The Nordic Africa Institute

Photos from Isolate South Africa Committee (ISAC)

The Isolate South Africa Committee (Isolera Sydafrika-Kommitteén), ISAC, was constituted on 15 January 1979 after some preparation work during the autumn of 1978 performed by a group initiated by the Africa Groups of Sweden (AGS) together with some political and Christian youth organizations.

This page will soon be updated with a gallery of photos.

The mission was to arrange an annual campaign for isolating apartheid South Africa with the following slogans: Do not buy South African products, Free the Political Prisoners, Dismantle Swedish Investments in South Africa, No Trade with South Africa, No Sport or Cultural Exchange with Official South Africa, Support the Liberation Struggle, Support ANC, South Africa out of Namibia and Support SWAPO. These were the objectives of the organization as well. Accordingly the name of the organization was at the beginning the Isolate South Africa Campaign.

ISAC was an umbrella organization consisting of a variety of organizations in one way or another engaged in the support for the struggle against apartheid and colonialism in southern Africa. All national organizations which could agree with the above mentioned slogans were welcome to become members. ISAC was mainly aimed at campaigning and its archive consists mostly of different types of campaign material. ISAC had at its peak 70 member organizations representing around 1.5 million individual members. All sectors of the Swedish society were represented except for the business sector, the conservative party and the extreme right wing parties, all of whom chose to stay out.

ISAC got good coverage in the Swedish mass media. The press cuttings material is extensive. Important organizations within sport, culture and other areas invited ISAC to negotiations and cooperation. Private and official decision-makers had to take the existence of ISAC into consideration in some way when planning their activities involving Southern Africa. The solidarity work was eventually successful when imports of South African agricultural products were forbidden in 1985 and total trade sanctions were decided upon in 1987.