In this lecture, David Brandon Smith will present the results of an ongoing research project on the role of the churches in Namibia’s struggle for independence and consider new avenues for research on ‘pluralistic diplomacy’ – an interdisciplinary approach built upon the recognition that nation-states and intergovernmental organizations are not the only actors that shape world affairs.

As the largest non-governmental institutions in Namibia, churches were both prime movers in the struggle and epicenters of conflict about it throughout the apartheid era. This is, perhaps, to be expected in a country where 90% of the population claims a Christian identity. While not all Christians and church organizations reacted to the independence struggle in the same way, church leaders began advocating for a degree of political and ecclesiastical independence as early as the mid-1940s. In 1978, the largest and most demographically representative churches formally established the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN). While much of the political leadership of the independence movement was in exile, the CCN and its member churches emerged as the prime movers toward independence within Namibia.

Around the world, ecumenical organizations like the World Council of Churches and its Programme to Combat Racism (WCC-PCR), along with the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), served as essential contacts for governmental, intergovernmental, and non-governmental activities in and related to Namibia. While some church groups either supported or did not actively oppose apartheid and occupation, others took as many opportunities as possible to declare to anyone who would listen on behalf of the people they served, “Unsere menschen sind nicht frei” (“Our people are not free”)!