I were elected to go to the United Nations Students Association (UNSA) conference, for we were both in ULUNSA (University of London United Nations Students Association) as part of our work with ULSARD. Thus it was that we travelled down to a teacher training college in the backwoods of Bristol, where hundreds of representatives of United Nations Students Association clubs from across the country were meeting. It was a dramatic introduction to political machinations.
We met to debate the various resolutions -- such events always have resolutions -- in the large lecture-hall/theatre. We were at the front of the balcony; Dan and I that is.
The machinations started when we proposed that a country, which had just managed to obtain its freedom, should be congratulated -- via an ad hoc motion. This cause chaos, since all motions had to be submitted by the various societies several weeks in advance. Despite the platform opposing us we managed to get the motion passed. This was unimportant in itself, but it set the mood for the floor to oppose the platform. The real business came when the main motion we were putting forward was debated. This was at the time of Sharpeville; when the South African government was condemned by nations all round the world for the many people killed in the Sharpeville massacre. My motion, as it was tabled, was that, at the upcoming Commonwealth Prime Minister's conference, we asked that the British government condemn South Africa for this massacre. That was all that was said in the motion which was sent to the UNSA clubs around the country, and we fully expected that this would be passed with little opposition.
The machinations started however, when I proposed the motion. Before anything else could happen. Dan - who was sitting next to me - proposed an amendment. This changed the motion to add ..."and if South Africa does not abandon apartheid then it should be expelled from the Commonwealth". This caused a near riot, especially since I immediately accepted the motion has a part of the (now consolidated) main motion - as was my right. We had done this because we very much doubted that that a motion in this form would have been supported by the quite conservative members in the UNSA clubs around the rest of the country. But we gambled, and won, on the basis that their representatives at the conference would be more adventurous. After a lot of bargaining, and very strong opposition from the platform, the motion was in fact carried by a very narrow margin. Thus, I learned how it is possible to manipulate the democratic processes!
That wasn't the end of the matter. The resolutions passed by the UNSA conference were then forwarded to the main conference -- the United Nations Association (UNA) overall. To my surprise, the motion was also passed by the members there. Thus, I found myself briefing its president, who turned out to be Clement Attlee -- the Labour prime minister after the war. It was a relatively brief meeting which, paradoxically, took place in the National Liberal Club! But, as he was one of my heroes and still is, it was a memory I treasure.
That passed the ball to the Labour Party, who decided it was an issue on which it was suitable for them to take political stance – and they then pushed it very heavily.
Surprisingly Harold MacMillan, who was then prime minister, also felt it deserved his support. Whether this was because he was worried about losing votes, or felt he ought to live up to his recent ‘winds of change’ speech in South Africa, I don't know. But he really did get behind it at the Commonwealth Prime Minister's conference. Thus, to my surprise and the even greater surprise of most of the press, South Africa was expelled from the Commonwealth. It remained outside for many years. I don't know whether this had any major effect on the ending of apartheid, which only came about several decades later, but I know I was nervous about what BOSS, the South African secret police, might do to me -- and I never visited South Africa.
Thus from small beginnings do great things grow. When I planned what to do, before attending the UNSA conference, I little thought that I would be starting something of such major political consequences.
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