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Namibia: from SWANU to SWAPO Namibia: from SWANU to SWAPO http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.naip100010 Use of the Aluka digital library is subject to Aluka’s Terms and Conditions, available at http://www.aluka.org/page/about/termsConditions.jsp. By using Aluka, you agree that you have read and will abide by the Terms and Conditions. Among other things, the Terms and Conditions provide that the content in the Aluka digital library is only for personal, non-commercial use by authorized users of Aluka in connection with research, scholarship, and education. The content in the Aluka digital library is subject to copyright, with the exception of certain governmental works and very old materials that may be in the public domain under applicable law. Permission must be sought from Aluka and/or the applicable copyright holder in connection with any duplication or distribution of these materials where required by applicable law. Aluka is a not-for-profit initiative dedicated to creating and preserving a digital archive of materials about and from the developing world. For more information about Aluka, please see http://www.aluka.org Namibia: from SWANU to SWAPO Author/Creator Sellström, Tor Publisher Nordiska Afrikainstitutet (Uppsala) Date 1999 Resource type Articles Language English Subject Coverage (spatial) Sweden, Southern Africa (region), Namibia Coverage (temporal) 1960-1970 Source Nordiska Afrikainstitutet (Uppsala) Relation Sellström, Tor. Sweden and national liberation in Southern Africa, Vol. I. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 1999. 256-293. Rights By kind permission of Nordiska Afrikainstitutet (The Nordic Africa Institute). Description Part of a study on National Liberation in Southern Africa: The Role of the Nordic Countries, hosted at the Nordic Africa Institute Format extent 39 page(s) (length/size) http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.naip100010 http://www.aluka.org Namibia: From SWANU to SWAPO Namibia: From SWANU to SWAPO Sweden and Namibia Although the Swede Charles John Andersson gave Namibia the collective name of South West Africa1 and the territory in the mid-19th century attracted a remarkably high number of Swedish natural scientists, explorers, traders and adventurers,2 there remained after the First World War only weak and indirect links between the former German colony3 and Sweden. The Union of South Africa-which in 1915 had defeated the German colonial forces in the territory -was from 1 January 1921 on behalf of Great Britain mandated by the League of Nations to administer Namibia. To the extent that it was known at all in Sweden, the sparsely populated territory was until the beginning of the 1960s seen as part of South Africa. Few people outside the Church of Sweden had any contacts with Namibia or even knew where it was situated. Pierre Schori, who later worked closely with the Namibian nationalists, has recalled how the SWANU leader Zedekia Ngavirue "had to show me on the map".4 Under the terms of the League of Nations mandate, South Africa was expected to administer Namibia as a "sacred trust of civilization", or, more specifically, to promote to the utmost the material and moral well-being and the social progress of the inhabitants of the territory. [...] The Mandatory shall see that the slave trade is 1Katjavivi op. cit., p. 5. The name of the country was changed from South West Africa to Naniia by the United Nations in 1968. Namibia will here be used, except where South West Africa appears in quotations from original documents, in conference titles etc. 2 Johan August Wahlberg, Charles John Anderss on and Axel Wilhelm Erikss on have been mentioned above. Among the more prominent Swedes who travelled in Namibia in the latter part of the 19th century were, in addition, the entomologist Gustaf de Vylder and the officer cum explorer Peter August Mbller. M6les's accounts appeared in 1899 with the title Resa i Afrika genorn Angola, Ovarnbo, och Damnaraand (Wilhelm Billes Bokfbrlag, Stockholm). It was translated into English in 1974 (Journey into Africa through Angola, Ovanboland and Danaraland, I. and J. Rudner, Cape Town). The town of Omaruru-founded by Charles John Andersson in 1858-became the residence of a number of Swedes in Namibia in the 1870s. Gerald McKiernan, an American traveller who visited Omaruru in 1874, wrote in his Narrative and Journal: "Christmas Day 1874 was celebrated at Omaruru by a dinner given by Mr Errickson [...] where we met 19 other whites. [...] The whites were of mixed nationalities, Swedish predominating. [...] Some had been sailors, some whalers, some diamond diggers, and other roving trades" (cited in Winquist op. cit., p. 70). Berg quotes a contemporary report according to which 10% of the resident whites in Namibia in the mid1870s were Swedes employedby Axel Eriksson (Berg op. cit., p. 209). 3 Germany ruled over SouthWest Africa from 1884 to 1915. 