On April 16 2015 IPPR Research Associate and Board Member Bill Lindeke passed away. In recognition of his incalculable contribution to the Institute for Public Policy Research and to the development of Namibia as a whole, the IPPR is pleased to announce the opening of the Bill Lindeke Resource Centre. The Resource Centre is based on Bill’s personal collection of nearly 2,000 books, papers and documents dealing with Namibia, Africa and international politics.
Here is a shortened version of an address given by Professor Andre du Pisani at the opening of the Bill Lindeke Resource Centre at the House of Democracy in Windhoek on April 19 2017:
Slightly more than two years ago, Prof. William A. (Bill) Lindeke left this earth. At the time and before, he was a Research Associate and IPPR Board Member. He left behind memories, friendships, and a wonderful library. Bill’s impressive library tells us that he was widely read and traveled. To him his publications and books never really belonged to him; they were gifts to time, gifts to friends, affinities and students. Gifts to ideas: stars that shone into the darkness of ignorance and indifference. This Resource Centre is an inspiration and dedication to his enquiring Spirit and Mind and will allow its users to weave through contested ideas, philosophies, politics, economics, history, countries, and regions. As such it formed an integral part of Bill’s journey of exploration and helps those of us who knew him and worked with him to heal and to marvel at his sound scholarship.
In this country there is a tendency to devalue and disregard the importance of libraries, books, works of art and heritage more generally. This is yet another reason why I am delighted that the IPPR provided a home where the library belongs – right here in Windhoek, Namibia. For the IPPR as one of the few independent social science research institutions in this country, the Bill Lindeke Resource Centre will give local and visiting researchers ready access to this trove. This places the library in a much larger cultural and intellectual context, in which greater exposure in general can occur, also for the IPPR.
There is another aspect to this Resource Centre, and that is its location in the “House of Democracy”. Since democracy is very much about ideas and their contestation, this collection uniquely adds value to the very construct of the “House of Democracy”- a deliberative space.
With these brief opening remarks, it is now for me a singular honour and pleasure to declare the “Bill Lindeke Resource Centre” OPEN, and I thank you on behalf of Tara, the family, the countless number of students and researchers who have had the pleasure to have Bill as their mentor and friend.
