Reiterdenkmal a colonial shame

Home Editorial Reiterdenkmal a colonial shame

IT’S only proper for men and women who have proved their virtue in action to be honoured and reciprocated for their deeds through noble gestures such as the recently erected Genocide Memorial and the Sam Nujoma Statue.

But these virtues ought not to be endangered by some loose canons masquerading as concern groups, whose beliefs are obviously misplaced and exaggerated.

Fellow citizens, pardon the author but the great principal of political freedom and natural justice embodied in our constitution and extended to our colonizers is being taken for granted as demonstrated by threats from bogus Namibian-based German organizations, who have the temerity to demand the immediate reinstatement of the Reiterdenkmal statue.

The far-fetched and shameless hypocrisy of these tyrants, whose hands are stained with the blood of their own fellowmen, must be exposed as it amounts to sheer arrogance compounded by evidence of a heartless and reckless disrespect for majority rule.

It should be noted that our heroes and heroines dedicated their lives to fight colonialism and injustice, subsequently dying in the cause of that noble effort.

Despite the atrocities committed by the colonizers, indigenous Namibians are not filled with hatred, nor a pinch of bitterness, neither a desire for revenge. German-speakers living in Namibia bear no guilt for the atrocities committed by their forefathers but should at least exercise a sense of responsibility in remembrance of the unprovoked war and genocide perpetrated by their ancestors.

Remembrance of fallen heroes is a moral obligation and in this sense the offspring of the architects of war owe it to the victims, the survivors and their families.

In Germany, the inhabitants of that country have swallowed their pride and are facing up to its past. One will never come across anything that relates to Adolf Hitler to the extent that Germans don’t even see their way clear to baptize their children with the name Adolf – trying extremely hard to have that name fade in the memory of mankind.

German and other European descendants who have taken refuge in the land of the brave must learn to treat indigenous Namibians with respect and must live in harmony and peace. For the common and public good, this small group of invincible thick-skulled troublemakers should be told in no uncertain terms where to get off. They are simply embarrassed by their old colonial debts.

What further boggles the mind is Germany’s silent conduct over these shenanigans by their kin. One wishes to know what is their stance on the removal of colonial statues. There is no other way of judging the future but by the past and while the temptation to forget is great, we shall not succumb to this temptation!