A charity working to educate residents about the history of the anti-Apartheid movement commemorated 40 years on Monday (14 March) since the African National Congress’s (ANC) original UK headquarters were bombed. The Liliesleaf Trust held a reflective event at the Lift Youth Hub on White Lion Street, metres away from 28 Penton Street where the bomb exploded.
The 1982 attack injured an ANC voluntary worker, but there were no deaths. Windows were shattered up to 400 metres away and the blast was heard as far as Stoke Newington in Hackney. Nine former South African policemen admitted to the attack but were granted amnesty in 1999.
The ANC’s headquarters resided on Penton Street from 1978 to 1994, when Nelson Mandela became the South African president. Nearly 30 years later, the building will once again be the centre of anti-racist legacy in Islington.
Monday’s event not only marked the 40th anniversary of the racially motivated attack, but also looked forward to the redevelopment of the Centre of Memory and Learning. Opening in 2023, this will be the UK’s “first permanent venue dedicated to the legacy of anti-Apartheid,” said Caroline Kamana, project director of the Liliesleaf Trust.
The existing centre is currently undergoing “essential repairs and accessibility improvements,” but will eventually house archives, temporary exhibitions, and income-generating workshops to educate visitors about the anti-Apartheid struggle.
The commemorative event included an exhibition about the history of anti-Apartheid in Islington and featured speakers from the Liliesleaf Trust and the South Africa High Commission, a centre for diplomacy between South Africa and the UK.
The Rt. Hon Lord Peter Hain, the former Labour MP and noted anti-apartheid campaigner who is now a Liliesleaf trustee, spoke about the anti-Apartheid movement in London and highlighted how the police did “nothing” about the 1982 bombing: ‘The British government was turning a blind eye to the dirty work of white South Africans.”
Lord Hain was followed by Madileke Ramushu, Economic Minister at the South Africa High Commission. Ramushu invoked the most famous figure of the anti-Apartheid movement: “What would President Mandela say if he was here today? Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.”
Two Year 11 girls from the Elizabeth Garret Anderson (EGA) school in Islington demonstrated this power of education, by performing moving spoken word pieces which they had created during workshops with the Liliesleaf Trust. The Trust is working closely with the EGA school to explore both historical and contemporary issues through workshops and an enrichment club.
“We also facilitate intergenerational conversations between former anti-Apartheid activists and young people, holding a space to learn from the successes of and challenges faced by the struggle against apartheid to inform active citizenship today,” said Kamana.
Last year the Trust worked with more than 2000 young people in London, 600 of whom were from Islington.
The chair of the event, Suresh Kamath, told?the Islington Now?that the Trust wants to “use the Islington community but also make the centre London-wide.”
The centre will be a crucial institution for informing the public about?the history of the anti-Apartheid struggle. Kamana said:?“We are currently working to capture the critical testimonies of those struggling activists whose stories have not yet been recorded or made publicly accessible, particularly those who came in exile to the UK from South Africa.”
The Trust has commissioned Penificent, a group of graphic design illustrators, to create comic strips around the anti-Apartheid legacy and the 1982 Penton Street attack, which are a work in progress.
