Constitution of the South West Africa People's Organization
SWAPO Constitution as adopted by the meeting of the Central Committee: 28 July - 1 August 1976, Lusaka Zambia.
SWAPO of Namibia
SWAPO Department of Publicity and Information, Lusaka
1976
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Political Document
The Management of a Dominant Political Party system with particular reference to Namibia
Since independence SWAPO Party has gone through a transition and transformation process, from a liberation movement to a political party. It is committed to the principle of a multi-party democracy and therefore to multi-partyism as enshrined in the Constitution. SWAPO Party is presently opposed in Parliament by some small, mostly ethnic based political parties. The most important one is presently the Congress of Democrats (COD) which was supported by 7.27% of the electorate during the 2004 National Assembly elections. COD is the only opposition party that can claim limited support throughout Namibia. In general, it can be said that due to a weak opposition there is no political counterweight of any relevance in Namibia. All political parties represented in the National Assembly take ideologically spoken a middle position in the political spectrum. Party political programmes of those parties represented in the National Assembly do not differ fundamentally from those of the SWAPO Party on most issues. The opposition parties are divided among themselves and from time to time split up into smaller groups.
Gerhard Tötemeyer
http://www.fesnam.org/pdf/2007/reports_publications/Toetemeyer_DominantPoliticalPartySystem_Namibia2007.pdf
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and FRELlMO
2007
© Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and Gerhard Tötemeyer, 2007
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Denmark and national liberation in Southern Africa : a flexible response
This book describes and documents the development of Danish support to national liberation in Southern Africa and the two-sided humanitarian and political character of this support. It is based on previously restricted Danish ministry records and on NGO archives and interviews.The Nordic countries were unique in the Western world in their support to individuals, organisations and refugees, struggling to end institutionalised colonialism and racism and alleviate their humanitarian consequences. Nordic support was humanitarian and civilian, and to a large extent was given to refugees and to education. Increasingly, it came to involve national liberation movements and financial support to their civilian activities, at a time when these movements were politically and militarily struggling against the regimes in their countries-including the government of Portugal, a NATO military partner of Norway and Denmark.Danish support developed differently from that of the other Nordic countries. Official support was never given directly to liberation movements. Rather, Danish NGOs were employed to advise on Danish allocations and to distribute these allocations and carry out activities, using their own capacity or through their international networks. In the field of sanctions, Denmark shifted from a policy of awaiting a UN Security Council decision to imposing unilateral trade sanctions as the first Western country to do so, and the book analyses the political developments behind this.The study seeks to determine the events, rationales, arguments and decisions that led to the various forms of Danish support. Key questions are how Danish support was established as a purely humanitarian facility that later developed into supporting also the liberation movements, and how boycott was first considered to be an issue for the individual but eventually became national, official policy. The study seeks to describe why support and sanctions developed in the way and at the pace they did. Major factors involved were Danish public awareness of developments in Southern Africa, domestic political debates and mobilisation through NGOs.This focus on processes of change has been necessary in a field of Danish foreign relations that during the course of the research was recognised as being a very wide as well as a very interesting one. As a new field of research, and with the majority of the sources never having been studied before, this study has an aim to provide a platform for other researchers, journalists and students. Hopefully it will inspire others to investigate the whole issue further-or to consider it in a different perspective.
Christopher Munthe Morgenstierne
http://nai.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:241390/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Nordic Africa Institute
2003
© Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
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Sweden and National Liberation in Southern Africa (vol. 2)
Sweden’s and the other Nordic countries’ support for the national liberation process and struggle against apartheid was unique in the international context both in regard to the size of the financial support and the extensive popular involvement. This book attempts to document the involvement of Sweden in the Southern African struggles against colonialism, occupation and white minority rule. While Volume I set out to identify the actors and factors behind the involvement, the aim of the present volume is to illustrate the Swedish participation. The focus of this study is on official assistance to the national liberation movements but the important role played by the organized Swedish solidarity movement and other non-governmental organizations also forms part of the narration. The study also attempts to contribute to a broader understanding of the international aspects of the Thirty Years’ War in the region, a significant chapter in the quest for national self-determination, democracy and human rights towards the end of the troubled 20th century. Primarily written for the general reader interested in relations between Sweden and the Southern African liberation movements, the presentation should also provide material and theoretical enquiries with regard to, for example, Swedish foreign policy in the cold war era; regional developments in a bipolar world; and the diplomatic initiatives, political alliances and material conditions of the different movements. This book is a part of the Nordic Africa Institute’s Research Project National Liberation in Southern Africa. The Role of the Nordic Countries. The result of the project is a unique documentation, mainly drawing on hitherto restricted official primary sources. This book, together with the other studies published within the project, forms a valuable reference source for everyone interested in the 20th century history of Southern Africa in particular or North/South and international relations in general. Part 1: Formation of a popular opinion (1950-1970) Part 2: Solidarity and Assistance 1970–1994
Tor Sellström (ed.)
