Monday, April 03, 2006
Eddy, Man of Action
I came to meet Eddy, Man of Action because of our shock (the one that broke into shreds of twisted metal in the middle of the Namib Desert). I returned to Windhoek with Mike to find a solution to our predicament. We found Eddy, who agreed to give me and the German welder, Holger a ride out 200 kilometers into the desert for the fee of $100. Holger originally agreed to work for free as long as we paid Eddy, Man of Action. I thought this was a sweet deal.
Eddy had been a freedom fighter for Namibia's SWAPO movement, a sometimes violent rebel group that formed the only organized form of resistance to the apartheid regime of South Africa in Southwest Africa (former Namibia). Eddy was born into a wealthy, upper-class family in Windhoek. His first house was in a neighborhood later reserved for whites. When the apartheid regime became worried that the instability and the expanding communist movement in Angola would permeate south to South Africa's borders, Pretoria decided on a policy of expansionism that would engulf the Southwest African state. Eddy at that time was a young boxer. He decided to join the freedom fighters resisting the South African forces in the Angolan bush.
The year he spent fighting against the South Africans with his troop of Namibian rebels was demanding. They had to survive off of the bush, dodging the better-equipped South Africans with minimal equipment. "It was a strategy of hit and run," he said. As night approached, his troop would surround the enemy installments and hit them with everything they had. Then they would run in different directions in the bush and hide until danger passed. While Southwest Africa was not able to stop the annexation of their state by South Africa, the Angolans were able to fight them off with help from SWAPO and the USSR. South African tanks still line the roadside in Angola, their empty hulls rusting away with each dry and wet season.
After the fighting ceased, Eddy returned to Windhoek to find apartheid had forever changed his world. All the blacks were rounded out of their houses and forced to live in a neighborhood outside of the city, a place they came to name Katutura which means "we don't want to stay here" in the local language. He was forced to leave his family's house that he had grown up in. The neighborhood was now reserved for whites only. But after his return from the war, Eddy continued to fight... in disguise. He became a championship boxer who stood undefeated for several years on the local circuit.
One day, he was confronted with four South African policemen who had been installed in Windhoek to ensure apartheid policies. After taking verbal abuse from one of them for minutes in defiance, the policeman started to beat him with his club. He looked up at the man and said: "Don't you fucking hit me again. If you hit me one more time, I am going to kill you!" The policeman didn't know that he was clubbing a championship fighter and hit him one more time. As promised, Eddy, Man of Action fought back with all the anger he felt. He sent the three other policemen of the squad running.
But Eddy’s fight didn't end there; he was persistent in offering his voice to the resistance against the regime and became one of the lead members of SWAPO. Pretty soon after that, the South African intellegenicia placed four mines around his house, where he lived with his wife and four children. A neighbor warned him and he was able to remove them without injury. But at this point, he decided to leave the country and go into exile.
For the next nine years, Eddy did not set foot in Southwest Africa. And while his exile was difficult to endure, he spent many years in Germany which he came to enjoy. He especially liked the relations he had with women from all over the world, white women with open minds and hearts, something that seemed impossible to do in Namibia. After watching the Berlin Wall fell in Germany in 1989, he decided that the tides of history were going to change for his home country also. He returned home to his wife and children.
Eddy's cousin ended up becoming the first President of newly independent Namibia in 1990. Eddy today is working as an entrepreneur; he introduces foreign investors to business opportunities in his country. He carries a book with the business cards of every Minister in government with pride. "These are all my friends," freedom fighters and resisters of apartheid that he fought beside.
The first time that he introduced himself to me, I thought he was pretentious. His anti-Americanism was also a little unsettling. He kept repeating that "Americans are enemies, I will never trust them" (this has to do with the war in Angola). But on the ride in and out of the desert with the new shock for the Stingray, I came to like that he calls himself "Eddy, Man of Action," because that's what he is. And, I taught him a new word on the trip: universal love. I asked him to give my three American friends a chance. After Nate explained that he was working to collapse the American media machine, Eddy genuinely exclaimed that he would fight beside him.
