International Response to Apartheid From 1960–1980

By Jack Marcou, Rachel Smith, and Ali Williams (Fall 2021, History of Southern Africa)

The movement’s goal was to get shoppers from all over the world to boycott apartheid products. This meant products from South Africa were not purchased. People who had never been a part of any meetings or protests showed their support by boycotting South African goods.
The CAO launched pickets and protests at shopping centers to encourage Britons to boycott purchasing items produced in South Africa. Demonstrators told shoppers, “Don’t Buy Slavery, Don’t Buy South Africa.”

One of the first moves for the boycott was boycotting fruits from South Africa. Leaders told shoppers to be mindful of the labels on the fruits, such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s. This eventually led to a campaign for stores to stop stocking South African products altogether. Activists were trying to make sure these shops understood the significance of this boycott and how the adverse effects could continue if they continued to carry these products. Another example was when a shop worker from Dublin refused to ring up a cape grapefruit which eventually led to a strike. To follow up on that was a total ban on all imports from South Africa by the Irish government. This shows how bold and determined these protesters were to make achange so much so they would refuse to ring a customer up, and in doing so, they succeeded. As time went by, all the protests and boycotts were successful, and it turned out to be one of the most successful anti–apartheid movement campaigns.

Three years after the Sharpeville Massacre, the United Nations took its first significant step towards stopping apartheid by creating the Special Committee on the Policies of Apartheid of the Government of the Republic of South Africa; the first meeting of the committee was on April 2, 1963. The committee later renamed the Special Committee Against Apartheid would become the UN’s primary mechanism for anti–apartheid action (“Special Committee Against Apartheid”). The committee quickly pushed through an arms and oil embargo the same year. In 1966 the committee organized the International Seminar on Apartheid in conjunction with the Brazilian government. It was a first–of–its–kind series of anti–apartheid talks and presentations held 23 August–4 September 1966.

The UN General Assembly also took actions against South Africa and their Apartheid Regime. This resistance primarily came in the form of a resolution and two conventions. On December 2, 1968, the assembly passed General Assembly resolution 2396, which condemned the South African government and requested states “to suspend cultural, educational, sporting and other exchanges with the racist regime and with organizations or institutions in South Africa which practice apartheid” (General Assembly resolution 2396).

When none of these efforts worked, the General Assembly took a vote on November 12, 1974. With a vote of 91–22, the general assembly suspended South Africa from participating in the UN. This was not a complete suspension of membership, but rather the “[South African] delegation will not be permitted to take its seats, speak, make proposals or vote.” (Teltsch) This was a significant action in the international community and the capstone of a decade of UN condemnation of the Apartheid regime in South Africa.