The British anti-apartheid movement's focus on Rhodesia after 1965 widened the movement to include other anti-colonial struggles in the region and provided new grounds for the movement to critique the British government.
Research by Dr Jean Smith, Senior Lecturer in Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Education in the Department of Interdisciplinary Humanities argues that after the 1965 unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) in Rhodesia - now Zimbabwe - the British anti-apartheid movement (AAM) began to focus on Rhodesia just as much as South Africa.
Despite the UDI, Rhodesia technically remained a British colony rather than an independent dominion. The AAM was therefore able to critique the British government's inaction directly by pointing to their complicity in white minority rule, helping them to build public support.
This marked a pivotal shift, as campaigners broadened their activism to incorporate colonial oppression throughout southern Africa, including the (then) Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and Angola. Broadening the movement's scope highlighted connections between white settler regimes in the region and revealed South Africa's covert regional interventions, as well as building activist networks that later became crucial for AAM work.
While much previous scholarship on the anti-apartheid movement is focused on the fight against apartheid, this research shows that colonial oppression became an equally important cause after 1965. The anti-apartheid movement should therefore be considered as a regional anti-settler, anti-colonial struggle, rather than one focused solely on South Africa.
Dr Jean Smith, Senior Lecturer in Liberal Arts, and Interdisciplinary Education
Rhodesia was framed as aligned with apartheid South Africa and Portugal's colonial regime due to its apartheid-style racial repression. The AAM ran a sustained campaign - including rallies, vigils, student action and petitions - to continually highlight South Africa's military and economic support for Rhodesia after the UDI.
King's connection
In her research, Dr Smith found that cultural theorist and activist Stuart Hall was involved in organising a fundraising dance at King's to coincide with a major protest march as part of the Rhodesia Emergency Campaign, highlighting the university's historic connections to the anti-apartheid movement.
Despite being less recognised today, the Rhodesia campaign was often more prominent than its South African equivalent during 1965-1980, showing how it was a vital part of the AAM's work. Although some activists felt this may overshadow the South Africa cause, the Rhodesia campaign ultimately helped - Zimbabwe's independence in 1980 isolated apartheid South Africa, thus indirectly contributing to the regime's end.
Dr Smith's research features in the chapter 'The British Anti-Apartheid Movement and the UDI' in Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence: National, Regional, International and Transnational Perspectives, edited by Hugh Pattenden, Carl P Watts and Sue Onslow, Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy. The book's release aligns with the 60th anniversary of UDI on 11 November 1965.
