Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute (1988) at Wembley Stadium

The Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute was a concert held at Wembley Stadium in London on 11 June 1988 to call for the release of Nelson Mandela, the jailed leader of the African National Congress (ANC). Watched by about 72,000 people in the stadium and broadcast to an estimated audience of several hundred million in more than 60 countries, it turned a prisoner unseen for a quarter of a century into a household name. The concert was a turning point in the international campaign against apartheid, South Africa’s system of racial segregation.

Background: Mandela in prison

Nelson Mandela had been sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964 at the Rivonia Trial for sabotage and plotting against the state. He spent 18 years on Robben Island and was moved to Pollsmoor Prison near Cape Town in 1982. Because the South African government banned the publication of his words and images, few people outside South Africa knew what he looked like by the 1980s.

Within South Africa the 1980s brought mass protests, states of emergency and thousands of detentions, continuing a pattern of resistance seen in the Soweto uprising of 1976. Abroad, the “Free Mandela” campaign grew rapidly. In 1984 the British band The Special AKA, led by Jerry Dammers, released the hit single “Nelson Mandela”, which became an anthem of the movement.

Organising the concert

The idea of a large concert came from Jerry Dammers, who had founded the group Artists Against Apartheid, and the producer Tony Hollingsworth, who worked with the Anti-Apartheid Movement in Britain. Hollingsworth argued that a positive celebration of Mandela’s birthday, rather than an openly anti-apartheid rally, would win over broadcasters and reach a much wider audience.

The approach worked. The BBC agreed to broadcast most of the concert, and television companies in dozens of countries bought the rights. The birthday framing made it easier for broadcasters and big-name artists to take part, although the purpose of the event, to demand Mandela’s freedom, was made clear on the day.

The concert

The concert began in the early afternoon of 11 June 1988 and lasted around 11 hours. The line-up included Dire Straits, joined by Eric Clapton, as well as Sting, Whitney Houston, George Michael, Eurythmics, Simple Minds, Peter Gabriel, the Bee Gees and UB40. African artists included Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela and Youssou N’Dour, and actors and comedians introduced the acts between performances.

Several moments became famous. Simple Minds performed “Mandela Day”, written for the occasion. Peter Gabriel sang “Biko”, his song about the anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, who died in police custody in 1977. When a technical problem delayed Stevie Wonder’s set, the young singer Tracy Chapman performed a second, unplanned solo slot, and the exposure helped make her debut album an international hit.

Throughout the concert speakers and performers called for Mandela’s release, and Jerry Dammers’ song “Nelson Mandela” remained the best-known anthem of the campaign.

Key people

• Nelson Mandela (1918–2013), the ANC leader imprisoned since 1962, in whose honour the concert was held. He was held at Pollsmoor Prison at the time.
• Tony Hollingsworth, the producer who devised the concert’s format and sold the television rights around the world.
• Jerry Dammers, founder of The Specials and of Artists Against Apartheid, who wrote the song “Nelson Mandela” and helped bring musicians on board.
• The Anti-Apartheid Movement, the British campaign group founded in 1959, which used the concert to launch a summer of protest for Mandela’s freedom.
• Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, the long-standing president of the Anti-Apartheid Movement, was among the campaign’s leading public figures.

A global audience

The scale of the broadcast was what made the event unusual. Television stations in more than 60 countries showed the concert, and the organisers estimated the audience at around 600 million people. Such figures are hard to check, but there is no doubt that it reached viewers in many countries where Mandela’s name had been little known.

The concert also mattered because of where it was not shown. It was not shown on South African state television, and Mandela’s image could still not legally be published inside the country. For the government in Pretoria, the international attention was an unwelcome sign that its most famous prisoner had become a global cause.

For many young people in Europe and North America, the concert was their first introduction to apartheid. Record sales, media coverage and the involvement of famous artists made solidarity with black South Africans part of mainstream popular culture, rather than a cause limited to activists and students.

Controversy and broadcasting

The event caused political argument in Britain. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher opposed economic sanctions against South Africa and had described the ANC as a terrorist organisation in 1987. Some Conservative MPs criticised the BBC for broadcasting what they saw as a political rally.

In the United States the Fox television network showed an edited version of the concert. Critics, including some of the performers, complained that it removed or reduced political speeches and references to apartheid, presenting it mainly as a music show.

Consequences

The concert gave the campaign to free Mandela a new level of public attention, especially among young people who had little previous knowledge of South Africa. Shortly afterwards a Nelson Mandela Freedom March set off from Glasgow, arriving in London for a large rally in Hyde Park in July 1988.

Inside South Africa, pressure on the government continued to grow. Mandela turned 70 in Pollsmoor Prison on 18 July 1988 and was moved to Victor Verster Prison near Paarl later that year. In February 1990 the new president, F. W. de Klerk, lifted the ban on the ANC and Mandela was set free (see the release of Nelson Mandela). On 16 April 1990 Mandela spoke in person at a second Wembley concert, thanking supporters around the world for their campaign.

Legacy

The 1988 tribute is often compared with Live Aid, which had used the same stadium three years earlier. Where Live Aid raised money for famine relief, the Mandela concert used popular music to support an openly political goal, and it is regarded as one of the most successful examples of a concert used for a campaign.

Historians generally see the end of apartheid as the result of resistance inside South Africa, economic pressures and negotiations, with international solidarity playing a supporting role. Within that wider story, the Wembley concert is remembered as the moment when Mandela became a global symbol of freedom.

Timeline

• 1964, June: Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life imprisonment at the Rivonia Trial.
• 1982: Mandela is moved from Robben Island to Pollsmoor Prison.
• 1984: The Special AKA release the single “Nelson Mandela”.
• 1988, 11 June: The Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute takes place at Wembley Stadium.
• 1988, 18 July: Mandela turns 70 in prison.
• 1990, 11 February: Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison.
• 1990, 16 April: Mandela appears at a second Wembley concert to thank supporters.

Why it matters

The Wembley tribute brought the case of a single political prisoner to hundreds of millions of people and made “Free Nelson Mandela” a global demand. It showed how popular culture and television could support a political campaign, and it remains one of the best-known moments of the international struggle against apartheid.