The level of Black community involvement in the AAM through the work of the Black and Ethnic Minority Committee as well as other organisations, should be assessed within the context of their wider struggle with racism in Britain. Despite commitment to the politics of anti-racism in the domestic political scene, politically minded Black activists were always concerned with the trajectories of African politics in particular the unfolding tragedy of South Africa and its system of Apartheid. In fighting their own battles of racism during the 1970s and 1980s, they brought a unique perspective to the support base of anti-apartheid activism in Britain. However the relationship between black activists, the wider black community and the AAM was not without its tensions and difficulties.
However the AAM recognised the natural empathy that many in the black community felt regarding the injustice of apartheid. In a hostile environment they sought to cultivate a broad base of support and black allies seemed to be natural allies. For their part, Black activists willing to engage in anti-apartheid activism and wanting to see results recognised that the AAM was the only visibly successful organisation in Britain leading the anti-apartheid fight from within the British context. This paper seeks to explore some of the factors that impacted upon the relationship between the AAM, the BEM and the wider concerns of the Black community in their shared antipathy and protest from within the British context, against Apartheid.
Elizabeth Williams