tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/ovaherero-34874/articlesOvaherero – The Conversation2022-01-09T08:25:12Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1734522022-01-09T08:25:12Z2022-01-09T08:25:12ZWhy reconciliation agreement between Germany and Namibia has hit the buffers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436649/original/file-20211209-140267-1xc68ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An aerial view of members of the Herero and Nama communities taking part in the Reparation Walk in 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christian Ender/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In mid-2015 the German Foreign Ministry <a href="https://www.ushmm.org/collections/bibliography/herero-and-nama-genocide">admitted</a> that the war the country had waged against the local communities of the Ovaherero and Nama (and the Damara and San) between 1904 and 1908 in German South West Africa (now Namibia) was a genocide. </p>
<p>Since then bilateral negotiations with the Namibian government <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14623528.2020.1750823">have taken place</a> to find ways to come to terms with this horrific chapter of the shared colonial past. The declared aim was to seek reconciliation. </p>
<p>In mid-May 2021 the special envoys of Germany and Namibia initialled a <a href="https://u9t7p8p4.stackpathcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/deutsche-afrika-stiftung-joint-declaration-by-the-federal-republic-of-germany-and-the-republic-of-namibia.pdf">joint declaration</a>. While ratification by the foreign ministers was anticipated within weeks, this remains a pending affair. </p>
<p>Considering the declaration’s flaws, this should not come as a surprise.</p>
<p>The declaration <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/28/germany-agrees-to-pay-namibia-11bn-over-historical-herero-nama-genocide">avoided</a> far-reaching precedence. The genocide was recognised in moral and political, but not legal terms. As a result, reparations were not acknowledged as a consequence of the admission. It has therefore <a href="https://theconversation.com/namibian-genocide-why-germanys-bid-to-make-amends-isnt-enough-161820">been widely criticised</a>.</p>
<p>For the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights it is a <a href="https://www.ecchr.eu/en/press-release/germany-namibia-declaration/">“lost opportunity”</a>, since it failed to meet the standards of codified international law norms. </p>
<p>That the “reconciliation agreement” will be published as a mere joint declaration speaks volumes. It reflects the fact that reconciliation between the people of the two countries – but also within Namibia – is further away than before. But one cannot admit to the degree of atrocities committed with their far reaching demographic, material and traumatic consequences for the descendants of the survivors without seeking direct reconciliation with these. </p>
<h2>What’s gone wrong</h2>
<p>The preceding negotiation process disregarded international participation rights based both in treaties and customary international law. Critics bemoaned, among other things, the fact that both governments were <a href="https://www.iwgia.org/en/news/4538-reconciliation-between-germany-and-namibia-towards-reparation-of-the-first-genocide-of-the-20th-century.html">“seeking forgiveness without listening to descendants”</a> and with no reference to the return of land to the dispossessed as part of restitutive justice.</p>
<p>The declaration avoids the term “reparations”. It allocates a total amount of 1.05 billion Euro (US$1.18 billion) over a period of 30 years for development projects to Namibian regions with the descendants of the genocide victims. About the same amount as German development cooperation has spent in the 30 years since Namibia’s Independence.</p>
<p>Another 50 million Euro (US$56 million) “will be dedicated to the projects on reconciliation, remembrance, research and education” over the same period. </p>
<p>This is a pittance. Nevertheless the declaration stresses that</p>
<blockquote>
<p>these amounts … settle all financial aspects of the issues relating to the past.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For many, such meagre material recognition adds <a href="https://www.theafricancourier.de/news/africa/insulting-critics-reject-german-namibian-agreement-on-herero-genocide/">insult to injury</a>.</p>
<p>The main agencies of the descendants, political opposition parties and leading members of the governing South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO)
did not waste any time to manifest their disagreement. The opening debate in the National Assembly in early June ended in turmoil. In an unprecedented form of protest, hundreds of demonstrators joined by MPs stormed the fenced in area outside Parliament to voice their frustration over the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/6/8/betrayal-namibian-opposition-lawmakers-slam-germany-genocide-deal">“betrayal”</a>.</p>
<p>For them the motto is: “Nothing about us without us.” </p>
<p>This reflects <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html">article 18</a> in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People which has been signed by both countries. It states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Indigenous peoples have the right to participate in decision-making in matters
which would affect their rights, through representatives chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Due to the pandemic-related lockdown, the parliamentary debate was postponed. Opening in late September 2021, it lasted until the end of the parliamentary sessions on 1 December. </p>
<p>Numerous speakers from all parties expressed concerns, criticism and rejections regarding the shortcomings. In a entirely new form of unity, they were condemning the declaration as insufficient.</p>
<p>MacHenry Venaani, leader of the official opposition Popular Democratic Movement, <a href="https://www.observer24.com.na/venaani-proposes-re-negotiation-of-genocide-deal">lambasted</a> the agreed forms of compensation for the crimes committed as, “A flagrant display of arrogance by the German government.”</p>
<p>Bernadus Swartbooi, leader of the Landless People’s Movement, the second
biggest opposition party, concluded with reference to the exclusion of the Ovaherero and Nama in the negotiations as the most affected indigenous communities “that this nation-state does not belong to all”. </p>
<p>SWAPO MPs voiced their frustration too. Minister Tom Alweendo
<a href="https://neweralive.na/posts/parliament-in-session-1">was concerned</a> about the
growing divisions along ethnic lines as well as the government and opposition parties: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am troubled by how the conversation has gone thus far. It is now so apparent that the debate has become so divisive. We call each other names. We refer to each other as puppets and sell-outs … I am afraid that should we continue with this path, then the legacy left by the divide and rule philosophy will continue to flourish.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The parliamentary debate closed without any decision taken. Government <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2021/1202/Germany-admits-to-genocide-in-Namibia.-Should-reparations-follow">announced</a> that taking into consideration the contributions, it would seek further negotiations with the German side.</p>
