Namibia's Liberation Struggle

... Leys and Saul write about the past with a present agenda in mind. They wish to understand why a party which proclaimed socialism for so long has, since coming to power, followed a capitalist path and adopted what they call a neo-colonial economic strategy. They find the answer to lie, in part, in the suppression of democracy within SWAPO, which they attribute mainly to the brutalising effects of the war. And so they speak of the outcome as liberation without democracy, on the grounds that the present order is not really democratic because it does not empower the masses. And they reject any Robespierre-like justification that the terror used served a just purpose, in this case the ejection of South Africa from Namibia. -

• Part 1 The struggle: diplomacy by other means - SWAPO's liberation war, Susan Brown; SWAPO - the politics of exile, John S. Saul and Colin Leys; SWAPO inside Namibia, Colin Leys and John S. Saul; the churches, Philip Steenkamp. Part 2 The impact - three studies: the Namibian student movement - its role and effects, Sipho S. Maseko; state and civil society - policing in transition, Colin Leys; war, peace and social classes, Chris Tapscott. Part 3 The legacy: SWAPO in office, Lauren Dobell; the legacy - an afterword, John S. Saul and Colin Leys.