http://nai.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:241772/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Nordic Africa Institute
2002
© Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
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Sweden and National Liberation in Southern Africa (vol. 1)
Sweden’s and the other Nordic countries’ support for the national liberation process and struggle against apartheid was unique in the international context both in regard to the size of the financial support and the extensive popular involvement. This book attempts to document the involvement of Sweden in the Southern African struggles against colonialism, occupation and white minority rule. While Volume I set out to identify the actors and factors behind the involvement, the aim of the present volume is to illustrate the Swedish participation. The focus of this study is on official assistance to the national liberation movements but the important role played by the organized Swedish solidarity movement and other non-governmental organizations also forms part of the narration. The study also attempts to contribute to a broader understanding of the international aspects of the Thirty Years’ War in the region, a significant chapter in the quest for national self-determination, democracy and human rights towards the end of the troubled 20th century. Primarily written for the general reader interested in relations between Sweden and the Southern African liberation movements, the presentation should also provide material and theoretical enquiries with regard to, for example, Swedish foreign policy in the cold war era; regional developments in a bipolar world; and the diplomatic initiatives, political alliances and material conditions of the different movements. This book is a part of the Nordic Africa Institute’s Research Project National Liberation in Southern Africa. The Role of the Nordic Countries. The result of the project is a unique documentation, mainly drawing on hitherto restricted official primary sources. This book, together with the other studies published within the project, forms a valuable reference source for everyone interested in the 20th century history of Southern Africa in particular or North/South and international relations in general. Part 1: Formation of a popular opinion (1950-1970) Part 2: Solidarity and Assistance 1970–1994
Tor Sellström (ed.)
http://nai.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:272713/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Nordic Africa Institute
1999
© Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
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The security-development nexus : expressions of Sovereignty and securitization in Southern Africa
The link between security and development has been rediscovered after 9/11 by a broad range of scholars. Focusing on Southern Africa, the Security-Development Nexus shows that the much debated linkage is by no means a recent invention. Rather, the security/development linkage has been an important element of the state policies of colonial as well as post-colonial regimes during the Cold War, and it seems to be prospering in new configurations under the present wave of democratic transitions. Contributors focus on a variety of contexts from South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia, to Zimbabwe and Democratic Congo; they explore the nexus and our understanding of security and development through the prism of peace-keeping interventions, community policing, human rights, gender, land contests, squatters, nation and state-building, social movements, DDR programmes and the different trajectories democratization has taken in different parts of the region.
Lars Buur, Steffen Jensen and Finn Stepputat (eds.)
http://nai.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:275697/FULLTEXT02.pdf
Nordic Africa Institute & HSRC Press (Cape Town)
2007
© Urban Dynamics 2011
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From Südwestafrika to Namibia : the political economy of transition
Reginald Green
http://nai.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:274862/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Nordic Africa Institute
1981
© Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
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Nordic organisations in independent Namibia : report from a conference in Sigtuna, 9-10 March, 1989
Nordic organisations in independent Namibia : report from a conference in Sigtuna, 9-10 March, 1989
Bertil Högberg (ed.)
http://nai.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:277706/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Nordic Africa Institute
1989
© Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
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Political opposition in African countries : the cases of Kenya, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe
This Discussion Paper is another result of the project “Liberation and Democracy in Southern Africa” (LiDeSA), which was coordinated at the Institute between 2001 and 2006. The papers are revised versions of presentations to a Session of the Research Committee “Comparative Sociology” at the XVI World Congress of Sociology held at the end of July 2006 in Durban. They explore the role of opposition parties under different aspects in several East and Southern African countries, which differ according to the socio-political determinants.
