Paper short abstract:

By drawing attention to Salatiel Ailonga's Finnish exile, the paper examines a Namibian exile/refugee community that was estranged from SWAPO. Also, it traces solidarity work done at the margins of the global anti-apartheid movement.

Paper long abstract:

The paper examines the life of Salatiel Ailonga, a Namibian refugee pastor and a "dissident" of the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO), during his exile in Finland from 1976 to 1990. First, it traces Ailonga's solidarity work with Namibians detained in Zambia and Tanzania from 1976 to 1978, focusing on letters that he received and wrote on behalf of detainees. The letters were the product of interpersonal relationships formed between detained Namibians, the Ailongas, and their wider social networks, including church leaders and diplomats working beyond the policies of the institutions that employed them. From there, the paper turns to Ailonga's social world as a SWAPO dissident in Finland, highlighting the severe mistrust, isolation, and loneliness that he experienced there and the extent to which these experiences reflected his status as a dissident. Finally, the paper considers social relationships that sustained him in these circumstances, especially his friendship with the German Lutheran pastor Siegfried Groth. Together, Ailonga and Groth consolidated a global network of SWAPO dissidents. resulting in new flows of aid, knowledge, and identification among displaced Namibians. By drawing attention to Ailonga's Finnish exile, the paper examines an exile/refugee community that was estranged from a national liberation movement and solidarity work done at the margins of the global anti-apartheid movement. Moreover, it suggests the value of biography as a genre for challenging stereotypes and opening conversations about what it meant to be an exile/refugee or to do solidarity work during the late twentieth century.