Eddy can offer you a tour of Namibia. He knows a lot about his country and will offer tourists a unique perspective of Southern African history as well as an insight into village life at his home of Okahao in the North. Eddy N Willibard, Man of Action, PO Box 7997, Katutura, Windhoek, Namibia, tel. 261449
I came to meet Eddy, Man of Action because of our shock (the one that broke into shreds of twisted metal in the middle of the Namib Desert). I returned to Windhoek with Mike to find a solution to our predicament. We found Eddy, who agreed to give me and the German welder, Holger a ride out 200 kilometers into the desert for the fee of $100. Holger originally agreed to work for free as long as we paid Eddy, Man of Action. I thought this was a sweet deal.
Eddy had been a freedom fighter for Namibia's SWAPO movement, a sometimes violent rebel group that formed the only organized form of resistance to the apartheid regime of South Africa in Southwest Africa (former Namibia). Eddy was born into a wealthy, upper-class family in Windhoek. His first house was in a neighborhood later reserved for whites. When the apartheid regime became worried that the instability and the expanding communist movement in Angola would permeate south to South Africa's borders, Pretoria decided on a policy of expansionism that would engulf the Southwest African state. Eddy at that time was a young boxer. He decided to join the freedom fighters resisting the South African forces in the Angolan bush.
The year he spent fighting against the South Africans with his troop of Namibian rebels was demanding. They had to survive off of the bush, dodging the better-equipped South Africans with minimal equipment. "It was a strategy of hit and run," he said. As night approached, his troop would surround the enemy installments and hit them with everything they had. Then they would run in different directions in the bush and hide until danger passed. While Southwest Africa was not able to stop the annexation of their state by South Africa, the Angolans were able to fight them off with help from SWAPO and the USSR. South African tanks still line the roadside in Angola, their empty hulls rusting away with each dry and wet season.
After the fighting ceased, Eddy returned to Windhoek to find apartheid had forever changed his world. All the blacks were rounded out of their houses and forced to live in a neighborhood outside of the city, a place they came to name Katutura which means "we don't want to stay here" in the local language. He was forced to leave his family's house that he had grown up in. The neighborhood was now reserved for whites only. But after his return from the war, Eddy continued to fight... in disguise. He became a championship boxer who stood undefeated for several years on the local circuit.
One day, he was confronted with four South African policemen who had been installed in Windhoek to ensure apartheid policies. After taking verbal abuse from one of them for minutes in defiance, the policeman started to beat him with his club. He looked up at the man and said: "Don't you fucking hit me again. If you hit me one more time, I am going to kill you!" The policeman didn't know that he was clubbing a championship fighter and hit him one more time. As promised, Eddy, Man of Action fought back with all the anger he felt. He sent the three other policemen of the squad running.
But Eddy’s fight didn't end there; he was persistent in offering his voice to the resistance against the regime and became one of the lead members of SWAPO. Pretty soon after that, the South African intellegenicia placed four mines around his house, where he lived with his wife and four children. A neighbor warned him and he was able to remove them without injury. But at this point, he decided to leave the country and go into exile.
For the next nine years, Eddy did not set foot in Southwest Africa. And while his exile was difficult to endure, he spent many years in Germany which he came to enjoy. He especially liked the relations he had with women from all over the world, white women with open minds and hearts, something that seemed impossible to do in Namibia. After watching the Berlin Wall fell in Germany in 1989, he decided that the tides of history were going to change for his home country also. He returned home to his wife and children.
Eddy's cousin ended up becoming the first President of newly independent Namibia in 1990. Eddy today is working as an entrepreneur; he introduces foreign investors to business opportunities in his country. He carries a book with the business cards of every Minister in government with pride. "These are all my friends," freedom fighters and resisters of apartheid that he fought beside.
The first time that he introduced himself to me, I thought he was pretentious. His anti-Americanism was also a little unsettling. He kept repeating that "Americans are enemies, I will never trust them" (this has to do with the war in Angola). But on the ride in and out of the desert with the new shock for the Stingray, I came to like that he calls himself "Eddy, Man of Action," because that's what he is. And, I taught him a new word on the trip: universal love. I asked him to give my three American friends a chance. After Nate explained that he was working to collapse the American media machine, Eddy genuinely exclaimed that he would fight beside him.
Eddy can offer you a tour of Namibia. He knows a lot about his country and will offer tourists a unique perspective of Southern African history as well as an insight into village life at his home of Okahao in the North. Eddy N Willibard, Man of Action, PO Box 7997, Katutura, Windhoek, Namibia, tel. 261449
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