Karolina Hulterström, Amin Y. Kamete, Henning Melber
http://nai.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:241143/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Nordic Africa Institute
2007
© Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
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Re-examining liberation in Namibia : political culture since independence
From 1960, SWAPO of Namibia led the organised and later armed struggle for independence. In late 1989, the liberation movement was finally elected to power under United Nations supervision as the legitimate government. When the Republic of Namibia was proclaimed on 21 March 1990, the long and bitter struggle for sovereignty came to an end. This volume takes stock of emerging trends in the country's political culture since independence. The contributions, mainly by authors from Namibia and Southern Africa who supported the anti-colonial movements, critically explore the achievements and shortcomings that have been part of liberation in Namibia.
Henning Melber (ed.)
http://nai.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:241396/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Nordic Africa Institute
2003
© Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
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Transition in Southern Africa : comparative aspects
The 1990s completed a process of transition in Namibia and South Africa that brought formal decolonisation in Africa to an end. These two contributions review some aspects of the transformation and complement each other. They take stock of the transformation in a historical, comparative perspective and investigate the experiences and prospects of democratisation under sovereign, legitimate political rule. They were compiled subsequent to a public lecture arranged by the Nordic Africa Institute and given by Christopher Saunders on "The Transitions to Democracy in Namibia and South Africa" on 5 April 2001. Henning Melber was a discussant at the presentation.
Henning Melber & Christopher Saunders
http://nai.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:248856/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Nordic Africa Institute
2001
© Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
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Reference No. AA.3: Guide to the SWAPO Collection in the Basler Afrika Bibliographien
The Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB) in Basel, Switzerland, houses a special archival collection on SWAPO. The collection contains primarily printed material from SWAPO and about SWAPO dating from the 1960s to 1990. Thus, the collection covers a variety of perspectives on the history of SWAPO and the Namibian liberation struggle. A steady flow of new acquisitions led to the decision to bring out a revised and enlarged edition of the Guide to the SWAPO collection in the BAB first published in 1994. An introduction provides the reader with an overview of collecting material and conducting research on SWAPO and the Namibian liberation struggle since the country achieved independence in 1990. An extensive inventory then forms the core of the archival guide. The inventory lists every single document in the collection and provides a short description of its content. An index of personal names mentioned in the inventory concludes the archival section of the guide. The biographical section that follows, compiled by Susanne Hubler, contains a list of publications on SWAPO in the BAB library with around 650 entries.
Giorgio Miescher
https://baslerafrika.ch/en/publishing-house/publications-shop/products/registratur-aa-3-enlarged-revised-edition-guide-swapo-collection-basler-afrika-bibliographien/
Basler Afrika Bibliographien
2006
© Basler Afrika Bibliographien
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Reference No. AA.1: Namibia. Press Archives and Ephemera - Reference No. AA.2 Namibia’s Independence
"Die Sammlung AA.1 im Allgemeinen Archiv der Basler Afrika Bibliographien besteht aus einer umfangreichen, zufälligen Ansammlung von Presseartikeln und Ephemera aus und zu Namibia, d.h. Prospekten, Broschüren, Formularen, Werbung und Flugblättern jeglicher Art. Sie umfasst jene Dokumente und Materialien, die in den anderen BAB Sammlungen (Bibliothek, Foto–Archiv; Kalendersammlung, Kartensammlung, Personenarchiv und Plakatsammlung), nicht aufgenommen werden. Derzeit besteht die Sammlung aus rund 50 Archivschachteln. Es handelt sich um eine laufende, thematisch offene Sammlung, die keinen Anspruch auf Vollständigkeit erhebt; sie wird nur grob geordnet. Sie bietet zu unzähligen Themen Stoff– sammlungen, die sowohl über eine gewisse Aktualität wie auch historische Kontinuität verfügen. Damit kann die Sammlung Forschenden manchen unverhofften Einblick verschaffen, manches unerwartetes Dokument bieten. Ursprünglich von Carl Schlettwein als laufendes Presse- und Dokumentationsarchiv zu Namibia angelegt, wurde die Sammlung 1994 durch Thorsten Hinz erstmals in einer Registratur erfasst.1 Später wurde sie von Pierrette Schlettwein neu konzipiert und wesentlich ausgeweitet.2 Simon Lutz überarbeitete die Sammlung im Jahr 2009 vollständig, eine Arbeit, die mit dieser Registratur ihren Abschluss findet. --- Die Sammlung AA.2 besteht aus einer breiten, von Carl Schlettwein zusammengetragenen Auswahl von Presseartikeln und Ephemera (Broschüren, Handzettel usw.) zur Unabhängigkeit Namibias, mit einem Schwerpunkt auf den Zeitraum 1989/1990. Die Ephemera zu (politischen) Organisationen in Namibia wurden vor Ort von Dag Henrichsen und Werner Hillebrecht gesammelt. Die Sammlung besteht aus drei Archivschachteln und wurde 1994 von Sabine Schmidt und Thorsten Hinz in einer detaillierten Registratur erfasst.4 Simon Lutz überarbeitete nun das Inhaltsverzeichnis der Registratur, nachdem manche Archivmappe der Sammlung aufgelöst wurde. Zeitschriften, die ursprünglich Teil der Sammlung waren, wurden in die Bibliotheksbestände integriert. Korrespon– denzmappen gelangten in das BAB Institutsarchiv, Plakate in die Plakatsammlung. Manches relevante Einzeldokument wurde der Sammlung neu beigegeben. Inzwischen umfasst die Sammlung ausschliesslich gedruckte Materialien. Das folgende Inhaltsverzeichnis zeigt die Veränderungen auf. Die Registratur selbst bleibt brauchbar, siehe das pdf Dokument auf der Webseite. Die AA.2. Sammlung ist nicht die einzige Sammlung, die Dokumente zur Unab– hängigkeit Namibias beinhaltet. Auch die Sammlungen AA.1 sowie die SWAPO Sammlung AA.35 beziehen sich in Teilen auf die namibische Unabhängigkeit."
