BAB Interviews and Conversations

The Namibian artist Tuli Mekondjo reflects in this conversation about her work in the colonial image archives of the Basler Afrika Bibliographien and how this led her to initiate new artistic practices and conceptualise and design a new art performance. «Ousie Martha» references generations of African laundry women in Namibia as wage labourers in white settler homes, often depicted in settler family photography. Inventing an outdoor print technique with copies of one particular photograph of a laundry woman in Okahandja in 1953 from the BAB photo archives, Tuli Mekondjo produced embroided «lappies« (rags) and choreographed a laundry woman’s performance of Self at the BAB in April 2023. In this extract from a conversation with BAB curators, Tuli Mekondjo explains the genesis of her latest work and why she wanted to have the premiere of her performance to be staged at the archives in Switzerland. «I wanted to engage with the ancestral voices by responding, singing with them, mimicking their acts of labouring while they sang. I wanted to bring Ousie Martha into that space, but to do the laundry for her.” As she told The Namibian newspaper after the Basel performance: “In Switzerland, Germany and Europe in general, they need to be reminded of the horrors of colonialism and the traumas they inflicted” (10 May 2023)

Barbara Müller fungierte von 1973 bis 1988 als Präsidentin des Komitees «kämpfendes afrika» (ka), das 1971 in Zürich als politische Solidaritätsorganisation Medic’ Angola begann. Zunächst eng mit dem maoistisch geprägten «proletarischen Internationalismus» der Kommunistischen Partei der Schweiz verbunden, konnte das sich seit 1976 ka nennende Komitee besonders enge Kontakte zu einigen antikolonialen Befreiungsbewegungen im südlichen Afrika aufbauen. Innerhalb der Schweizer Solidaritätslandschaft entfaltetet das ka eine besonders intensive und programmatische Informations- und Veranstaltungsarbeit und schuf alternative Lobby- und Fund Raising Netze. Als Präsidentin des Komitees geriet Barbara Müller sehr rasch ins Visier staatlicher kantonaler und eidgenössischer Nachrichtendienste. Ende der 1980er Jahre erfuhr eine breitere Schweizer Öffentlichkeit von den Beobachtungsaktivitäten zumal der Bundesanwaltschaft und der Anlage umfangreicher Personenkarteien und Akten (sog. Fichen), bekannt als sog. Fichenskandal am Ende des Kalten Krieges. In diesem podcast führt Barbara Müller im Gespräch mit Dag Henrichsen zunächst einige zentrale Aspekte der Arbeit des Komitees aus. In einer weiteren Sequenz kommentiert sie Unterlagen aus der zu ihrer Person angelegten Observationsfiche bzw. Akte. Die spezifische politisch-ideologische Ausrichtung des ka einerseits, seine kritisch-distanzierte Haltung gegenüber anderen Solidaritätsorganisationen anderseits, schliesslich die staatliche Observationspolitik der offiziellen Schweiz verweisen auf die vielschichtige und komplexe internationale Schweizer Solidaritätsbewegung. Dieser Gesprächsauszug ist der fünfte in einer Reihe von Podcasts zur Solidaritäts- und Anti-Apartheidbewegung in der Schweiz.

Susy Greuter erinnert sich im Gespräch mit dem BAB Archivar Dag Henrichsen an ihr vielfältiges Engagement zum afrikanischen Kontinent, zunächst als Studentin der Soziologie und Ethnologie an der Universität Zürich und im Komitee Südliches Afrika (1975). Das Komitee Südliches Afrika verstand sich als Abspaltung des maoistisch ausgerichteten «kämpfenden afrika» und war nur eines von vielen Komitees in der deutschsprachigen Schweiz. Susy Greuter bettet ihr studentisches Engagement in eine Vielzahl von Aktivitäten in weiteren (Frauen-) Befreiungs- und Solidaritätsbewegungen und Initiativen in der Schweiz ein. Nach langen, beruflichen Afrika-Aufenthalten in West-, Ost- und im südlichen Afrika ist Susy Greuter seit 1996 im Afrika-Komitee Basel aktiv. Dieser Gesprächsauszug ist der vierte in einer Reihe von Podcasts zur Solidaritäts- und Anti-Apartheidbewegung in der Schweiz.

Beatrice Felber Rochat erinnert sich im Gespräch mit dem BAB Archivar Dag Henrichsen an ihr frühes Engagement in der von christlichen Frauen gegründeten transnationalen Solidaritätsgruppe «Südafrika-Boykott». Die Boykott-Gruppe organisierte gegen Ende der 1970er Jahre öffentliche Anti-Apartheid Aktionen in Basel, trat für den Boykott von Konsumprodukten und von multinationalen Firmen und Banken, die mit dem Apartheidregime Beziehungen unterhielten, ein und solidarisierte sich mit der afrikanischen Bevölkerung. Felber reflektiert über konkrete Solidaritäts- und Boykottarbeit in den 1980er Jahren wie auch über die Staatsobservation und «Fichierung» von Anti-Apartheidsaktivist:innen durch die Schweizer Regierung. Dieser Gesprächsauszug ist der dritte in einer Reihe von Podcasts zur Solidaritäts- und Anti-Apartheid-Bewegung in der Schweiz.

