Genocide: What About Other Groups?

Certain ethnic groups wish to publicly strengthen their position concerning the German-Namibian genocide.
This is understandable.

However, they cross a line if they declare their narrative as Namibian history.

This gets worse if media articles mix historical reports with moral judgement.

Namibia’s ethnic groups have diverse stories about their founding and fight for freedom.

The German Reich ruled Namibia for 31 years. Administrative and military leaders tried to manage the land while the politicians in Berlin received reports months later. A focus on the last few years of this rule leaves out relevant developments.

Media houses repeatedly printing the position of one or two ethnic groups do the country a disservice.

Some newspapers never publish comments by other groups.

Monopolising Namibia’s history does not do justice to the past or the present. Judging the past by present standards is not acceptable.

Needless to say, there were numerous debates in Berlin at the time: Things done in Namibia were not appropriate in many ways.

Namibian young people should be informed of the motives and measures of all different players in history.

A study is currently underway on the many people who opted for inter-ethnic marriages in the past 100 years.

Namibian history is about struggle, but also about much more.

The media should adopt a standard on the ethical reporting on ethnic issues.

The media ombudsman and his team are highly capable to sensitise the media in this regard.

– Andreas Peltzer

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