<h2>No end in sight</h2>
<p>Once an improved agreement was ratified, MPs were reassured that it <a href="https://neweralive.na/posts/govt-poised-to-conclude-genocide-issue-kapofi">would be submitted</a> to the Namibian Parliament for acceptance.</p>
<p>In October the German special envoy Ruprecht Polenz <a href="https://www-spiegel-de.translate.goog/ausland/ruprecht-polenz-ueber-das-versoehnungsabkommen-nach-dem-voelkermord-an-den-nama-und-herero-a-57c8c649-6a5d-415c-9044-3c5a2973ce07?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc">confirmed in an interview</a>
that the declaration would not be renegotiated. </p>
<p>However, the new German government in office since early December stresses in its coalition agreement <a href="https://www.tagesspiegel.de/downloads/27829944/1/koalitionsvertrag-ampel-2021-2025.pdf">the commitment</a> to pursue reconciliation with Namibia as an “indispensable task”. </p>
<p>It remains to be seen if a foreign minister from the Green Party will be willing and able to find a way out of the impasse.</p>
<p>Finally, even if renegotiations would be a viable option, the major challenge lies in the inclusion of the communities in Namibia and the diaspora who continue to be most affected by the violent past. It points to the limitations of government-to-government negotiations as long as they don’t adequately recognise those who mainly bear the trauma and consequences of the genocide.</p>
<p>According to the joint declaration:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Germany apologises and bows before the descendants of the victims … The
Namibian Government and people accept Germany’s apology and believe that it
paves the way to a lasting mutual understanding and the consolidation of a special relationship between the two nations.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Without the descendants of the genocide survivors substantially involved and willing to reconcile, this remains as patronising and paternalistic as colonialism was. It underlines the continued asymmetries. There is a long way to reconciliation.</p>
<p>The question the late Jewish historian Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi once posed in <a href="https://www.commentary.org/articles/david-singer-4/zakhor-jewish-history-and-jewish-memory-by-yosef-hayim-yerushalmi/">his book</a> Zakhor – Jewish History and Jewish Memory remains valid also for this case:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Is it possible that the antonym of ‘forgetting’ is not ‘remembering,’ but justice?</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173452/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henning Melber joined in 1974 SWAPO as the anti colonial movement in Namibia and is a member since then.</span></em></p>The problem is that communities who continue to be most affected by the violent past have not been involved in negotiations.Henning Melber, Extraordinary Professor, Department of Political Sciences, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1305462020-01-26T09:15:43Z2020-01-26T09:15:43ZSurviving genocide: a voice from colonial Namibia at the turn of the last century<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/311811/original/file-20200124-81369-1gzexmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A human skull on display in Berlin in 2018. Germany handed back human remains seized during the Namibia genocide from 1904 to 1908.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA-EFE/Hayoung Jeon</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Germany committed genocide in Africa 40 years before the <a href="https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/what-was-the-holocaust/">Holocaust</a> of the European Jews. In 1904 and 1905 the Ovaherero and Nama people of central and southern Namibia rose up against colonial rule and dispossession in what was then called German South West Africa. The revolt was brutally crushed. By 1908, 80% of the Ovaherero and 50% of the Nama <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/herero-people-south-west-africa-now-namibia-begin-uprising">had died</a> of starvation and thirst, overwork and exposure to harsh climates. </p>
<p>The army drove survivors into the waterless Omaheke desert. Thousands more died in <a href="http://en.rfi.fr/Paris-exhibition-20th-centurys-first-genocide-massacre-Namibias-Herero-and-Nama">concentration camps</a>. </p>
<p>For <a href="https://books.google.de/books/about/The_Kaiser_s_Holocaust.html?id=CSqc0CsnL-AC&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">many historians</a> this first genocide committed by Germany provided the template for the horrors that were to come 40 years later during the Holocaust of the European Jews. The <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arendt/">philosopher Hannah Arendt</a>, herself a Holocaust refugee from Germany, <a href="https://koneensaatio.fi/en/hannah-arendt-the-origins-and-consequences-of-ideological-racism/">explained</a> in 1951 that European imperialism played a crucial role in the development of Nazi totalitarianism and associated genocides.</p>
<p>We know very little about the experience of those who lived through this first systematic mass extinction of the 20th century. Forty-seven testimonies were recorded and published in 1918 in a scathing official British report about German colonial rule in Namibia, known as the Blue Book. One eyewitness <a href="https://www.ascleiden.nl/publications/words-cannot-be-found-german-colonial-rule-namibia-annotated-reprint-1918-blue-book">remarked</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Words cannot be found to relate what happened; it was too terrible.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Following on an earlier <a href="https://bokbyenforlag.no/butikk/fakta/debatt-politikk-og-samfunn/mama-penee-jenta-som-gjennomskuet-folkemordet/">Norwegian edition</a>, a new book, Mama Penee: Transcending the Genocide, by Uazuvara Ewald Kapombo Katjivena, to be published by <a href="http://www.unam.edu.na/unam-press/publishers-welcome">UNAM Press</a> in Windhoek in February, makes an extraordinary attempt to present the lived experience of the genocide. </p>
<h2>Surviving a genocide</h2>
<p>Based on oral and family history, Katjivena, a former exiled liberation Namibian fighter until the country’s independence from South Africa <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/namibian-struggle-independence-1966-1990-historical-background">in 1990</a>, tells his grandmother’s story in a biography deeply infused with family and oral history. His grandmother, Jahohora, survived the genocide as an 11-year-old girl. </p>
