SWAPO of Namibia: A movement in exile
1987; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 9; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/01436598708419963
ISSN1360-2241
Autores Tópico(s)German Colonialism and Identity Studies
ResumoNamibia has indeed been forgotten, despite the world's momentary interest in the prospects of change amidst turmoil in South Africa, Namibia's occupying power. The twenty-sixth of August 1986 marked the twentieth anniversary of the start of the guerrilla war waged by the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) against the South African occupation forces, estimated at between 50,000 and 100,000. The twenty-sixth of August, which SWAPO commemorates annually as Namibia Day, is also a date of significance to the Herero community of central Namibia, who shared with the southerly Nama the brunt of German exploitation and even genocide when, from 1884 to 1915, their country was colonised as German South West Africa. On that date in 1923 their chief, who had died in exile, was buried at their sacred burial place at Okahandja, where a great gathering has been held annually ever since, to keep alive the spirit of Namibian independence. At a pre-Namibia Day rally in Windhoek on Sunday, 24 August 1986, the main speaker, Mokganedi Tlhabanelo of SWAPO, also Assistant General Secretary of the Council of Churches in Namibia, told the 8,000-strong gathering that the Namibians had taken up arms in 1966 against a background of colonial violence: Was it SWAPO who in 1904 exterminated almost half the Herero speaking people, or was it General von Trotha? Was it SWAPO who in 1917 killed Chief Mandume and his men, or was it Louis Botha? Was it SWAPO who in 1922 killed the Bondelswarts nation in the South? On 10 December 1959, in the Old Location, many people were murdered. Was it by swAPo?
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