About Racism in Namibia

Since I have been publicly accused of racism in a very paranoid and unfounded manner, I came to the conclusion to look into the matter of racism more carefully. I don’t take the accusations lightly because racism is a very pressing matter in Namibia and to be a racist is a serious moral infringement. But for a white man to talk about racism means to walk the slippery slope.

Racism is widely ignored or swept under the carpet in present Namibia, because the official doctrine of reconciliation discourages the open discussion. But racism is rampant in every day live and there is still a lot of injustice, discrimination and suffering in this regard. The reconciliation doctrine also suppresses the perception of reality: reconciliation is embraced by only a very few, predominant is the view it’s ‘payback time’. I fully understand these feelings. They are very basic, after an experience of the enormity of Apartheid the victims cannot just go back to business as usual. The Jews could not, nor can the Hereros and Namas after the genocide. There is a strong urge for retribution. But under the reconciliation doctrine these needs have to go underground and manifest them only clandestine. What is happening nowadays in Namibia is guerrilla-racism. It only rears its ugly head from time to time publicly in emotional outbursts like the hammering of the British promised by the Founding Father or the expropriation of the Wiese farm.  Also the admiration for the Zimbabwean disaster belongs in this category. I think it was a critical omission of the post-independent society to address these needs, which now haunts public and private life. I don’t demand a ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ now after 21 years, but the measures introduced by government like ‘Affirmative Action’ and BEE did not contribute to reconciliation; it rather created new injustices against the masses of the victims. Maybe it quenched the thirst for retribution among the new instant millionaires; and it created a new form of racism between the Black Fat Cats and the Hungry Majority. But the feelings of injustice from the Apartheid era and the time after Independence are smoldering and there is the danger that they will flare one day.

But the traditional racism, the discrimination against blacks by white Namibians is still a bitter reality.  Its most relevant expression is of course economic discrimination, which didn’t improve after independence, but even got worse.

 Namibia is still very much a province of South Africa economically. Most goods are imported from there. The historic ties between the former ‘ruling tribe’, the ‘Boers’ or Afrikaners as they like to be called in Namibia and South Africa are at work and functional. This way the economic elite stay in place and cement their position. They of course also use their guerilla tactics. Until now they were able to rule the country by economic power, supported by cultural imperialism. A screaming injustice in Namibia is that workers and employees in the lower ranks are always underpaid (members of other tribes are excluded from higher ranks). This culture of exploitation is very similar to the one during the industrial revolution in Europe, typical early capitalism style. The emerging black economy is perpetuating this mode. Black businesspeople are very greedy and lack any sort of social consciences. They always stress the African culture of ‘sharing’, but this is only true for kinship and they give just alms (peanuts). Also the state refuses to support the neediest and it rejects basic welfare measures (BIG) with ridiculous arguments.

 One can hardly get a job or pursue business without speaking Afrikaans. The Boers insist on their language and culture and undermine the assimilation of Namibians into an integrated nation. Although the government intended to create a monolingual population, the implementation is very sloppy. There are still many schools where Afrikaans is the medium and the now ruling tribe is also not very keen to learn English.

But besides the dirty hard facts of material life there are also ways of discriminating on a mental or psychological level. For instance the Boers generally disrespect black people, grown men are called “boys” and any black is treated as a minor. It is true, that many blacks lack education and knowledge in even basic fields, but that doesn’t mean you must treat them all like morons. The apartheid mentality within the white population is still alive and is nourished. Most whites are far away from the idea to reconcile with the ‘kaffirs’ and as long as they have the economic leverage, they don’t see the necessity. They enjoy for instance jokes like this: “What does it take to turn a tourist into a racist? … Five minutes!”

In my opinion the majority of the white population is very shortsighted and careless. Because I cannot see any alternative to reconciliation, which consequently means the rich must give up some of their economic power and wealth voluntarily. The only alternative would be the Zimbabwean way, which is no solution because of destructive consequences and prohibitive costs.

What Namibia needs is a rational discourse about the coexistence of the tribes and races and the just distribution of the wealth of the country. In this regard it is not a good idea of the powers that be to shower their cronies with money and pay comrades exorbitant salaries or bring in Chinese companies, who pay their local employees even worse than the Namibians.

I am always surprised how seemingly endless the ability to suffer is in the Namibian population. In most other nations people would have staged already a revolution. If the relevant parties in society don’t engage in some radical changes, they will most probably find themselves at the receiving end of the change. Therefore an emotional whining about racism is useless and childish (Alfredo).

I guess if income and lifestyle would be more evenly distributed, then also the cultural forms of racial discrimination will diminish. Already today one can see that mutual respect among people increases with comparability of income. Education will adapt to more equal levels and the tribal cultures will hopefully melt into a common Namibian culture. Many other cultures have undergone this transformation and reached a unified identity. Therefore every tribe must be able to give up some identity and try to reform its partly millennia old habits and traditions. Every Namibian must modernize and put cultural traditions in a space where they don’t hurt: into folklore and museums. In the ages of globalization the feelings that one family, one clan or one tribe is superior or should dominate any other one must be put aside. In Namibia this must be initiated with the abolishment of authoritarian partiarchism. Yes, guys you must give up your useless macho behavior (I’m a man! I’m a man!). This is the most basic discrimination in society and it starts with parents not discriminating against their girls and promoting boys.