4 Interview with Pierre Schori, Stockholm, 28 June 1996. Namibia: From S WANU to SWAPO prohibited and that no forced labour is permitted, except for essential public works and services, and then only for adequate remuneration.1 This trust was betrayed from the outset. The intention of the South African government had always been to incorporate Namibia into the Union. Not only did it dismally fail to promote the inhabitants' material and moral well-being, as well as social progress, but it "actively set about moulding them into servants of white society".2 Continuing the repressive policies of the Germanswho between 1904 and 1907 ruthlessly crushed the Herero and the Nama peoples3--as early as in 1917, that is, during the First World War, combined South African and Portuguese forces defeated the Kwanyama community under Chief Mandume in Ovamboland in the North.4 And when the Bondelswarts Nama in the South rebelled against the harshness of the new rulers, the South African government in 1922 deployed airborne forces and bombarded the area. Over a hundred men, women and children were killed and around five hundred wounded or taken prisoner.5 The Bondelswarts rebellion was brought to the attention of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations, where Namibia also became of concern to Sweden as Prime Minister Hjalmar Branting6 was a member of the League's Council when the findings were discussed. Branting, furthermore, acted as the Council President and reported on the matter when the final decision was taken in December 1923. Although of the opinion that the question of the rebellion and the subsequent intervention against the Bondelswarts "in 1 United Nations Institute for Namibia (UNIN): Natnibia: A Direct United Nations Respons-bility United Nations Institute for Namibia, Lusaka, 1987, p. 83. 2 Katjavivi op. cit., p. 13. 3 The German military campaigns against the Herero and the Nama are among the most brutal in history. In October 1904, the German General Lothar von Trotha issued his infamous Verichtung&befehl (extermination order) against the Hereros: "I, the Great General of the German soldiers [declare that] the Hereio people will have to leave the country. Otherwise I shall force them to do so by means of guns. Within the German boundaries, every Herero, whether found armed or unarmed, with or without cattle, will be shot. I shall not accept any more women or children. I shall drive them back to their people -otherwise I shall order shots to be fired at them" (cited in Thomas Pakenham: The Scramnblefor Africa 1876-1912, Jonathan Ball Publishers, Parklands, 1992, p. 611). By the end of 1905, between 75 and 80% of the Herero population had been killed, reduced from 60,000-80,000 to some 16,000, out of whom 14,000 were placed in Gernan concentration camps. The Nama people shared a similar fate By 1911, between 35 and 50% of the population had been killed (Katjavivi op. cit., p. 10). 4 Chief Mandume was killed in action. His head was brought to Windhoek and displayed to show that the resistance in Ovamboland had been crushed. 5 Katjavivi op. dit., p. 18. 6 Branting was the Grand O1' Man of the Swedish labour movement. He became editor of the newspaper Socialdernokraten in 1886, a founder member of the Social Democratic Party in 1889 and leader of the party in 1907. In 1917, Branting entered the Liberal-Social Democratic coalition government which introduced universal franchise and in 1920 he became Prime Minister, forming the first Social Democratic government in Sweden. Resigning the same year, Branting came back as Prime Minister (and Minister for Foreign Affairs) between 1921 and 1923 and, again in 1924. Due to illness he already had to leave government in 1925. He died the same year. Branting was deeply interested in international questions and a strong supporter of Sweden's participation in the League of Nations. He shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1921. Tor Sellstrbm certain respects [was] of a particularly serious character" and finding that "the ultimate causes of the rebellion would seem to lie in the unstable conditions prevailing among the native population, which had been subjected for years to a harsh regime",1 Branting did not, however, censure the South African government. Presenting his report, Branting concluded that "the Council of the League of Nations can not, it seems to me, express any final opinion as to the essence of the dispute".2 Heavily influenced by the South African government's version of the events, the "completely bland resolution"3 adopted by the Council ignored the indiscriminate aerial bombardments against civilians, noting instead, "with satisfaction, the renewed assurances given by the representative of [South Africa] of its desire to take all practical steps to restore the prosperity of the Bondelswartzs people"4 At the time, the Swedish government's attitude vis-avis South Africa and its administration of Namibia thus did not differ from that of the European colonial powers in the Council of the League of Nations.5 Albeit indirect, one of the few connections between Sweden and Namibia at the end of the 1950s was provided through the Lutheran churches in general and via the Finnish Missionary Society in particular.
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