Simon Lutz
https://baslerafrika.ch/en/publishing-house/publications-shop/products/registratur-aa-1-aa-2-aa-1-namibia-pressearchiv-und-graue-literatur-aa-2-namibias-unabhaengigkeit/
Basler Afrika Bibliographien
2010
© Basler Afrika Bibliographien
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Namibia und Südafrika: Befreiungsbewegungen an der Macht
"Die Arbeit vergleicht die Entwicklungslinien zwischen Namibia und Südafrika. Beide Länder sind geprägt durch einen jahrzehntelangen Befreiungskampf der Befreiungsbewegungen – South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) in Namibia und African National Congress (ANC) in Südafrika – gegen das südafrikanische Apartheidregime. Der Fokus der Arbeit liegt auf der Rhetorik der politischen Eliten der Befreiungsbewegun - gen und der Regierungsparteien von SWAPO und ANC, insbesondere auf der speziellen Rhetorik im Umgang mit der Vergangenheit. Denn wie erinnern SWAPO und ANC ihr historisches Erbe aus dem Befreiungskampf? Was für eine Rhetorik benutz(t)en sie damals und heute? Das Augenmerk dieser Arbeit liegt auch auf der politischen Sozialisation und politischen Kultur der Eliten. Dazu werden die Einflüsse auf die Befreiungsbewegungen beleuchtet, wie Exil, Gefangenschaft, Gewalt oder die Atmosphäre von Geheimhaltung und Misstrauen. Welche Auswirkungen kann ein solches historisches Erbe für die politische Kultur haben? Weiterhin werden die personellen und strukturellen Kontinuitäten aus der Zeit des Befreiungskampfes bis in die Gegenwart untersucht: Sind führende Positionen noch immer von denselben Personen besetzt oder ist eine neue Generation angetreten?" BAB Working Paper 2013:02 Presented at the Basler Afrika Bibliographien 9 April 2013
Silke Isaak-Finhold
http://baslerafrika.ch/wp-content/uploads/WP-2013-2-Isaak.pdf
Basler Afrika Bibliographien
2013
© The author © Basler Afrika Bibliographien
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Battlefront Namibia: An Autobiography
The former Labor Minister of SWAPO (Southwest Africa People's Organization) recounts his personal saga of developing political commitment, conflict with the Boer adversary, imprisonment, torture, trial, rustication, and the agonizing decision to flee his homeland. His experience affords the reader an unusual perspective on black-white relations in Namibia and the (necessarily) subterranean world of black politics there.
John Ya Otto: with Ole Gjerstad and Michael Meer
Lawrence Hill & Co.
1981
© John Ya Otto, 1981
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"Go and Come Back Home:" A Namibian's Journey into Exile and Back
Dr. Schivute, who had been a member of SWAPO since 1960, left Namibia in 1962. He graduated in 1969 and became one of Namibia's first medical doctors to qualify under SWAPO's mass education programme. Over and above his MD, he gained further medical experiences in Poland and Finland. In Europe, he specialized in Critical Care Medicine and anesthesiology until 1978, when he joined the Liberation movement in Angola.
