Remembering The Perennial Activist: Jesse Jackson

Remembering The Perennial Activist: Jesse Jackson

On 2 November 1985, Reverend Jesse Jackson addressed a massive anti-apartheid rally, a crowd of approximately 120,000 to 150,000 people in London’s Trafalgar Square. Jackson called for immediate, harsh economic sanctions and disinvestment from South Africa to end the “Fourth Reich” without widespread violence. He urged Western governments, particularly the United Kingdom (UK), to stop protecting the regime.

Key elements of his address and the event included: A Call for Action, wherein Jackson argued that cutting off foreign loans and investment was the only alternative to continued bloodshed, emphasizing that apartheid was morally wrong and ungodly. The rally was part of the largest anti-apartheid march in Britain at the time, which brought together various groups to oppose the South African regime’s racial policies.

The march, which was the Anti-Apartheid Movement’s (AAM) largest march in British history, featured notable figures including ANC President Oliver Tambo and SWAPO leader Shapua Kaukungua. Jackson’s message reinforced that the struggle in South Africa was closely tied to the fight for equality globally, drawing parallels to the US civil rights movement. The 1985 march served as a major turning point, increasing pressure for change and contributing to the international isolation of the apartheid government in South African.

Standing at the base of Nelson’s Column alongside ANC President Oliver Tambo and AAM President Trevor Huddleston, Jackson delivered a powerful speech focused on the moral necessity of economic sanctions. Jackson explicitly compared the white-minority government of South Africa to Nazi Germany, famously stating, “Every moral and ethical imperative must drive us to say no to Botha, Hitler’s historical successor, in 1985”.

Jackson called for “Sanctions Now”, arguing that harsh economic measures – including an end to foreign loans and investments – were the only way to dismantle apartheid without widespread violence. He condemned the South African government’s recent restrictions on news coverage, noting, “Television did not create apartheid, it has exposed apartheid. Now the government wants to lock out the foreign press so they might do their killing, murdering and lynching in the dark”.

The rally was a direct protest against Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s refusal to impose full mandatory sanctions. Jackson later met with Thatcher to personally appeal for a change in British policy. Despite sporadic clashes between some protesters and police near the South African Embassy, Jackson repeatedly called for calm and led the crowd in freedom songs. The demonstration was the culmination of an intensive campaign across Britain. Participants marched in three columns from east, west, and south London before converging on Trafalgar Square to demand the release of Nelson Mandela and an end to the state of emergency in South Africa.

Sources:
Mike Terry, “The British Anti-Apartheid Movement: 30 Years of Boycotting”, Sechaba, Vol. 23, No. 6, June 1989.
https://www.aamarchives.org/archive/history/1980s/80s24-march-against-apartheid-2-november-1985.html

Castro Khwela
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