<p>In the book’s opening scene young Jahohora witnesses her parents’ murder at the hands of German colonial troops in 1904. Following this traumatic experience, she wanders into the veld. The young girl survives on her own, using skills that her mother had imparted to her, to scavenge from the environment. She traps rabbits and birds, eats berries and wild honey, and occasionally feasts on an ostrich egg.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312033/original/file-20200127-81341-1gzpnqt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/312033/original/file-20200127-81341-1gzpnqt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=843&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312033/original/file-20200127-81341-1gzpnqt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=843&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312033/original/file-20200127-81341-1gzpnqt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=843&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312033/original/file-20200127-81341-1gzpnqt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1059&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312033/original/file-20200127-81341-1gzpnqt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1059&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/312033/original/file-20200127-81341-1gzpnqt.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1059&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The remaining connection with her parents is cruelly cut after she is caught and forced to work for a German farmer. During the “civilising” washing and changing of her attire, her ceremonial Ovaherero headgear is cut into pieces and burnt by the farmer’s wife. </p>
<p>The headgear was her mother’s significant gift for the growing daughter just before the start of the hostilities in early 1904. Jahohora suffers deeply humiliating experiences.</p>
<p>Katjivena’s grandmother was a remarkable woman of deep thought, insight, and immense resolve. Her parents and grandparents belonged to a section of the Ovaherero called the Ovatjurure. They played a significant role in their communities by helping to maintain peace among families in the nearby homesteads and in the neighbouring villages.</p>
<p>Their daughter passed on this remarkable tradition to the children and grandchildren she brought up during Namibia’s colonial era under Germany and South Africa.</p>
<h2>Regaining agency</h2>
<p>Katjivena intersperses Jahohora’s personal perspective with historical facts. We read a detailed, chilling account of General Lothar von Trotha’s <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/international/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/general-lothar-von-trotha-extermination-order-against-herero">extermination order of 2 October 1904</a>. The oral history telling, however, also indicates instances of humanity during an entirely inhumane era. </p>
<p>Who were these white people, the survivor wondered. Why had some German soldiers saved her from certain death and given her a chance of life while their fellows had mercilessly killed her parents? As Jahohora meets other survivors and hears their stories, she begins to understand the genocide and especially the role of Von Trotha, who is locally known as omuzepe (the killer).</p>
<p>Katjivena’s story looks simple, yet it exudes deep meaning. It turns the gaze onto the oppressors. The resisting gaze of the colonised, the cultural theorist Elizabeth Baer <a href="http://www.unam.edu.na/news/unam-press-latest-book-confronts-genocide">writes</a>, is an act of self-creation. It “begins to recognize and restore agency to the victims of imperialism”.</p>
<h2>Transcending the genocide</h2>
<p>The subtitle of Katjivena’s book is Transcending the Genocide. It adds a tremendous living voice to the symbolic commemorations of Germany’s African genocide that have taken place over the past few years. </p>
<p>Importantly, human remains of genocide victims were repatriated from Germany to Namibia in 2011, 2014 and 2018. These had been shipped to academic and medical institutions in Germany, and had remained there <a href="https://theconversation.com/namibian-genocide-victims-remains-are-home-but-germany-still-has-work-to-do-102655">until recently</a>. </p>
<p>In 2019 some significant items of cultural memory, which had been stolen during colonial conquest, were <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/namibia-dispute-over-return-of-the-witbooi-bible/a-47712784">returned to Namibia </a> from the Linden Museum in Stuttgart. These included the slain Nama leader Hendrik Witbooi’s Bible and his riding whip.</p>
<p>In Windhoek a Genocide Memorial, built in 2014, signifies a noteworthy shift in post-colonial Namibian memory politics. The statue’s North Korean aesthetics and symbolism <a href="https://www.njas.fi/njas/article/view/266/250">remain controversial</a>. That aside, the new monument shows that the genocide of the Ovaherero and Nama has belatedly entered the public history narrative of Namibian nationhood. This would have been impossible a <a href="https://www.njas.fi/njas/article/view/266/250">few years earlier</a>.</p>
<h2>Reconciliation and reparations</h2>
<p>On the political level, the German government finally acknowledged the colonial genocide <a href="https://theconversation.com/has-the-relationship-between-namibia-and-germany-sunk-to-a-new-low-121329">in 2015</a>. Ever since, Namibian and German envoys have been talking about an official apology by Germany. </p>
<p>Most controversial have been negotiations about <a href="https://theconversation.com/namibian-traditional-leaders-haul-germany-before-us-court-in-genocide-test-case-71222">reparations</a>. Also controversial has been the role of the Ovaherero and Nama communities that were directly affected by the genocide. But in January 2020 Germany’s new ambassador to Namibia, Herbert Beck, hinted that important political developments might be <a href="https://www.namibian.com.na/87306/read/Aid-no-compromise-for-reparations?fbclid=IwAR3C7KiUAnOK1ZABLJoRjt0jRB3Y4w-U2vhX7u20gtKW1nQTTGG00vQb8Ww#close">about to happen</a>. </p>
<p>It is not clear yet where the complicated process of post-colonial reconciliation is going. Yet, with stories such as Katjivena’s remarkable biography of his grandmother, the dead and the survivors of the colonial genocide are finally given a face.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130546/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heike Becker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An oral history based biography of a survivor of colonial genocide in Namibia indicates instances of humanity during an entirely inhumane era.Heike Becker, Professor of Anthropology, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1053012018-10-31T12:49:39Z2018-10-31T12:49:39ZNamibia’s long-standing land issue remains unresolved<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241870/original/file-20181023-169822-ls11z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">One of the new resolutions on land related to Namibia's urban areas, like the capital city Windhoek.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Grobler du Preez/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Thirty years of German settler colonialism in South West Africa – from 1884 to 1914 – paved the way for continued apartheid under South Africa. The resistance of the local communities against the invasion culminated in the <a href="https://stichproben.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/user_upload/p_stichproben/Artikel/Nummer33/01_Article_Melber_Genocide_Namibia_draft_FINAL.pdf">first genocide of the 20th century</a> among the Ovaherero, Nama and other groups. As main occupants of the eastern, central and southern regions of the country they were forced from their land into so-called native reserves.</p>