1973 als Teil einer Solidaritätsbewegung gegen Kolonialismus, Rassismus und Ausbeutung in der Schweiz entstanden, konzentriert sich das Afrika-Komitee in Basel bis heute auf eine kritische Solidaritäts- und Informationsarbeit mit und zur Zivilgesellschaft in Afrika. In diesem Auszug aus einem Gespräch mit dem BAB Archivar Dag Henrichsen vom April 2016 reflektiert die Mitbegründerin des Komitee’s, Gertud Baud, über die Aufbauarbeit und Schweizer Solidaritätsnetze in den 1970er und 1980er Jahren sowie zeitgenössische Positionen und Ideale. Baud skizziert Veränderungen in der Arbeit des Afrika-Komitees und postkoloniale Entwicklungen und Konsequenzen. Dieser Gesprächsauszug ist der zweite in einer Reihe von Podcasts zur Solidaritäts- und Anti-Apartheid-Bewegung in der Schweiz.

1973 als Teil einer Solidaritätsbewegung gegen Kolonialismus, Rassismus und Ausbeutung in der Schweiz entstanden, konzentriert sich das Afrika-Komitee in Basel bis heute auf eine kritische Solidaritäts- und Informationsarbeit mit und zur Zivilgesellschaft in Afrika. In diesem Auszug aus einem Gespräch mit dem BAB Archivar Dag Henrichsen vom November 2015 reflektiert der Mitbegründer des Komitees, Hans-Ulrich Stauffer, über die Aufbauarbeit und Schweizer Solidaritätsnetze in den 1970er Jahren sowie zeitgenössische politisch-ideologische Positionen. Stauffer gab 1974 die Schriften des kapverdischen Intellektuellen Amilcar Cabral in deutscher Sprache im Berliner Rotbuch Verlag heraus («Die Revolution der Verdammten. Der Befreiungskampf in Guinea-Bissao»), mit einiger Resonanz. Dieser Gesprächsauszug ist der erste in einer Reihe von Podcasts zur Solidaritäts- und Anti-Apartheid-Bewegung in der Schweiz.

Lewis Nkosi (1936–2010), born in Embo (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa), was an acclaimed journalist, writer and professor of literature in various African and European countries as well as in the USA. Living in exile since 1960, he resided in Basel between 1997 and 2010. On 11th November 1999 he gave a reading from his yet unpublished novel “Mandela’s Ego” (2006) at the BAB. In the extracts of the audio recording presented here, he explains his motivation to write about ‘the day Mandela is arrested’, reads from his novel and reflects about the challenges of also writing in his mother tongue isiZulu. The BAB Publishing House published the monograph Lewis Nkosi. The Black Psychiatrist | Flying Home: Texts, Perspectives, Homage which consists of two plays by Lewis Nkosi and reflections, critical appraisals and memories by friends and scholars on the life and work of this South African writer.

Carol and Ron Gestwicki, a couple from northern America, worked for the Anglican Church in Namibia from 1964 to 1966. Ron worked as a priest in Windhoek’s African township, the Old Location, and as such worked closely with oppositional leaders such as Hosea Kutako and Clemens Kapuuo. Carol, a trained nurse, gave courses in the Red Cross clinic of the Old Location and also evening and Sunday classes for the Anglican church congregations. For a while they lived in a caravan on the outskirts of Gobabis in eastern Namibia in order to provide services to the so-called African reserve population. Audio letters became the common feature of their communications with their family. Given the increasing surveillance by the colonial administration on foreign church workers in Namibia, the couple decided to return to the US in 1966, after the birth of their first child. Ron Gestwicki continued to work closely with the exiled Namibian politicians and American Anti-Apartheid groups in the US. For a while, their African friends in Namibia continued to send them audio letters from Namibia. Today, the Gestwicki’s collection of audio letters is housed at the BAB Archives.

Freedom Tichaona Nyamubaya (1958 – 2015) was a Zimbabwean freedom fighter, activist and poet. In 1975, she left what was then Rhodesia to join the Zimbabwe National Liberation Army (ZANLA) in Mozambique. She achieved the rank of Female Field Operation Commander and was elected the Secretary for Education in the first ZANU Women's League conference in 1979. After independence she worked as a rural development, gender and peace activist as well as a farmer, dancer and poet. Ruth Weiss (*1924), who grew up in South Africa, was one of the few prolific female journalists for southern Africa during the 1960s to 1990s and reported extensively on the position of women in politics, in exile and in liberation movements. On 6th May 1982 she conducted an interview with Freedom Nyamubaya in Harare, Zimbabwe. In the extract from this conversation presented in the podcast, Nyamubaya talks about her experiences as a woman in the liberation army and on the front line.

