Anti - Tour Badges:These badges were created mainly due to the creativeness and ingenuity of HART campaign leaders.
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The HART, Halt All Racist Tours, organisation was originally organised by John Minto in 1969 to protest against anti-black tours to and from South Africa especially the Tour set up for 1970. “This was a major challenge to New Zealand values” (5) as New Zealanders had to decide whether racist implications or rugby games were more important. HART became known all around the world as New Zealand's main anti-apartheid and anti-tour organization. In the initial stages, the primary focus was to enforce the sports boycott of South Africa in New Zealand, something the Government, namely Robert Muldoon was hesitant to commit to. “'I think the most important impact of the tour in New Zealand was to stimulate the whole debate about racism and about the place of Maori in our community” (6) (John Minto). The campaigning and protesting created a huge impact in New Zealand and around the world and to accomplish this HART worked with other anti-tour and anti-apartheid groups such as CARE, Citizens’ Association for Racial Equality. Their work paid off and all sporting ties between New Zealand and South Africa ended until the collapse of the apartheid system in 1990. As HART grew, they began campaigning against all contacts with South Africa and in 1980 they “merged with the National Anti-Apartheid Committee, becoming HART: the New Zealand Anti-Apartheid Movement” (7). HART:NZAAM worked to end all contact with apartheid South Africa including political, economic, social and cultural isolation of the separation of their regime. HART operated for more than 20 years to raise public awareness of the violence and oppression of apartheid throughout New Zealand and slowly to the rest of the world.
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