60 x 42 cms, printed in green on white stock paper by silkscreen printing. With a small purple stamp, ‘Printed at CAP, Chapel Street, Woodstock.’ at the bottom. It is typical of the hand-produced political poster tradition of the Cape anti-apartheid movement being cheap and fast to produce, visually bold, and untraceable to a commercial printer. Green on white would have been striking and legible from a distance. The silkscreen method meant small runs could be produced without leaving a paper trail at a commercial press, which was important under the security legislation of the time. The distribution was mainly done during the early hours of the morning by volunteers. The security police tried to remove as many as they could.
In this case the purple stamp is unusual and may suggest it was a master copy print intended specifically for internal workshop record-keeping. CAP famously kept a strict internal repository, saving five clean, marked copies of every single poster pulled from the screens. (Mayibuye Archives).
The Call of Islam organisation was formed in 1984, under the leadership of Ebrahim Rassool, and Farid Essack. The main objectives were to conscientise the Muslim community, as a pressure group against the apartheid government. It became an affiliate of the UDF (United Democratic Front), alongside many other organisations of different persuasions and religions, across the colour spectrum.
It was particularly effective in rallying the public to mass meetings, organising marches, mass attendance at court hearings and generally harassing the Nationalist government. The two leaders have become prominent individuals today, Ebrahim Rassool, the ex-premier of the Western Cape and former ambassador to the USA. Professor Farid Essack is now an internationally renowned lecturer in Islamic studies in Germany.
The call of Islam disbanded, along with the UDF in 1994, when the ANC returned to South Africa.
CAP (The Community Arts Project) was established in Cape Town in 1977. Originally located at 17 Main Road, Mowbray, the facility moved to the old St. Philips School in Chapel Street in Woodstock in 1982. It was founded as a response to the 1976 Youth Uprising, as well as to the need for accommodation and facilities to be used by all artists, many of whom lived in marginalised communities or in areas where facilities were minimal if any. It closed in 2008.
- Overall Condition: Very good
- Size: 60 x 42 cms