<p>Forced land dispossession continued. Even independence brought little relief. The negotiated transition to independence in 1990 entrenched the <a href="http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A275566&dswid=2400">structural discrepancies created during colonialism</a>. In exchange for occupying the political commando heights of a sovereign state the national liberation movement SWAPO accepted the material inequalities it inherited without any major debate. </p>
<p>Namibia’s <a href="https://www.gov.na/documents/10181/14134/Namibia_Constitution.pdf/37b70b76-c15c-45d4-9095-b25d8b8aa0fb">Constitution</a> was adopted as a precondition to independence. Its chapter 3 on Fundamental Human Rights and Freedom cannot be changed. Next to civil and political rights, its article 16 states that any expropriation of private property requires compensation that is just. </p>
<p>Not surprisingly, the question of land has been hotly contested ever since independence. A <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.538.3535&rep=rep1&type=pdf">National Land Reform Conference</a> took place in 1991. Its <a href="http://www.mlr.gov.na/documents/20541/290353/Conference+Consensus+Document+%28Booklet+and+Programme%29.pdf/dfa21c58-1112-49e8-b22e-54d09e77cf52">recommendations</a> included the redistribution of commercial farmland, a land tax and the reallocation of underused land.</p>
<p>But meaningful restitution wasn’t implemented. In addition, the buying of farm land was slow and inefficient. Beneficiaries were often not able to use farms they’d got for resettlement purposes because they lacked capital and know-how.</p>
<p>Finally, many beneficiaries were anything but still disadvantaged. Members of the political and bureaucratic elite received preferential treatment. Subsidised by taxpayers’ money, they became <a href="http://ippr.org.na/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Opinion11.pdf">weekend or hobby farmers</a>. </p>
<h2>Second land conference</h2>
<p>More recently there have been increased demands to address the failures of the past; these culminated in a second land conference in early October 2018. But local responses to the final document that was adopted were based on previous experiences – that is, in most cases not much happens after such conferences. As an editorial in a <a href="https://www.observer.com.na/index.php/editorial/item/10517-let-them-eat-cake">weekly paper</a> remarked:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Placing one or two plasters on the stump of an amputated leg, is not a cure.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The government invited more than 800 participants to the conference and allocated N$ 15 million (one million USD$) for the five-day event. Given the overwhelming dominance of state authorities and other official institutions as well as indications that SWAPO tried from the get-go to hijack the agenda, civil society organisations threatened to boycott. At the end, most of them participated merely because it was a chance to voice their frustrations.</p>
<p>The Ministry for Land Reform provided access to most of the <a href="http://www.mlr.gov.na/land-conference1">documents submitted</a>, including those of the first Land Conference. Compared with the 24 resolutions adopted but hardly implemented then, many matters in the now <a href="http://www.mlr.gov.na/documents/20541/638917/Second+National+Land+Conference+Resolutions+2018.pdf/15b498fd-fdc6-4898-aeda-91fecbc74319">40 resolutions</a> were a <a href="https://www.namibian.com.na/72030/read/Land-conference-resolutions-Whats-new">modified follow up</a>.</p>
<p>A significant new addition was the issue of urban land and informal settlements. It recognised the demands of urban squatters to affordable housing, estimated at 900,000 people (40% of Namibia’s total population). </p>
<p>Notably, the issues of communal and of ancestral land also received more prominence and there appeared to be a greater willingness to consider interventions. These include the protection of tenure rights mainly in the interest of the poorest as victims of illegal land occupation and privatisation by members of the new elites.</p>
<h2>Reconciliation and justice</h2>
<p>What complicates matters is that land is not merely an economic affair. More than any other issue, land is a matter of identity – for those who own it as much as for those who feel it should be theirs. </p>
<p>Colonialism went along with violent land theft. The current distribution of land in Namibia is a constant reminder that colonialism has not ended despite independence.</p>
<p>History cannot be fully reversed. The structural legacies created under apartheid and the long-term demographic impact of the genocide have left irreversible marks. However, what seems a feasible compromise is to offer the San communities access to and protection in the parts of Namibia which have remained, in their views, home. </p>
<p>The forced removal from land on record since the early times of white settler encroachment would also be a widely accepted reference point.</p>
<p>Some of the still festering wounds can be treated. The recent Land Conference stated on “ancestral land rights and claims” in resolution 38 that “measures to restore social justice and ensure economic empowerment of the affected communities” should be identified. And it proposes to “use the reparations from the former colonial powers for such purpose”. This might offer a way out of the current stagnation in the negotiations between the <a href="https://theconversation.com/genocide-negotiations-between-germany-and-namibia-hit-stumbling-blocks-89697">Namibian and German governments</a>. </p>
<p>As part of the long overdue compensation, Germany should fork out the necessary funds for a just compensation of commercial farmers, whose land was previously utilised by Namibia’s indigenous communities. It then also has to finance the necessary investments – both in terms of infrastructure as well as know-how – that will empower local communities to fully benefit from resettlement. This would be a wise investment by both governments into true reconciliation towards a peaceful future for all people who want to continue living in Namibia.</p>
