Claudia D. I Nandumbu
“A small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, as it is the only thing that ever has.”
Comrade Editor is an extremely influential and uplifting story of a journalist, editor and freedom fighter Gwen Lister. Her brilliant authorial voice commands her outspoken journalism career after surviving death and arrest threats to tell the truth offering boldness and integrity as she searched for justice in a remorseless world.
Lister’s book is a memoir, made up of 400 pages, which firstly document her childhood, her life as a young reporter in the 1970s and her arrival in Namibia, which was then known as South West Africa, in 1975 after obtaining a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Political Philosophy at the University of Cape Town.
With racism being a result of Apartheid, she chooses to be ignorant about colour classifications, pointing it out as one of the reasons why “people are not achieving equality”.
Lister further explains how she and some people denied to recognise themselves through race and tribe – and instead labelled themselves through their ‘Namibianness’.
She failed to identify herself with white people and their affiliations of one being able to “own their whiteness”.
Listers’ drive to fight the oppressive reality of apartheid, in particular, was inspired by “respect of diversity”, coached at home, and her morals as well as principles, of which she believed everyone should live by – and like they say, charity begins at home.
After completing her degree, she decided to move by applying for a job in Namibia at the Windhoek Advertiser for a reporter’s position before she co-founded The Observer, alongside unapologetic Hannes Smit, “Smittie”, in 1978.
She then after established The Namibian in 1985.
Lister believed she was more likely to achieve change and stand up to apartheid in Namibia (SWA) than she could have in South Africa.
All she believed she had to do was do her part as a journalist.
The book consists of different historical and political accounts that took place before and after Namibia’s independence as well as Lister’s thoughts and feelings, echoing “the power of narrative and voice”.
The memoir is centered on change – the basis of how individuals should refuse to give up.
Her father and Smittie did not believe Lister could ever make it as a journalist, provided that she is a woman, as it was believed that women do not go to university: they get married and have kids.
Lister throughout proves how people, especially women, can make a difference in a world when presented with a chance.
Also importantly, Lister proves that journalism is not only a job but a public service that she used to expose certain truths, which, in the end, allowed her to make a difference no matter how small.
This media copy was obtained from the publishers, NB Publishers, for the purpose of the review. It was published in May this year, and it has since been available in most book stores in Namibia.