Namibia: Pressure Groups Material

Pamphlets, leaflets, manifestos, conference reports, histories, speeches, appeals, letters and newsletters, 1976 onwards, issued by Afrikaans-Duitse Kultuurunie (Namibia), the Campaign Against the Namibian Uranium Contracts, Interessengemeinschaft Deutschsprachiger Südwester, the Namibia Support Committee, the South West Africa Volunteer Enterprise, the SWA/Namibia Information Service and the SWAPO Women's Solidarity Campaign.

The bulk of this collection dates from the period in the history of Namibia (formerly South West Africa) after 1977 when the UN, the Western Contact Group (including France, West Germany, Canda, the United States and Great Britain) and the front-line states increasingly sought to bring about a resolution to the ongoing struggle between SWAPO and apartheid South Africa's armed forces in the country. Thus the materials can be roughly divided into those emanating from groups representing the German-speaking minority, such as the Interessengemeinschaft Deutschsprachiger Südwester (IG), and those campaigning on behalf of organisations opposed to South African rule, like the Namibia Support Committee and the SWAPO Women's Solidarity Campaign. Both sought to interpret and influence the discussions as they progressed. Some of the items are particularly interesting for the connections drawn between uranium mining in Namibia and the 1984 miners' strike in Great Britain.

Alphabetically by group, and then in rough chronological order.

Open to all for research purposes; access is free for anyone in higher education.

Institute of Commonwealth Studies

Records at item level on library catalogue (SASCAT)

Description compiled by Daniel Millum, Political Archives Project Officer at the Institutes of Commonwealth and Latin American Studies.

See also Namibia: Political Parties Material (PP.SX), as well as Political Party, Trades Unions and Pressure Group Materials for other Commonwealth countries and related material in the library's main classified sequence, all held at the ICS.

Copies can usually be obtained - apply to library staff.

The Commonwealth Political Parties Materials collection was begun in 1960-61, with special emphasis being placed then, as now, on 'primary material such as party constitutions, policy statements, convention reports and election manifestos.' (ICS, Twelfth Annual Report 1960-1961). Since then, the main method of gathering material has been to appeal directly to political parties throughout the Commonwealth, though contributions from Institute members and staff following visits to relevant countries have been significant.

Further accruals are expected, some in electronic form.