Conservatives Against Apartheid
A pressure group set up by radical right wing Tories in 1988 and subsequently absorbed into the Scottish Young Conservatives.
- As 75,000 mostly white concert-goers made their way to Wembley Stadium, pro-South African propaganda touts mingled with the masses at the venue and underground railway stations handing out "souvenir issue" booklets entitled Nelson Mandela Speaks which purportedly came from the African National Congress - but the booklets were actually a clever smear on Mandela and the ANC.[1]
The Guardian reported in 1988:
- Remember those 'ANC' booklets handed out at the Wembley birthday festival? Entitled Nelson Mandela Speaks - although they turned out, of course, to be no such thing - and promptly denounced as a South African dirty trick? The source was, in fact, closer to home; they can be traced directly to the Conservative Party rather than the non-white propaganda unit in Pretoria. Stand up Stephen Morrison, newly appointed chairman of the Scottish Young Conservatives and a member of Edinburgh City Council. The booklet was distributed by his troops from Conservatives Against Apartheid, a pressure group which has now been absorbed into the Scottish YCs.[2]
According to Brian Monteith:
- I once visited South Africa during the apartheid years. I had set up a protest group called Conservatives Against Apartheid and I wanted to see for myself what it was like. I found Mercedes Benz factories and Toyota factories churning out cars for the masses while, back in Blighty, British politicians were berating Mrs Thatcher for not backing sanctions. The reality was that apartheid - a collectivist system like any other in that it sought to control people - was on the verge of collapse. But it wasn't sanctions that were making the difference - it was free trade that was breaking down the barriers.[3]
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