France / République Française
The first French anti-apartheid activities date from the 1960s. Many activities and organisations worked along French party-political lines. France played an important role in supporting apartheid since it was the main arms supplier to South Africa between 1963 and 1975 and assisted the government’s nuclear programme. The growth of the AA movement in general was supported by the opening of an ANC office in Paris in 1981.
Anti-Apartheid Organisations/People
National Gathering against Apartheid / Rencontre National contre l’Apartheid (RNCA)
RNCA was a national organisation which started in the 1970s as L’Association Française d’Amitié avec les Peuples d’Afrique (AFASPA). AFASPA was created by trade unionists and anti-colonialists and most of it activities were focussed on the French colonies. In 1986 RNCA was formed by AFASPA to focus solely on anti-apartheid activities. In the beginning it mainly worked towards the implementation of sanctions but it later became a strong supporter of the ANC office in Paris. RNCA continues to operate as Rencontre National avec le People d’Afrique du Sud (RENAPAS).
The Archives Départementales du Val de Marne has recently received many archival materials from Jacqueline Dérens, the former president and they will be catalogued soon.
The National Library in Paris has the entire collection of the newsletters.
Other Organisations/People
Movement against Racism and for Friendship among Peoples / Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l’Amitié entre les Peuples (MRAP)
MRAP was established in the 1941 under the name Mouvement National contre le Racisme as a general anti-racism organisation. It changed its name to MRAP in 1972. It worked with other national and international organisations in anti-apartheid campaigns.
The organisation holds its own archives.
