Badge, 'Oppose Apartheid'

item details

NameBadge, 'Oppose Apartheid'

ProductionUnknown; 1976; New Zealand

Classificationbadges

Materialspaper, ink, plastic, metal

DimensionsOverall: 44mm (width), 44mm (height), 4mm (depth), 44mm (diameter)

Registration NumberGH024495

Credit lineGift of the Estate of Ron and Carmen Smith, 2015

Overview

This badge was probably made by either HART (Halt All Racist Tours) or CARE (Campaign for Racial Equality) to advertise a protest march on 28 May 1976 against the All Black rugby tour of South Africa. Opposition failed to reverse the decision, and the All Blacks left for South Africa on 22 June 1976.

Context

In 1970, the All Blacks went to South Africa as a multiracial team, but only because the South African government allowed Maori to travel as ‘honorary whites’. Many people attacked the New Zealand Rugby Football Union for this demeaning of Maori players, and argued that New Zealand was condoning apartheid by continuing to play South African sports teams. When the All Blacks went to South Africa again in 1976, many African countries boycotted the Montreal Olympic Games that year in protest.