Africa Is a Country

Independence Day in Namibia

Independence Day in Namibia

By
Tom Devriendt

Not only is it Human Rights Day in South Africa today (read up on its meaning by searching our archive for ‘Sharpeville’), this day 22 years ago also saw Namibia wrestle itself officially free from the same Apartheid claws that were responsible for the massacre in Sharpeville. Which makes it a day both to remember and to celebrate. I’m picking up the Independence Day meme of popular music we started last year. 5 Namibian tunes. First up, Overitje group Ondarata’s ‘Tuvare Tuakapanda’:



Patrick, Deon and Kamutonyo (aka PDK) mix Portuguese, Oshiwambo, Kwangali and Umbundu in ‘Moko’:

The prolific Tate Buti with Kamati Nangolo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPe4dt6j8_E

A bit older: Exit’s ‘Molokasi’:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM_Rf0vSppU

And Gazza’s love song to Seelima:

You can dance to it.

Further Reading

An unfinished project

Christian theology was appropriated to play an integral role in the justifying apartheid’s racist ideology. Black theologians resisted through a theology of the oppressed.

Writing while black

The film adaptation of Percival Everett’s novel ‘Erasure’ leaves little room to explore Black middle-class complicity in commodifying the traumas of Black working-class lives.

The Mogadishu analogy

In Gaza and Haiti, the specter of another Mogadishu is being raised to alert on-lookers and policymakers of unfolding tragedies. But we have to be careful when making comparisons.

Kwame Nkrumah today

New documents looking at British and American involvement in overthrowing Kwame Nkrumah give us pause to reflect on his legacy, and its resonances today.