he book offers a frank account of an African state that shook off colonial rule but has yet to see the fruits of independence distributed evenly among its people. Drawing on inside knowledge of SWAPO, the anti-colonial liberation movement, the author provides a valuable case study of nation building in the modern era.
In the late 1970s, at the age of nineteen, Oiva Angula left his home in Windhoek and went into exile in Angola, where he joined SWAPO’s military wing, PLAN. After working for the movement as a political instructor, he was wrongly branded an apartheid spy and traitor during a series of purges within the organisation. SWAPO Captive is Angula’s terrifying account of betrayal and torture by his comrades, and his imprisonment for four and a half years in the omalambo – the hidden pits in Lubango, Angola, into which he, along with many others, was cast and left to die. SWAPO Captive threads together personal narrative and national history, including Angula’s childhood in South West Africa, the rising tensions sparked by apartheid rule, his father’s role in early liberation movements, and his own politicisation and decision to join the struggle. He gives fascinating accounts of life in a PLAN training camp, political education in the Eastern Bloc, and a cadre’s role in the war for independence. Most of all, this is a story about endurance and courage among people who were cruelly imprisoned, about their camaraderie and hope that one day they would face their captors as free men and women. Angula challenges the ‘wall of silence’ imposed after independence in Namibia with respect to possible war crimes committed by SWAPO, exposing the dark past of a party that claimed to fight for freedom for all.
Namibia’s main liberation movement, the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO), relied heavily on outside support for its armed struggle against South Africa’s occupation of what it called South West Africa. While East Germany’s solidarity with Namibia’s struggle for national self-determination has received attention, little research has been done on West Germany’s policy towards Namibia, which must be seen against the backdrop of inter-German rivalry. The impact of the wider realities of the Cold War on Namibia’s rocky path to independence leaves ample room for research and new interpretations. In West Germany and Namibia’s Path to Independence, 1969-1990: Foreign Policy and Rivalry with East Germany, Thorsten Kern shows that German division played a vital role in West Germany’s position towards Namibia during the Cold War. West German foreign policy towards Namibia, at the height of the Namibian liberation struggle, is investigated and discussed against the backdrop of rivalry with East Germany. The two states’ deeply diverging policies, characterised in this context by competition for infuence over SWAPO, were strongly affected by the Cold War rivalry between the capitalist West and the communist East. Yet ultimately the dynamics of rapprochement helped to bring about Namibia’s independence. This book is based upon a doctoral dissertation presented to the University of Cape Town in 2016. Kern conducted research in the National Archives of Namibia and in German archives and his work draws on interviews with contemporary witnesses.
When Namibia gained its independence from South Africa in 1990, the new government began dismantling the divisive apartheid state and building a unified nation-state. What does this new nation look like from the perspective of ordinary citizens? In Lyrical Nationalism in Post-Apartheid Namibia, Wendi Haugh provides an ethnographic portrayal of the nation as imagined by people living in the former ethnic homeland of Ovamboland, with a particular focus on the lyrics of songs composed and performed by Catholic youth. The author argues that these youth draw on conflicting ideologies—hierarchical and egalitarian, nationalist and cosmopolitan—from multiple sources to construct a multi-faceted sense of national identity. She reveals how their vision of the nation—framed as neutrally national—is deeply rooted in specific local histories and cultures.
At the beginning of 1977, several members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council prepared a joint diplomatic initiative to resolve the deadlock over South Africa's illegal occupation of Namibia. In this book, Hans-Joachim Vergau, a key participant in the ensuing negotiations, analyses the multifaceted political and diplomatic developments - as well as dramatic setbacks - that followed the initiative. "This book provides a precise view of the long diplomatic struggle to achieve Namibia's independence through UN activities from the perspective of one of Germany's most influential diplomats. Hans-Joachim Vergau's commitment to the cause of independence bridged dangerous periods, including those during which Western powers and even his superiors did not apply the necessary pressure on South Africa. They prevaricated, until the apartheid regime started to crumble." Prof. Dr. Helmut Bley, University of Hannover
Provides a new perspective on the struggle against apartheid, and contributes to key debates in South African history, gender inequality, sexual violence, and the legacies of the liberation struggle.
100 years since the end of German colonial rule in Namibia, the relationship between the former colonial power and the Namibian communities who were affected by its brutal colonial policies remains problematic, and interpretations of the past are still contested. This book examines the ongoing debates, conflicts and confrontations over the past. It scrutinises the consequences of German colonial rule, its impact on the descendants of victims of the 1904–08 genocide, Germany’s historical responsibility, and ways in which post-colonial reconciliation might be achieved.