African Activist Archive

Biographical information on Petrus Nangolo Iilonga and schedule of his visit to Illinois. Iilonga is General Secretary of the Namibian Public Workers Union (NAPWU), an affiliate of the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW), the federation of the progressive workers' movement in Namibia. Other affiliates are the Mine Workers Union of Namibia (MUN), Namibia Food and Allied Union (NAFAU), and the Metal and Allied Namibian Workers' Union (MANWU). These unions represent thousands of Namibian workers in different sectors, who, like their colleagues in South Africa, are victims of exploitation and repression by apartheid South Africa and western transnational corporations, including those from the United States. Workers and the unions have been harassed by the combined forces of the army, murder squads, police, company management, and the racist courts. Iilongo is a veteran activist and fighter against South Africa's colonial and illegal occupation of Namibia; for this reason, he was arrested and imprisoned for 18 years, seven of them on Robben Island. He and other Namibian patriots were release in 1985, thanks to international pressure and intensified struggle at home. He then joined the efforts to re-activate and strengthen the Namibian labor movement. Workers in Namibia regard the struggle to gain their rights as an integral part of the national liberation struggle, led by SWAPO, the South West Africa People's Organization. The document mentions Orlando Redikopp, CCISSA (Chicago Committee in Solidarity with Southern Africa), Kathy Devine, Illinois Labor Network Against Apartheid, Rachel Rubin, Philip John, Chicago Urban League, AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees), Rose Daly, Ray Lopez, SYNAPSES, TransAfrica/Chicago, Charles Green, Mattie Hopkins, Ralanda Webb, Association of Black Doctors, Prexy Nesbitt, CCISSA Artist Against Apartheid Reception, Basil Clunie, Harold Rogers, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU), and Sylvia Ewing.

African Activist Archive

Petrus Nangolo Iilonga

NANGOLO ILONGA GENERAL SECRETARY NAMIBIA PUBLIC WORKERS UNION SCHEDULE

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