registratur aa

324 Pages·2013·2.24 MB·English

by  Giorgio Miescher

REGISTRATUR AA. 3
(Enlarged and Revised Edition)
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REGISTRATUR AA. 3
(Enlarged and Revised Edition)

GUIDE TO THE SWAPO COLLECTION

IN THE BASLER AFRIKA BIBLIOGRAPHIEN

Compiled by Giorgio Miescher

Published by
Basler Afrika Bibliographien
Namibia Resource Centre & Southern Africa Library
2006
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© 2006 Basler Afrika Bibliographien

Publisher:
Basler Afrika Bibliographien
P.O.Box 2037
CH 4001 Basel
Switzerland
http://www.baslerafrika.ch

All rights reserved

Printed by Typoprint (Pty) Ltd, Windhoek, Republic of Namibia

ISBN 3-905141-89-2
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List of Contents

I The General Archives of the Basler Afrika Bibliographien 7

II Introduction to the enlarged and revised edition 9
Changing archiving pattern since 1994 10
Collections of SWAPO material scattered around the world 12
The BAB SWAPO collection and its institutional context 14
Researching the history of SWAPO (and the liberation struggle) 16
Sources to write the history of SWAPO and the liberation struggle 20

III How to work with this Archival Guide 22
Structure of organisation 22
Classification system of the SWAPO collection 22
List of abbreviations 24

IV Inventory AA. 3 25
before 1966 from SWAPO 27
1966 about SWAPO 28
1968 from SWAPO 29
1969 from/about SWAPO 30
1970 from/about SWAPO 32
1971 from/about SWAPO 34
1972 from/about SWAPO 37
1973 from/about SWAPO 42
1974 from/about SWAPO 45
1975 from/about SWAPO 50
1976 from/about SWAPO 56
1977 from/about SWAPO 64
1978 from/about SWAPO 72
1979 from/about SWAPO 82
1980 from/about SWAPO 88
1981 from/about SWAPO 100
1982 from/about SWAPO 113
1983 from/about SWAPO 120
1984 from/about SWAPO 128
1985 from/about SWAPO 138
1986 from/about SWAPO 149
1987 from/about SWAPO 160
1988 from/about SWAPO 175
1989 from/about SWAPO 195
1990 from/about SWAPO 219
after 1990 223

Appendix: from/about SWAPO Democrats (SWAPO-D) 225

Index of Personal Names listed in the inventory 229

V List of publications on SWAPO in the library of the BAB 237
(compiled by Susanne Hubler, March 2006)

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I The General Archives of the Basler Afrika Bibliographien

Since its foundation in 1971, the Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB) has
received various archive collections. They form part of the Namibia Resource
Centre that in turn consists of an extensive library on Namibia, a historical photo
archive, a poster collection, a press and manuscript archive, and a general
documentation archive (AA).1 Since 1995, personal papers and archives with
reference to the region of southern Africa have also been acquired. The
collections have been made accessible to research in the form of inventories
which comprise the following:

Registratur AA.1. Allgemeine Archivalien der Basler Afrika Bibliographien zu
Namibia. Compiled by Thorsten Hinz. Basel, 1994, 45pp.

Registratur AA.2. Allgemeine Archivalien der Basler Afrika Bibliographien zu
Namibias Unabhängigkeit. Compiled by Sabine Schmidt & Thorsten
Hinz. Basel, 1994, 97pp.

Registratur AA.3. Guide to the SWAPO Collection in the Namibia Archives of
the Basler Afrika Bibliographien. Compiled by Giorgio Miescher. Basel,
1994, 163pp.

Registratur AA.4. Epupa, water, energy, 'indigenous/tribal peoples' and
chieftaincy. A bibliography of Namibian newspaper articles 1990–1996
with special reference to Kaoko. Compiled by Giorgio Miescher & Lorena
Rizzo. Basel, 1998, 164pp.

Registratur AA.5. Das Archiv der Solidaritätsgruppe Medic'Angola/Kämpfendes
Afrika (Zürich 1971–1988) – The Archive of the Solidarity Group
Medic'Angola/Kämpfendes Afrika (Zurich 1971–1988). Compiled by
Dag Henrichsen. Basel, 2002, 51pp.

1 For an introduction to the BAB collections, see the essays by Dag Henrichsen, Regula Iselin
and Giorgio Miescher in Documenting and Researching Southern Africa: Aspects and
Perspectives. Essays in Honour of Carl Schlettwein, Basel 2001. Edited by Dag Henrichsen and
Giorgio Miescher. For the poster collection in particular see: Giorgio Miescher and Dag
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Registratur AA.3 (Enlarged and Revised Edition) Guide to the SWAPO
Collection in the Basler Afrika Bibliographien. Compiled by Giorgio
Miescher. Basel, 2006, 322pp.

Inventories pertaining to other collections in the BAB are listed on the cover
fold.

Henrichsen, African Posters: A catalogue of the poster collection in the Basler Afrika
Bibliographien, Basel, 2004.
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II Introduction to the enlarged and revised edition2

The independence of Namibia on 21 March 1990 created a caesura not only in
the history of the country but also in the history of SWAPO of Namibia. Founded
in the late 1950s as the Ovamboland People's Congress (OPC), the
organisation was transformed into a broader movement in 1960, and since then
has existed as SWAPO. Inside and outside the country the political struggle for
independence began in those years. In 1966, SWAPO's launched its armed
struggle against South African colonial rule. In 1990, SWAPO achieved its first
and most important goal, clearly expressed in the slogan "the aim was
independence", the title on one of the organisation's posters produced in the
same year.3 With independence, SWAPO became the ruling party and its past
as a long-standing liberation movement became history.

In 1994, the Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB) published the first edition of this
archive inventory. In the introduction we stated that "the existing library and
archival material on SWAPO from its period as a liberation movement is
scattered all over the world".4 At that time, four years after independence, the
BAB was one of the few institutions that had a complete and detailed inventory
of its SWAPO-related holdings and had already opened them up for research.
This effort was well-appreciated by the archive's users and the SWAPO
collection has been regularly consulted since then. In fact, over the years,
interest has been steadily growing in the history of the liberation movement that
became a ruling party. The publication of the inventory has thus fulfilled the aim
put forward in the introduction to make "a contribution to communication and
research on the liberation movement's history and the recent history of
Namibia".5

As with the first edition, the publication of this enlarged and revised edition of an
archival guide to the SWAPO collection was a special concern of Carl

2 I would like to thank Dag Henrichsen, Werner Hillebrecht, Antonio Uribe who gave important
comments on draft versions of this introduction as well as Anne Blonstein for her help with
translation and language editing.
3 A poster celebrating the 26th of August in 1990. The 26th of August, for many years celebrated
as "Namibia Day", was turned into "Heroes' Day" in 1990. See BAB poster collection X 1858.
4 Giorgio Miescher, Registratur AA.3 – Guide to the SWAPO collection in the Namibia Archives
of the Basler Afrika Bibliographien, Basel, 1994, p. 7.
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