<p>But such brokerage requires honesty to obtain legitimacy and credibility. Ten days after the Land Conference disturbing news made the rounds. A Russian oligarch, who has been in possession of three farms since 2013, had added another four farms to his <a href="https://www.namibian.com.na/72336/read/Russian-buys-four-farms">Namibian empire</a>. This shady deal with the Land Reform Ministry was made a week before the Land Conference, whose resolution 21 stated “no land should be sold to foreign nationals”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105301/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henning Melber is a member of SWAPO since 1974.</span></em></p>The question of land has been hotly contested in Namibia ever since independence.Henning Melber, Extraordinary Professor, Department of Political Sciences, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1026552018-09-04T13:14:56Z2018-09-04T13:14:56ZNamibian genocide victims’ remains are home. But Germany still has work to do<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234824/original/file-20180904-45151-8p4z6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Demonstrators in Berlin demand justice for Namibian victims of German genocide. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joachim Zeller</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Human remains kept by German institutions as part of their colonial loot were repatriated to Namibia at the <a href="https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/germany-to-return-human-remains-from-namibian-genocide-20180829">end of August 2018</a>– the third time this has been done. And once again, the process was marred by serious friction, a clear illustration that both the German and Namibian governments have not come to terms with the problems involved. </p>
<p>Most human remains that had been taken from Namibia were from people killed during the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/25/germany-moves-to-atone-for-forgotten-genocide-in-namibia">genocide between 1904 and 1908</a>, or related atrocities under <a href="https://www.google.co.za/search?rlz=1C1EJFA_enZA729ZA729&ei=CH6OW_2tHovUwALJlIeQAQ&q=openaccess.leidenuniv.nl%2Fbitstream%2Fhandle%2F...%2FASC-075287668-3785-01.pdf&oq=openaccess.leidenuniv.nl%2Fbitstream%2Fhandle%2F...%2FASC-075287668-3785-01.pdf&gs_l=psy-ab.3...25268.26496.0.26831.3.3.0.0.0.0.0.0..1.0....0...1.1j2.64.psy-ab..2.0.0.0...236.BeDYU1Pe9p4">German colonialism</a>. It’s not known how many such remains are still in German “collections”.</p>
<p>But their repatriation cannot be de-linked from the need by Germany to admit to its colonial, state-sponsored crime. And the former colonial power has yet to take what’s needed to provide redress.</p>
<p>It took a full century after its colonial dreams of empire ended for Germany to accept – and then reluctantly – responsibility for the traumatic past. Only in July 2015 did the foreign ministry confirm that the term “genocide” was applicable to what happened in then “German South-West Africa”. This was finally confirmed as <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/14/germany-to-recognise-herero-genocide-and-apologise-to-namibia/">official policy</a> a year later.</p>
<p>But bilateral negotiations remain at an <a href="https://theconversation.com/genocide-negotiations-between-germany-and-namibia-hit-stumbling-blocks-89697">impasse</a>. The main unresolved issues are the full recognition of the genocide, an appropriate apology and a willingness for redress on the side of Germany. </p>
<p>During the ceremonies around the restitution of remains, German official pronouncements once again <a href="https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/streit-ueber-gedenkakt-vor-rueckgabe-der-herero-gebeine.1013.de.html?dram:article_id=426593">remained evasive</a>. This means: no formal recognition of genocide, no official apology, and no mention at all of any redress.</p>
<p>True reconciliation remains a remote hope.</p>
<h2>Obfuscation</h2>
<p>On 29 August, 27 human remains were handed over. The solemn ceremony took place in a prominent Berlin church. The <a href="https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/newsroom/muentefering-namibia/2131046">speech by Michelle Müntefering</a>, Germany’s Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, offered no deep apology. At the end, she “bowed in deep mourning” and asked, “from the bottom of my heart for forgiveness”.</p>
<p>Such wording does not go beyond the individual remorse offered in 2004 by German Minister <a href="http://archive.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2004/08/15/a_namibian_people_mark_1904_genocide/">Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul</a>. And Müntefering again resorted to a quaint wording that obfuscated Germany’s responsibility for its actions, saying</p>
<blockquote>
<p>atrocities committed then in the German name were, what today would be termed a genocide.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Such verbal acrobatics seeks to stress that international law on genocide would not apply to the deeds of 1904-1908, thereby dodging any claims to reparations.</p>
<p>Reparation claims are pursued both by the Namibian government and separately by descendants of the main victim groups who feel they aren’t adequately represented in the bilateral negotiations between the governments. The actions by agencies of Ovaherero and Nama include a widely observed <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/07/court-hears-case-germany-namibia-genocide-180731201918543.html">court case in New York</a>.</p>
<p>The contested “G-word”, and its implications for reparation claims, were not the only sensitive issue. Before the handover of human remains was consummated, conflicts cropped up because of the approach taken by both governments.</p>
<h2>Tensions</h2>
<p>In an obvious attempt to keep a low profile on the side of the German state, the ceremony was made the responsibility of the German Protestant Church, acting jointly with the Namibian Council of Churches. Participation in a <a href="http://nbc.na/news/solemn-vigil-held-repatriation-human-remains-germany.18608">vigil</a> was restricted to personal invitations. This violated the fundamental principles of Christian sermons being open to all.</p>
<p>Representatives of the independent Ovaherero and Nama agencies as descendants of the victim groups were only allowed at the last minute to occupy some space in the ceremonies. They voiced their frustration accordingly. As Paramount Chief Rukoro <a href="https://neweralive.na/posts/but-what-did-they-do-to-deserve-that">stated on their behalf</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>How do you – the organisers of this event – think of us, Herero and Nama leaders, that our staunch supporters who were responsible for discovering these remains, are kept outside while we are locked up inside and standing next to members of the very church that has committed genocide against our people? Don’t you ever have respect for our feelings?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Nor did ongoing tensions abate in Namibia. The human remains were repatriated in the company of Müntefering and the German special envoy to Windhoek. On 31 August a ceremony took place in the Parliament Garden with Namibia’s vice president as the <a href="https://www.observer.com.na/index.php/national/item/10309-mbumba-to-preside-over-ceremony-in-honour-of-genocide-victims">keynote speaker</a>.</p>
