Halt All Racist Tours badge

This badge was worn by protesters against contacts between South African and New Zealand sporting teams in the 1970s. It was either worn during the lead up to the proposed South African rugby tour of New Zealand in 1973, or the All Blacks tour of South Africa in 1976.

In 1973, the anti-apartheid movement threatened nationwide non-violent disruption if the tour went ahead. This was averted when the Labour government (under Prime Minister Norman Kirk) refused to issue visas to allow the Springbok team to tour the country for fear of disruption and violence. However, the 1976 tour did go ahead, resulting in many African countries boycotting the Montreal Olympic Games in protest.

HART / Heart

HART (Halt All Racist Tours) was formed as a national body in Auckland in 1969 to halt the proposed rugby tour of South Africa in 1970. Its name was coined by Tama Poata.

The split black and white heart motif of HART became the most well-known symbol of the anti-apartheid movement. It neatly makes visual the double meaning of the movement's acronym: that black and white are together and part of the same human heart. It was designed in 1971 by a Christchurch screen printer and was easy for anyone to quickly draw, paint or print.

Small but powerful

Trevor Richards, Chair of HART, noted that badges were a very popular form of protest material culture. He observed that in the early 1970s a ‘cause hadn't made it if there wasn't the badge to buy. HART sold tens of thousands of them each year’ (Richards 1999, 75).

Reference:

Richards, T. (1999). Dancing on our bones: New Zealand, South Africa, rugby and racism, Bridget Williams Books, Wellington.