The exhibition, which runs from Tuesday, April 5, until April 29 2016, tells the story of the Anti-Apartheid Movement across Britain and its campaigns to support the people of South Africa in their fight against oppression. The exhibition, in the University’s Saltire Centre, features Nelson Mandela’s 1993 visit to Glasgow and Scotland’s role in the cultural boycott of apartheid.
Honorary Consul for South Africa in Scotland, Brian Filling, a GCU honorary graduate, will launch the event at 5.30pm on Tuesday, April 5.
Mr Filling, founding Chair of the Scottish Committee of the Anti-Apartheid Movement, said: “This exhibition provides a fascinating insight into one of the most significant and successful campaigns in Britain in support of the people of South Africa in their fight against apartheid and includes several display panels relating specifically to the campaign in Scotland, including Nelson Mandela’s visit to Glasgow in 1993 to receive the Freedoms of nine UK cities. GCU is to be congratulated on hosting this unique exhibition.”
The links between GCU and the new South Africa were first forged when Nelson Mandela was released from prison and the University offered him an honorary degree – the first university in the world to do so. Part of Mr Mandela’s acceptance of the honour was the condition that GCU offered concrete support for reconstruction and development in South Africa.
Now GCU is to make the full story of Scotland’s role in the movement accessible to researchers and the community. It has been awarded funding from the National Archives Cataloguing Grants Programme for a Project Archivist to spend 10 months cataloguing the collection, which offers rich research potential. A hundred key documents will be selected for digitisation and promotion at the end of the cataloguing project next year.
Forward to Freedom, created by the AAM Archives Committee, will be launched at GCU on April 5. To register to attend the launch visit Eventbrite.
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