Allies in Apartheid: Western Capitalism in Occupied Namibia

216 Pages·1988·20.79 MB·English

by  Allan D. Cooper (eds.)

ALLIES IN APARTHEID
Also by Allan D. Cooper
US ECONOMIC POWER AND POLITICAL INFLUENCE IN
NAMIBIA, 1700-1982
Allies in Apartheid
Western Capitalism in Occupied Namibia
Edited by
Allan D. Cooper
Associate Professor of Political Science
St. Augustine's College, Raleigh, North Carolina
M
MACMILLAN
PRESS
© Allan D. Cooper 1988
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1988 978-0-333-45722-1
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First published 1988
Published by
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Allies in apartheid: Western capitalism in occupied Namibia.
1. Namibia-Foreign economic relations.
I. Cooper, Allan D.
337'.09171'3 HF1614.2
ISBN 978-1-349-09957-3 ISBN 978-1-349-09955-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-09955-9
Contents
Notes on the Contributors vii
Preface x
Currency Conversions xu
Introduction I: Prelude to a Revolution
Allan D. Cooper 1
Introduction II: Socio-Economic Interaction and
Establishment of Colonialist-Capitalist Relations in
Namibia Before and During German Rule
Henning Melber 8
Canadian Transnational Corporations in Namibia:
an Economic and Political Overview
Susan Hurlich 39
2 French Foreign Policy Towards Namibia 1981-85
Jacques Marchand 79
3 West German Relations with Namibia
Henning Melber and Gottfried Wellmer 91
4 Japan's Illegal Uranium Contracts with Namibia
Yoko Kitazawa 114
5 The Netherlands and Namibia: the Political
Campaign to End Dutch Involvement in the
Namibian Uranium Trade
David de Beer 124
6 Scandinavia and Namibia: Contradictions of Policies
and Actions
Erich Erichsen, Bertil Hogberg and Arne Tostensen 136
7 British Economic Involvement in South African-
Occupied Namibia: 1845-1986
Alun R. Roberts 156
vi Contents
8 The United States and Namibia: a Failure of
Leadership
Allan D. Cooper 175
Conclusion: Namibia and the Challenge of International
Law
Allan D. Cooper 193
Index 197
Notes on the Contributors
Allan D. Cooper is an Associate Professor of Political Science at
St Augustine's College in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. He has
published numerous articles on Namibia and is the author of U.S.
Economic Power and Political Influence in Namibia 1700-1982 (1982).
He has been involved in various anti-apartheid work since 1974 and
is the author of the first divestment bill passed in the United States.
David de Beer was born and educated in Johannesburg, South Africa.
In 1969 he was expelled by the South African Government from
Northern Namibia where he was working in the hospital in Odibo. In
1972 he was expelled from the rest of Namibia, along with his employer,
Bishop Colin Winter. De Beer then joined the Christian Institute in
Johannesburg but was 'banned' by the South African Government a
month later. In 1974 de Beer claimed Dutch nationality and left South
Africa to work with Colin Winter in the United Kingdom. In 1976
de Beer moved to the Netherlands to do publicity work for Namibia
and Namibian churches in conjunction with Working Group Kairos
in Utrecht. He is the author of Namibie: Zuidwest Africa bevrijd (1975);
Kerk en Yolk in Namibia (1977), and Namibia: anderzijds (1980). He
also has published many articles in Dutch newspapers and journals.
Eric Erichsen works with the Danish Association for International
Co-operation in Denmark. He has engaged in substantial research on
the political and economic relations between Scandinavian states and
Namibia.
Bertil Hogberg works with the Africa Groups of Sweden and has
conducted extensive research on Namibia.
Susan Hurlich is completing her PhD in social and cultural anthropology
at the University of Toronto, Ontario Canada. She has undertaken
several research trips to southern Africa since 1976 to collect data on
liberation and reconstruction in Southern Africa, the role of women in
development and the impact of the development process on women.
Hurlich has published over a dozen articles on Namibia and is a frequent
participant at conferences organised around Southern Africa issues.
Currently she is the Southern Africa Project Officer for Oxfam-Canada,
vii
Vlll Notes on the Contributors
a non-governmental organisation assisting in self-help development
projects in the Third World. Hudich also is the Co-Director and one
of the founding members of the Rural Science and Technology Institute,
an international non-governmental organisation concerned with the
role of women in development, as well as scientific research on the
development of appropriate technologies for use in rural areas. Hurlich
has engaged in extensive research on several Canadian-based trans
national corporations, including the Hudson's Bay Company and
Falcon bridge.
Yoko Kitazawa the senior researcher and editor of the Pacific Asia
Resource Center in Tokyo. She is the author of Rebellions in South East
Asia ( 1974) ; My Own Africa ( 1979); Revolutionaries I Met ( 1981 ); Black
Africa (1981); and Japanese Economic Expansion (1983). Kitazawa has
also published several articles on Japanese economic relations with
Namibia and South Africa, and has conducted a number of research
studies on behalf of the UN Council for Namibia regarding Japanese
relations with Namibia.
Jacques Marchand is a past president of the Mouvement Anti-Apartheid
in Paris, France. He has presented his research at international
conferences held on Namibia and has published articles on French
relations with Namibia. He is currently completing his PhD in Paris.
Henning Melber is a Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at
the University of Kassel, FRG. In 1967 Melber emigrated to Namibia
where he joined SWAPO in 1974. The following year he was banned
from Namibia and South Africa. He has published numerous articles
on Namibia, South Africa and Tanzania. Among his major works are:
Namibia-Geschichte und Gegenwart Zur Frage der Dekolonisation einer
Siedlerkolonie (1977); Schule und Kolonialismus: Das formale Erzie
hungswesen Namibias (1979); Namibia: Kolonialismus und Widerstand
(1981); It Is No More A Cry: Namibian Poetry in Exile, editor (1981);
and Our Namibia: A Social Studies Textbook (1984).
Alun R. Roberts is a researcher and writer on Namibia specialising in
research on the implementation of Security Council resolution 435
(1978) for Namibian independence, the implementation of UN Decree
No. 1 for the Protection of Natural Resources of Namibia enacted by
the UN Council for Namibia in 1974, and the question of illegal trading
between Western-based corporations in Namibia's mineral resources.
Notes on the Contributors ix
As a researcher in international law, Alun Roberts has worked as a
research consultant for the UN Council for Namibia and the UN Centre
on Transnational Corporations. Between 1979 and 1980 he worked as
co-researcher for the UK Granada Television's 'World in Action'
documentary, 'Follow the Yellowcake Road', which exposed the
clandestine methods of transporting Namibian uranium to nuclear
companies in France and the United Kingdom. He is also author of a
number of studies on Namibia, including The Rossing File, published
in 1980, which exposed UK government contracts for Namibian
uranium. At present he is undertaking a research program on Namibia
and Southern Africa in international law.
Arne Tostensen is a Professor at the Scandinavian Institute of African
Studies in Uppsala, Sweden. He has conducted extensive research on
the role of Namibia in the political economy of Southern Africa.
Tostensen is the author of Dependence and Collective Self-Reliance in
Southern Africa: The Case ofS outhern African Development Coordination
Conference (1982).
Gottfried Wellmer is a journalist and member of the Anti-Apartheid
Bewegung in Bonn, FRG, and the Information Centre on Southern
Africa. From 1983-86 Wellmer was affiliated with the Centro de Estudos
Africanos at the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo
(Mozambique). He has presented several research papers at various
international conferences organised around issues relevant to Namibia.