Free South Africa

Black shackled arm holding a gun over green image of Africa continent with green and black text on yellow background.

The U.S out of South Africa Network was the joint creation of the All-People's Congress and the People's Anti-War Network. The Network was created in 1985 with the primary goal of protesting multinational corparations with financial ties to South Africa’s apartheid government. Based out of New York City, the Network sought to raise awareness of the segregation and injustice taking place in South Africa. They hoped by informing the public of the situation in South Africa that they could garner international support against apartheid and against imperialism, which they viewed as the larger root issue.  

One major way they furthered their agenda was to organize a campaign supporting the African National Congress (ANC), and the South West Africa's People Organization (SWAPO). Both the ANC and SWAPO were militant political organizations formed in opposition to the apartheid system. The ANC would fight to overturn apartheid directly in South Africa, eventually ending the system of segregation under the leadership of Nelson Mandela in the early 1990’s, becoming the country's ruling party. SWAPO would battle to liberate Namibia from South Africa. In 1988 they would successfully separate Namibia from South Africa and SWAPO would go on to be one of the nations most prominent political parties.