<p>While all participants were at pains to maintain decorum, divergent concerns were strikingly articulated. Vice president Nangolo Mbumba followed his government’s line in stressing national unity. He emphasised the <a href="https://www.lelamobile.com/content/76710/Namibia-will-continue-to-seek-reparations-on-genocide-Mbumba/">need for reparations</a>. Recognising the contribution of the affected communities, he reminded them that the human remains left Namibia when it was a colony. They were now returned to a democratic country under a constitution.</p>
<p>The representatives of victim communities went further, insisting on a formal apology and reparations. Even the Ovaherero group that cooperates with the government negotiations and Namibia’s special envoy, stressed they would evaluate any result against <a href="https://www.namibiansun.com/news/mnteferings-apology-torn-apart-2018-09-03">these essentials</a>. </p>
<p>Müntefering, for her part, mainly repeated her <a href="https://windhuk.diplo.de/na-en/aktuelles/-/2131686">former speech</a>. </p>
<h2>Missed opportunity</h2>
<p>This third repatriation of human remains – the others were in <a href="http://genocide-namibia.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/1708057_englische-Antwort.pdf">2011</a> and <a href="https://neweralive.na/2014/02/28/germany-send-35-skulls/">2014</a> – was another missed opportunity to move closer to some serious reconciliation between Germany and Namibia. </p>
<p>In Berlin Müntefering <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2018-08-29-germany-to-return-human-remains-from-namibian-genocide/">told reporters</a>, that Germany still has </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a lot of catching up to do in coming to terms with our colonial heritage.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This challenge remains, and the descendants of the victims will continue to demand justice. Germany and Namibia remain a far cry from true reconciliation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102655/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Reinhart Kössler received funding under a relevant research project (2006-2012) by Volkswagen Foundation. He is affiliated with "Völkermord verjährt nicht"/Genocide does not superannuate, a lose association of individuals and civil society organisations. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henning Melber is a member of SWAPO of Namibia since 1974. </span></em></p>The third repatriation of human remains in August this year was another missed opportunity for reconciliation between Germany and Namibia.Reinhart Kössler, Professor in Political Science, University of FreiburgHenning Melber, Extraordinary Professor, Department of Political Sciences, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/896972018-01-10T15:33:44Z2018-01-10T15:33:44ZGenocide negotiations between Germany and Namibia hit stumbling blocks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201344/original/file-20180109-36043-1v34utd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Esther Utjiua Muinjangue commemorates the victims of the German colonial genocide in Namibia.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Stefanie Pilick</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Namibian-German negotiations about the genocide perpetrated in the former German colony South West Africa in 1904-1908 have just entered their third year. </p>
<p>The start of the negotiations in late 2015 marked a turning point after more than a century of German <a href="https://www.pambazuka.org/human-security/genocide-namibia-1904-08-and-its-consequences">denialism</a>. But now tangible progress seems elusive, and a crisis may be <a href="http://nai.uu.se/news/articles/2017/06/09/132653/index.xml">imminent</a>, delaying justice for the Ovaherero and Nama descendants of the main victim groups. </p>
<p>There’s always been unity in Namibia about the broad demands towards Germany – recognition of the genocide, an apology and reparations. This has been true even though there’s been considerable controversy about <a href="https://www.newera.com.na/2017/12/15/kae-on-friday-swapo-congress-a-lost-opportunity-for-genocide-talks/">the issue of representation at the negotiations</a>, with the feud between groups representing the victims and the Namibian government turning bitter at times. </p>
<p>Each of the three issues is throwing up fresh challenges in the negotiations. Hopes that were placed in the shift of German official language in mid-2015 have evaporated. According to the latest indicators, Namibian negotiators are <a href="https://www.namibiansun.com/news/genocide-the-focus-of-talks2018-01-04/">quite doubtful</a> about an outcome of the government negotiations.</p>
<h2>The question of genocide</h2>
<p>In January 1904 Ovaherero communities in the central parts of the territory resisted the settler-colonial invasion by attacking German farmers. Imperial Germany reacted with military actions seeking to destroy the “savages”.</p>
<p>The genocidal warfare and its aftermath condemned tens of thousands of Ovaherero to death by thirst and hunger in the Omaheke steppe. Witnessing the brute force unfolding, Nama communities in the south took up arms too and entered a drawn-out guerrilla warfare.</p>
<p>Thousands of Ovaherero and Nama, <a href="https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/4646">confined to concentration camps</a> died of hunger and malnutrition, harsh weather conditions and the consequences of forced hard labour. According to estimates half to two thirds of the Ovaherero and a third of the Nama did not survive what they call the Namibian War. </p>
<p>Provisions under the so-called Native Ordinances included the sweeping expropriation of African land and the confinement to Native Reserves. They prohibited livestock. For nomadic cattle-breeders this was tantamount to denying their cultural identity. </p>
<p>Groups of Nama were even deported to the German colonies in West Africa. Exposed to forced labour under climatic conditions they weren’t used to, only a few survivors were repatriated towards the end of German colonial rule.</p>
<p>All these events fall under the defined act of genocide <a href="https://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/unts/volume%2078/volume-78-i-1021-english.pdf">in terms of</a> the UN Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. </p>
<p>The facts are hardly in question – words are. </p>
<p>In mid-2015 the German Foreign Office after decades of denial seemingly acceded, in a very informal way, to labelling what had happened as genocide. The two governments subsequently appointed special envoys to resume negotiations. </p>
<p>But from mid-2017 matters began to <a href="https://www.namibian.com.na/167835/archive-read/How-not-to-come-to-terms-with-a-colonial-past">deteriorate</a>. Beginning with the German Ambassador in Namibia, German officialdom retracted from using the term genocide. Instead, references were made to “atrocities”. </p>
