The gendered politics of the SWAPO camps during the Namibian liberation struggle
Loading...
Date
2015
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Namibia Press
Abstract
This chapter looks at the sexual politics of the SWAPO camps (civilian and military)
in Angola and Zambia.1 Its purpose is to explore issues around allegations of sexual
abuse and unwelcome sexual advances, and issues of sexuality, against the backdrop of SWAPO’s policy on gender equality. Did these allegations undermine the goals and objectives of the leadership, particularly the women’s leadership that had gender equality and women’s emancipation as one of its main goals? The chapter will also seek to question whether a rhetorical commitment to equality was translated into practical equality in terms of the political structures and socio-economic power relationships in the camps. SWAPO made a clear and a firm ideological commitment in publications and speeches that, in the liberation struggle, women were equal to men and that equality between men and women was a central principle of the party. Iina Soiri has argued that the rhetoric of sexual emancipation became more pronounced from the mid-1970s because of a
combination of factors. The United Nations announced that the International Decade for Women would take place between 1975 and 1985 and, in 1976, SWAPO adopted a more radical ‘Political Programme’ based on the principles of ‘scientific socialism’ (Soiri, 1996, pp. 67, 85).
Description
Keywords
Gendered politics, SWAPO camps, Liberation struggle
Citation
Akawa, M. (2015). The gendered politics of the SWAPO camps during the Namibian liberation struggle. In J. Silvester (Ed.), Re-Viewing Resistance in Namibian History (pp. 240-251). Windhoek: UNAM Press.