Dear Editor,
The job is not complete, the long wait for true liberation continues. Because colonialism and apartheid were based on injustice and because the previous system was never put on trial, every aspect of it should be open for scrutiny as the previously oppressed people seek recourse to reclaim their cultural and spiritual dignity.
It is in this context that I would like to briefly input the debate about the renaming of Lüderitz to !Nami#nus.
Our country, with its abundant in natural beauty is to this date replete with symbols of colonialism and apartheid. Symbols are known to relate to deep cultural themes of a specific people. As such they have a significant message to convey about that people’s reason for being. This means the keys to a system or a culture can actually be found in the decoded symbolism of that system/culture.
Symbols are essentially abstract, coded messages, originating from a specific people and/or culture. They are never universal. They work in intricate ways, consciously and unconsciously, and stimulate our patterns of thought, actions, perceptions and emotional responses. Therefore, symbols are a reflection of a people’s political, cultural and economic system. A great part of our ancient heritage as African people was the knowledge of the symbol.
But my focus here is on symbols that issue forth from those who controlled the political, economic and cultural power balance in pre-independence Namibia. With this I mean, street names, monuments, touristic destinations, and names of cities and towns. And by the way, symbols also include the written or spoken word (languages). The point I am making is: These symbols are, for the majority of the population in Namibia, almost always symbols of oppression.
The name “Lüderitz” relates to an early German settler, probably an imperial swindler on top of that. It was our collective prerogative to put the name under scrutiny. Contrary, the name !Nami#nus (which means “surrounded and embraced by water”) reflects indigenous African worldview.
We are sensitive to the human complexities. This includes the fear some residents and the private sector have expressed. However, the economic argument advanced, is at a closer inspection at best questionable.
Why is it that domestic tourism after Independence was able to take off in an unprecedented manner despite the renaming of South West Africa to Namibia? Or let’s look into the private sector. South West Breweries (is now Namibia Breweries) and Swakara (now Nakara) continued to prosper and grow under new names. The list goes on.
Whether coerced or willingly done, these renamings were done to reflect a new reality. They constituted early, yet sporadic de-colonisation attempts in Namibia. Or is it too little too late, considering that even the honourable Professor Joseph Diescho again trapped himself recently when he sloppily used the term “Caprivians” to indicate to fellow inhabitants in the Zambezi Region? (Diescho’s Dictum, New Era, 24 February 2015). By now it is a question of consciousness. We no longer exhibit an essential selfishness for self-definition. And were self-definition lacks, true self-determination is hard to come by.
The reality is this: apartheid sought to systemically produce functional inferior Africans (oppressed) and functional superior Europeans (oppressors). In a word, African personalities socialised and conditioned by that system are probably inherently self-defeating. They were denied maximal development. Today, these are the people who oppose the renaming. This is collective self-negation. In Germany, as part of the so-called “Denazification” programme Germany zealously rid itself of all official symbols related to the “years of horror” under Adolf Hitler. The renaming of Lüderitz to !Nami#nus should be seen in this context.
Our future must begin with a confirmed sense of nation building defined within the African historic, philosophical and spiritual traditions while remaining open to new possibilities. I would say to our elders and the younger generation, our job is probably not completed. A true liberation of African people can only be achieved in the process of African-centred re-construction of the African personality.
*Lapitomhinda Hashingola
Windhoek