In the late 1960’s the main issues that concerned students continued to be fascism in Greece and Portugal and the independence struggles in southern Africa; including Mozambique, Angola, Rhodesia and South Africa itself.  Students exerted pressure where they could. Lancaster University gave up investments in South Africa after consistent student protest. The boycott of South African goods and Barclays Bank that had begun in 1969 continued. Nelson Mandela was elected as an Honorary Vice President of NUS in 1970 and re-elected in 1974. There were many that remembered the moment that Mike Terry interrupted Jack Straw’s valedictory speech at NUS Conference in April 1971, he announced amid vociferous cheers that:
 
“…the organisers of the Anti-Apartheid movement had informed NUS that they had been reliably informed that Barclays Bank had withdrawn their support for the Cabora Bassa dam project. The form which Barclays Bank were financing had withdrawn their project. It was not quite clear who took the major decision – whether the firm or Barclays Bank. NUS should not as this stage take any clear decision about the continued campaign. But they were beginning to have some minor success…”

It was one of those exhilarating moments when students realised that something they had done had had an effect and they were together to celebrate it. NUS worked closely with the Anti-Apartheid Movement, keeping students’ unions informed about events in South Africa. NUS had taken up the issue of southern Africa even before dropping the no politics clause. Students voted with their feet by involving themselves in protests, and students’ unions frequently debated the issue. NUS had over many years developed strong links with the National Union of Students of South Africa (NUSAS) and more recently developed links with the South African Students’ Organisation, a blacks-only union. The NUS policy agreed in 1970 was clear:

“Conference reiterates its complete opposition to the racialist regimes in South Africa, Rhodesia, Angola and Mozambique. It pledges its support for all movements both inside and outside Southern Africa whose objectives are the overthrow of these regimes and implementation of multi-racialist societies. Conference recognises the importance of trade links in supporting the economics of these countries and also the importance of cultural and sporting links, which have the effect of implying moral support for them.” 

Press reaction was predictable the Express spoke of NUS giving cash to help Black Guerrillas 

In his speech to NUSAS Congress Tony Klug said

“…NUS has a policy of support for liberation movements, but I have nevertheless sought in my travels and discussions to discover a peaceful means of overthrowing Apartheid policies. In this search I failed completely and do not believe that there is any possibility of legal or constitutional change in South Africa. I believe that fundamental change can only come through the people who are the direct victims of oppression – the non whites – and that therefore the only truly meaningful action political action in South Africa must be related to this end of politicising the black peoples…”

NUSAS issued a statement saying they did not share the view and remained committed to a peaceful approach, people encouraged by the sports boycott boycotted support for students in Rhodesia and supported Zimbabwe Students Union students in Europe. Tony Klug and Richard Mollineaux tried to prevent the University of London recognising the University College of Rhodesia.

 Work was not just confined to South Africa, it clearly was a southern African campaign, with NUS organising an international meeting on Zimbabwe chaired by Bishop Muzorewa, then the chair of the African National Council, and promoting solidarity work with SWAPO. Bishop Colin Winter who had been thrown out of Namibia addressed NUSA Conference in November 1973 NUS also joined the Rhodesia Emergency Campaign.  NUS regular organised speakers tours for activists from southern Africa and made sure that the issue was constantly at the forefront of its’ international work.

International affairs in the late eighties focused more on solidarity work than on work within the international student movement. The agenda in the UK and the USA had shifted to the right and students found themselves facing a government which was not prepared to isolate the apartheid regime in South Africa.  It would not condemn American strategies seeking to undermine popular governments and democratic movements in central and southern America and it ignored the oppression of dictators like Saddam Hussein. In the previous decade the approach the NUS leadership had taken towards the IUS and the eastern bloc broadly reflected the views of the government, and that view was represented on the international stage.  The international policy work of the late seventies and eighties was very much fought on the home front.

Winning the Barclay’s Boycott

Mrs Thatcher’s invitation to the South African Prime Minister, P W Botha, to visit Britain  provoked a strong reaction, and NUS fully supported the AAM demonstration “No to Botha” against the trip in June 1984.  The visit was described as:

“. . . an insult to the oppressed people of South Africa and Namibia and the British people, especially the black community.”  

Later in the year persistence was rewarded. The Chairman of Barclays announced that they were to withdraw a substantial amount of their investments in South Africa. In making the statement he admitted that the major pressure had come from the student campaign not to bank with Barclays.  Their share of the student market had declined from 27% to 17% in two years, a figure that represented some 12,000 individual accounts, along with a total cost to the bank of £36m. A campaign to explain their position on South Africa to students had not been successful . Their withdrawal was a key link in the chain of events that eventually led to a total withdrawal.

Excerpts from the History of NUS, with kind permission of Mike Day, Director, NUS Scotland