Die BAB blicken 2021 auf 50 Jahre Institutsgeschichte zurück. 1971 von Carl Schlettwein als Bibliothek und Verlag gegründet, um Publikationen insbesondere zu Namibia unabhängig von kolonialen Rahmenbedingungen zugänglich zu machen, gewährleistet die Carl Schlettwein Stiftung seit 1994 das Bestehen der BAB als Namibia Resource Centre und Southern Africa Library, inklusive eines Archivs. In dem Gespräch von Dag Henrichsen und Daniela Schlettwein-Gsell mit Albert M. Debrunner im Juni 2018 erzählt Debrunner aus der Zeit der frühen 1990er Jahre, als er als Werkstudent und Bibliothekar in den BAB tätig war und mit «Carlo» Schlettwein zusammenarbeitete.

In this extract from an interview Ruth Weiss conducted with Maryknoll Sister Janice McLaughlin (1942–2021) in Harare (Zimbabwe) on 30th July 1982, Sister Janice reflects on her decision to move to Rhodesia where she worked for the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in 1977. Documenting atrocities of the Zimbabwean war of liberation she was arrested and deported, only to continue to work from Mozambique. After Rhodesia gained its independence in 1980, Sister Janice returned to Zimbabwe to work as an education consultant in the President's Office. She continued to work in Zimbabwe until 1992 and returned to work in the country in the areas of adult education, peacebuilding and combating human trafficking from 1998 to 2009 and from 2015 to 2020. Ruth Weiss who had lived in Rhodesia in the late 1960s and then was expelled, also returned in 1980 to live and work in Zimbabwe. She soon started to research the lives of women and interviewed Sister Janice as “an important figure in the liberation struggle”, as she writes in her book “The women of Zimbabwe” (1986).

Kenneth Kaunda (1924–2021) was the first State President of independent Zambia. On March 30, 1977 Ruth Weiss conducted an interview with Kaunda in Lusaka on the occasion of the visit of Nikolai Podgorny, then President of the Soviet Union. In this extract from the interview, Kaunda provides an assessment of the Cold War situation in southern Africa, Zambia’s position as a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and the supportive role of the Soviet Union for Zambia.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the political solidarity committee “kämpfendes afrika” (fighting africa) in Zurich engaged in the support for African liberation movements. Its archives of papers, images and sound recordings are today housed at the Basler Afrika Bibliographien. The extracts of a recording presented here document an event of the “ka” on 1st March 1980 in the Zurich Volkshaus. Mike Muendane and Vuyisile Dlova speak as representatives of the South African liberation movement Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) to the audience. Barbara Müller from the “ka” translates their statements into German. For further information on the “kämpfendes afrika” collection (General Archives AA.5), have a look at the finding aid or our online archive catalogue.

Lewis Nkosi (1936–2010), born in Embo (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa), was an acclaimed journalist, writer and professor of literature in various African and European countries as well as in the USA. Living in exile since 1960, he resided in Basel between 1997 and 2010. On 11th November 1999 he gave a reading from his novels at the BAB. In this extract of the ensuing conversation, he talks about his identity as a writer and the experience of arriving in exile in London in 1960 and returning to South Africa in 1991.

In this extract from an interview conducted by Ruth Weiss on September 28th, 1979, the then “first and only” Namibian medical doctor, Libertina Inaviposa Amathila (née Appolus), also known as Libertine Amathila, talks about studying in exile and becoming a doctor as well as women’s education, gender issues and life in the Namibian refugee camps in Angola and Zambia. Amathila, who had fled South African ruled Namibia in the early 1960s, became a high-ranking SWAPO official. Ruth Weiss interviewed her most likely in Lusaka where SWAPO had its headquarters in the 1970s.

Nashilongweshipwe Mushaandja, doctoral student at the University of Cape Town, performed the “Ondaanisa yo Pomudhime” (Dance of the Rubber Tree) at the Basler Afrika Bibliographien and inside its archives shortly before this conversation took place with the BAB archivist. He reflects about the challenges of “decolonizing the archive” and his roles as a performance artist in “cleansing a space which is speaking to ghosts.”.

Vilho Shigwedha is a senior lecturer at the Department of Geography, History and Environmental Studies at the Unversity of Namibia in Windhoek. He, Martha Akawa and a group of students visited the Basler Afrika Bibliographien in August 2015. In this interview he talks about becoming a historian and researching the controversial history of the Cassinga massacre in southern Angola in 1978 during the Namibian liberation struggle

In this extract of a conversation with the BAB archivist about his audio research archive, Patrick Harries, who passed away in 2016, reflects about his early career as a historian, researcher and lecturer at the University of Cape Town in the 1970s and 1980s

In this extract from a Lunch Talk with a Basler Afrika Bibliographien librarian and a wider audience, the South African comix artist Anton Kannemeyer reflects about the early history of comix and cartoons in South Africa, his own career and the history of the controversial Bittercomix No 1, published in 1992

João Ribeiro is manager, documentalist and producer for film and TV production at Kanema Produçoes Maputo and independent film director in Mozambique. He visited the Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB) in September 2015 at the occasion of showing his film „O Ultimo Voo do Flamingo“ in the BAB film series „mozambique in motion“. In this interview with the BAB Managing Director he talks about the challenges of movie making in his country and state funding for cultural activities in Mozambique.