Marcus Schivute
Gamsberg Macmillan
1997
© Marcus Schivute 1997
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Where Others Wavered: The Autobiography of Sam Nujoma - My Life in SWAPO and My Participation in the Liberation Struggle of Namibia
"A tour de force from "the other Nelson Mandela!" Political determination, diplomatic endeavour, and military perseverance all focused with singular vision and unwavering constancy on Namibia's goal of nationhood have been the hallmarks of the life and career of Sam Nujoma. From a traditional boyhood, to a player on the international political stage, to the Presidency of his country, SAM NUJOMA tells his life story. It is at once unique and representative of the lives of men and women engaged with him in their battle for freedom from the last vestiges of Western colonialism in 20th century Africa. Where Others Wavered, The Autobiography of Sam Nujoma is a genuine adventure in contemporary history, relating the story of SWAPO, Nujoma and the people of Namibia in their long struggle for the Independence of Namibia.
Contents
1 Background and Early Years
2 Walvis Bay and Windhoek
3 The Formation of the Ovamboland People's Organization (OPO)
4 Political Confrontation: the Popular Windhoek Uprising
5 Escape from South West Africa
6 Ghana and the United Nations
7 The Establishment of the SWAPO Office in Dar-es-Salaam
8 Preparation for Armed Liberation Struggle
9 Sixteen Hours in Windhoek
10 The Hague Court ~ A 'Mockery of Justice'
11 From Caprivi to Omugulu-gOmbashe
12 The Struggle Intensifies on All Fronts
13 Workers' Struggle and Diplomatic Advance
14 Worldwide Recognition
15 Waldheim Initiatives
16 Collapse of The Portuguese Empire in Africa
17 SWAPO ~ Home and Exile
18 Resolution 385 and the Kissinger 'Shuttle'
19 The Western Contact Group
20 US Policy towards Namibia in the 1970s and 1980s
21 Geneva and the Reagan Years
22 At the Height of the War, 1980~1985
23 From Strength to Strength, 1985~1989
24 In Sight of Victory
25 Final Days of the Struggle for Independence
26 Return to Windhoek, Independence and a New Beginning"
Sam Nujoma
PANAF Books
2001
© Sam Nujoma
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The Price of Freedom
"It was an early Sunday morning in April 1976, my heart was heavy, but in my head I could hear sounds of of early morning birds wishing me a safe journey. I was determined to leave Namibia. I silently slipped out of the homestead, walked across the military camp into the pastor's homestead, where my friend lived. We quickly joined the others in the nearby forest in Eenhana, where we were briefed by two unknown men about how to get to the heavily guarded and fenced border between Angola and Namibia."
Ellen Ndeshi Namhila
New Namibia Books
1997
© Ellen Ndeshi Namhila, 1997
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South West Africa to Namibia: My Personal Struggle
"Fousy Shinana-Kambombo provides a new perspective on her life as a SWAPO member, her journey into exile and her life in the Camps. However, she also writes with daring openness about the difficult subjects of sexual abuse and gender based violence and her own personal experiences. Her 'personal struggle' provides insight into the thousands of individual struggles that took place within the Struggle and will, perhaps, give other Namibian women the courage to tell their stories."
Fousy Shinana-Kambombo
Namibia Publishing House
2014
Fousy Shinana-Kambombo, 2014
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Breaking Contract: The Story of Helao Vinnia Ndadi
"Breaking Contract gives a unique insight into the conditions, events and personalities which gave rise to the formation of the South West African People's Organisation, SWAPO of Namibia, and the launching of the armed struggle for freedom from South Africa. The book takes its name from the system of migrant contract labour which had a profound effect on the lives of Namibian and shaped resistance to South African rule. The life story of Helao Vinnia Ndadi, was recorded and edited by Dennis Mercer, a journalist working with the Liberation Support Movement of British Columbia. Breaking Contract was first published by LSM Press in Canada in 1974 and included the illustrations by Allison Warner reproduced in this edition. A second edition was published by the London-based International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa (IDAF) in 1989. Breaking Contract documents, in Ndadi 's own words, his experiences as a contract worker under apartheid and his role in organising the Owamboland People's Organisation, which in 1960 became SWAPO. Minor changes and corrections have been made to this edition, mostly in the spelling of names. The original foreword and introduction have been replaced and Ndadi has written a new postscript."
Helao Vinnia Ndadi
Archives of Anti-Colonial Resistance and the Liberation Struggle
2009 [original 1974]
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