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Let Us Celebrate Our Freedoms Again

Let Us Celebrate Our Freedoms Again

IT is perhaps fitting, at a time when this newspaper celebrates its 22nd anniversary, and in the light of recent calls from certain quarters to ‘discipline’ and legislate against the media, to remind ourselves of why the struggle for liberation and Namibian independence was waged on various levels.

The struggle was in itself a vote against apartheid colonialism, but more than that perhaps, it was a fight for a just and equal society. Many fought for the independence of this country and lest we forget, the military campaign was just one aspect of a holistic battle against injustice.There were those who fought at diplomatic and international level, but also internally, to unseat the apartheid regime.It was not only the Plan fighters ‘whose blood waters our freedom’.The internal civilian population themselves were constantly at the receiving end of the jackboot of military occupation.And yes, even sections of the media fought and sacrificed to show the world what was happening in a country under siege and to expose the atrocities at the hands of the apartheid forces.Independence gave the nation the chance to turn its back on its draconian past and write a Constitution which personified the very things we’d fought for: among these, most importantly, a Bill of Rights.And it was these founding fathers (and mothers!) who came up with a Constitution to be a guiding light in our self-determination and moves towards nationhood.Swapo did not bestow these rights upon Namibians in some magnanimous gesture for which Namibians are expected to show gratitude.Various parties played their role in our constitution making, which had the overwhelming support of the people of this country.We wanted to be a nation free of the shackles of colonialism; free of the scourge of apartheid.We wanted a free and independent and, yes, democratic nation, with the rights to free speech and freedom of the press, and all the other freedoms that are enshrined in our Bill of Rights today.It is therefore with some disappointment that we note that in certain quarters of the ruling Party, we in the media, for example, are being threatened with actions similar to those undertaken by the then apartheid regime.At the founding of this newspaper at the height of colonial rule in 1985, attempts were made to stifle this initiative.Then, agents of the apartheid regime appealed against the founding of The Namibian on the grounds that it would ‘represent a threat to the security of the state’.The statements being made today, regrettably also at high levels of political life, are ominously reminiscent of the apartheid days, and once again, calls are being made to legislate against the media, and in so doing, to turn our backs on the freedoms we have fought to instil in the hearts and minds of our people.We have to avoid a national volte face.We have to cherish our Constitution and our freedoms and nurture them, and more than this, we must educate those who apparently find the exercise of these rights a threat to national stability.A nation in which the media are free, is, more often than not, a free nation.Where the media are muzzled, the nation too, will be denied a voice.We cannot allow undemocratic forces, from whatever quarter, to take these hard-won freedoms from us, and if they try, we will contest them in the courts of our country as we did when the apartheid regime tried to do the same.There is no need for the prophets of doom to predict murder and mayhem because of political and other differences.These will, and even should, manifest themselves in any democracy.We still have the formidable task ahead of us of winning the war against poverty and unemployment and other social evils that plague our nation.Our political victory was sweet but incomplete unless we capitalise on it by giving our people a future they can look forward to: a future where they have the rights and freedoms to speak out and to jealously guard against the erosion of these hard-won gains by any party or group or individual, but a future in which they also have hope for themselves and their children.The Namibian won its court battle against apartheid forces which did not want this newspaper to see the light of day, and we went on to mirror the struggle of our people against colonialism, and we were there to celebrate Independence and our democratic dispensation.We were part of the fight.And we would do it all again! Let us therefore dispense with the threats and sanctions, and instead celebrate our freedoms once again!Many fought for the independence of this country and lest we forget, the military campaign was just one aspect of a holistic battle against injustice.There were those who fought at diplomatic and international level, but also internally, to unseat the apartheid regime.It was not only the Plan fighters ‘whose blood waters our freedom’.The internal civilian population themselves were constantly at the receiving end of the jackboot of military occupation.And yes, even sections of the media fought and sacrificed to show the world what was happening in a country under siege and to expose the atrocities at the hands of the apartheid forces.Independence gave the nation the chance to turn its back on its draconian past and write a Constitution which personified the very things we’d fought for: among these, most importantly, a Bill of Rights.And it was these founding fathers (and mothers!) who came up with a Constitution to be a guiding light in our self-determination and moves towards nationhood.Swapo did not bestow these rights upon Namibians in some magnanimous gesture for which Namibians are expected to show gratitude.Various parties played their role in our constitution making, which had the overwhelming support of the people of this country.We wanted to be a nation free of the shackles of colonialism; free of the scourge of apartheid.We wanted a free and independent and, yes, democratic nation, with the rights to free speech and freedom of the press, and all the other freedoms that are enshrined in our Bill of Rights today.It is therefore with some disappointment that we note that in certain quarters of the ruling Party, we in the media, for example, are being threatened with actions similar to those undertaken by the then apartheid regime.At the founding of this newspaper at the height of colonial rule in 1985, attempts were made to stifle this initiative.Then, agents of the apartheid regime appealed against the founding of The Namibian on the grounds that it would ‘represent a threat to the security of the state’.The statements being made today, regrettably also at high levels of political life, are ominously reminiscent of the apartheid days, and once again, calls are being made to legislate against the media, and in so doing, to turn our backs on the freedoms we have fought to instil in the hearts and minds of our people.We have to avoid a national volte face.We have to cherish our Constitution and our freedoms and nurture them, and more than this, we must educate those who apparently find the exercise of these rights a threat to national stability.A nation in which the media are free, is, more often than not, a free nation.Where the media are muzzled, the nation too, will be denied a voice.We cannot allow undemocratic forces, from whatever quarter, to take these hard-won freedoms from us, and if they try, we will contest them in the courts of our country as we did when the apartheid regime tried to do the same.There is no need for the prophets of doom to predict murder and mayhem because of political and other differences.These will, and even should, manifest themselves in any democracy.We still have the formidable task ahead of us of winning the war against poverty and unemployment and other social evils that plague our nation.Our political victory was sweet but incomplete unless we capitalise on it by giving our people a future they can look forward to: a future where they have the rights and freedoms to speak out and to jealously guard against the erosion of these hard-won gains by any party or group or individual, but a future in which they also have hope for themselves and their children.The Namibian won its court battle against apartheid forces which did not want this newspaper to see the light of day, and we went on to mirror the struggle of our people against colonialism, and we were there to celebrate Independence and our democratic dispensation.We were part of the fight.And we would do it all again! Let us therefore dispense with the threats and sanctions, and instead celebrate our freedoms once again!

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