<h2>An apology, and reparations</h2>
<p>Two other central issues that have emerged is the apology to be tendered by Germany, and the question of reparations. </p>
<p>In transitional justice, a “deep apology”, rendered by the sovereign of the offending state, is considered a central prerequisite of reconciliation. But German diplomacy seeks to avoid the risk inherent in an apology for mass, including state, crimes. Any apology is offered with the possibility that it can be declined. </p>
<p>And German diplomacy seems to be bent on further goals. </p>
<p>The government negotiations are meant to be confidential. But some points have transpired. The German side has consistently underlined that – from their point of view – reparations are out of the question. But it indicated willingness to consider substantial payments to improve the position of the victim groups in particular. </p>
<p>In this way, any legal obligation was denied. This shifted the meaning of material redress. It replaced a right for compensation of the damages with a German government grant. To Namibian ears at least, this hardly conveyed the genuine remorse that would have to constitute the grounds of a serious apology. </p>
<h2>A step back?</h2>
<p>German diplomacy appears to be driven by legal considerations more than by anything else. Conceivably, such legal concerns have been enhanced by the legal steps taken by victim groups who have <a href="http://genocide-namibia.net/2017/01/05-01-2017-herero-und-nama-verklagen-deutschland-ovaherero-and-nama-file-lawsuit-in-new-york/">filed a class action</a> complaint with a US District Court in New York. The German side considers such action <a href="https://www.namibiansun.com/news/germany-snubs-new-york-proceedings2018-01-05/">not valid</a> on account of state immunity and refused to accept the claim.</p>
<p>This argues that states cannot be sued for criminal offences in other states. However, this principle does not apply in cases of genocide. This might explain why the German Foreign Office has backpedalled on its terminology. </p>
<p>Moreover, should an agreement be reached, it is unlikely that it will enjoy the consent and acceptance by the victim groups. But this would be indispensable to gain any legitimacy. Otherwise, any arrangement will not contribute towards <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/14k0j76m">reconciliation and closure</a>.</p>
<p>Against this sobering perspective, one will have to look at the perseverance of the victim groups in Namibia. They have demanded recognition, apology and reparation from Germany for the better part of two decades. </p>
<p>Their campaign has developed strong and trustful links with German counterparts. These are the Left Party, sections of the Greens and Social Democrats, and particularly groups of civil society actors, including Afro-German and postcolonial initiatives. </p>
<p>Many thought their aim near at hand. In the meantime, colonial-apologetic roll back – combined with white supremacy and racism – has entered the public sphere and German politics with new force. It will take much stamina in the months if not years to come yet to change the tide by those seeking redress for historical injustices.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89697/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henning Melber is a member of SWAPO since 1974. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>
Previous research on Namibian-German memory politics has been carried out under the auspices of Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institut, Freiburg, using a grant from the funding initiative 'Knowledge for Tomorrow' of the Volkswagen Foundation.</span></em></p>In mid-2015 the German Foreign Office after decades of denial seemingly acceded, in a very informal way, to labelling what had happened in South West Africa as genocide, is now backtracking.Henning Melber, Extraordinary Professor, Department of Political Sciences, University of PretoriaReinhart Kössler, Professor in Political Science, University of FreiburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/712222017-01-16T15:16:20Z2017-01-16T15:16:20ZNamibian traditional leaders haul Germany before US court in genocide test case<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152651/original/image-20170113-11207-1pmacss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ovaherero and Ovambanderu attending a council for dialogue about the genocide of 1904 in Berlin.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Rainer Jensen</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Representatives of the communities directly affected by the <a href="https://www.pambazuka.org/human-security/genocide-namibia-1904-08-and-its-consequences">1904-1908 genocide in Namibia</a> have taken the German government to court in New York. The plaintiffs are suing Germany for damages to be paid directly to the descendants of the Ovaherero and Nama genocide survivors. </p>
<p>In 1904 and 1905 the Ovaherero and Nama of central and southern Namibia rose up against colonial rule and dispossession in what was then called German South West Africa. The revolt was brutally crushed. By 1908 80% of the Ovaherero and 50% of the Nama <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/herero-people-south-west-africa-now-namibia-begin-uprising">had died</a> of starvation and thirst, overwork and exposure to harsh climates. The army drove survivors into the waterless Omaheke desert. Thousands more died in <a href="http://en.rfi.fr/Paris-exhibition-20th-centurys-first-genocide-massacre-Namibias-Herero-and-Nama">concentration camps</a>.</p>
<p>On 5 January 2017, Ovaherero Chief Vekuii Rukoro and head of the Nama traditional authorities David Fredericks <a href="http://www.namibian.com.na/49671/read/Nama-and-Ovaherero-take-Germany-to-court">filed a class action lawsuit</a> in New York. They are invoking the <a href="https://cyber.harvard.edu/torts3y/readings/update-a-02.html">Alien Tort Statute</a>, a 1789 United States law often used in human rights cases. The case was brought to court in the US because it allows lawsuits that address claims on behalf of entire communities. </p>
<p>If the case succeeds it will be significant for claims from other genocides committed before the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the <a href="https://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/unts/volume%2078/volume-78-i-1021-english.pdf">Crime of Genocide</a> was passed. The convention came into force in 1951. </p>
<h2>Acknowledgement</h2>
<p>In July 2015 the German Foreign Ministry spokesperson <a href="http://genocide-namibia.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Bundespressekonferenz_10072015_V%C3%B6lkermord_Anerkennung.pdf">admitted</a> during a press conference that, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>the war of extermination in Namibia from 1904 to 1908 was a war crime and a genocide.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This acknowledgement came a decade after an earlier ineffective attempt at an apology. In 2004 <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/1502/Heidemarie_WIECZOREK-ZEUL_home.html">Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul</a>, then Germany’s Minister of Development Cooperation, attended the Herero genocide centenary commemorations. During her speech she offered an ostensible apology but this was <a href="http://genocide-namibia.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Bundespressekonferenz_10072015_V%C3%B6lkermord_Anerkennung.pdf">later retracted</a> by the government in Berlin.</p>
<p>For the past year official Namibian and German envoys have been <a href="https://www.newera.com.na/2016/09/30/genocide-and-reparations-112-years-later/">talking about the way ahead</a>. The negotiations have been complicated and contested. Although Germany has officially acknowledged the genocide, a formal apology is still outstanding. </p>
<p>Most controversial is the issue of reparations. The plaintiffs in the US case are claiming reparations from the German government for the atrocities committed by Imperial Germany. </p>
<h2>Reparations</h2>
<p>Germany has ruled out direct reparations. It has made clear that it prefers payments to the Namibian government in the form of foreign aid. </p>
<p>Rukoro and Fredericks are seeking an order from the court requesting that, as the lawful representatives of the “peoples” directly affected, they be included in any negotiations and settlements between Germany and Namibia. This seems to be a critical issue. Ovaherero and Nama victim groups have objected to the fact that current talks between Germany and Namibia are taking place without delegates of their communities. </p>
<p>But Germany has insisted that it won’t negotiate with delegates of the Ovaherero and Nama. German envoys only talk to the <a href="http://www.dw.com/de/v%C3%B6lkermord-klage-berlin-bleibt-gelassen/a-37042060">central Namibian government</a>. The Namibian government has also insisted that negotiations only be between the two governments. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152688/original/image-20170113-11812-1ektmxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/152688/original/image-20170113-11812-1ektmxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152688/original/image-20170113-11812-1ektmxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152688/original/image-20170113-11812-1ektmxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152688/original/image-20170113-11812-1ektmxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152688/original/image-20170113-11812-1ektmxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/152688/original/image-20170113-11812-1ektmxh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Survivors of Namibia’s Herero tribe surrendering after a battle with German forces.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ullstein Bilderdienst Berlin/Supplied</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In their <a href="http://www.namibian.com.na/49671/read/Nama-and-Ovaherero-take-Germany-to-court">joint statement</a>, issued on January 5, the chiefs charged that the Namibian government could not adequately represent the interests of the Ovaherero and Nama as “indigenous and minority” communities. Their legal representative suggested that if reparations were paid in the form of foreign aid they might <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-namibia-genocide-lawsuit-idUSKBN14P25O">not reach the affected communities</a>. In short, the Ovaherero and Nama leaders contend that in independent Namibia their people are marginalised. </p>
<h2>“Not without us”</h2>
<p>At issue is Namibia’s fragmented history. The country’s dominant narrative of anti-colonial struggles emphasises the role of the once exiled SWAPO and, to a lesser extent, the northern Namibian experience of the <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/454995/pdf">1966-1989 liberation war</a> against South Africa. Early resistance against German colonial rule in southern and central Namibia is afforded a negligible place in the country’s history. </p>
<p>Soon after independence in 1990 people in the southern and central regions of Namibia started complaining that development efforts mostly reached SWAPO’s heartland <a href="https://www.ndi.org/node/21874">in the country’s north</a>. Herero- and Nama-speakers contend that infrastructure is only developed in the regions dominated by the Owambo communities. SWAPO had its historical roots among Oshiwambo-speakers.</p>
<p>It took until 2015 for the first non-Owambo, <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2014-12-02-namibias-swapo-win-elections-geingob-voted-as-president">Hage Geingob</a> to take office as Namibian President. </p>
<p>Efforts have been made by Ovaherero and Nama to stake their rightful place in the country’s history of anti-colonial resistance. The German sociologist Reinhart Kössler conducted research on historical reenactments, commemorative reconstructions and performances in central and southern Namibia. In <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03057070.2017.1268881">Namibia and Germany: Negotiating the Past</a> he showed that these helped the communities assert their rightful place.</p>
<p>In recent months the genocide victim groups have become more vocal and persistent. They are demanding an inclusive process under the slogan “not without us”. In October 2016 an international civil society congress, <a href="https://www.newera.com.na/2016/10/28/unpacking-the-genocide-debate/">“Restorative Justice after Genocide”</a>, brought together over 50 Herero and Nama delegates and German solidarity activists in Berlin to discuss the way forward.</p>
<p>They held public protests and Herero and Nama delegates held a press conference <a href="roape.net/2017/01/09/genocide-memory-negotiating-german-namibian-history/">in the German Bundestag</a>. </p>
<h2>Where to from here?</h2>
<p>The lawsuit filed in New York sends a strong message to Germany and the Namibian government that negotiations “without us” remain unacceptable for those whose ancestors were killed in the genocide. </p>
<p>It’s not clear what the outcome will be. </p>
<p>The German government has said that the government to government negotiations will continue in their <a href="http://www.dw.com/de/v%C3%B6lkermord-klage-berlin-bleibt-gelassen/a-37042060">present format</a>. </p>
<p>The plaintiffs, on the other hand, are optimistic that <a href="http://www.namibian.com.na/49671/read/Nama-and-Ovaherero-take-Germany-to-court">international human rights law</a> will be on their side. If the case succeeds, other claims for genocide damages may follow, including some from indigenous communities in the US which were decimated during North American colonisation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71222/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heike Becker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Representatives of Namibian communities affected by the 1904-1908 genocide have filed a class action against Germany in the US seeking reparations for atrocities committed by Imperial GermanyHeike Becker, Professor of Anthropology, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.