By Henning Melber
On the grounds that independence in 1990, Namibia has witnessed just one iteration with out reminiscence of colonialism - the 'born frees', who voted within the 2009 elections. The anti-colonial liberation stream, SWAPO, dominates the political scene, successfully making Namibia a de facto one-party country ruled via the 1st 'struggle generation'.
While these in energy claim their aid for a unfastened, reasonable, and simply society, the bounds to liberation are such that emancipation from overseas rule has simply been in part accomplished. regardless of its average assets Namibia is likely one of the world's so much unequal societies and symptoms of well being haven't markedly superior for lots of one of the former colonized majority, regardless of a structure enshrining human rights, social equality, and person liberty.
This publication analyses the transformation of Namibian society when you consider that Independence. Melber explores the achievements and screw ups and contrasts the narrative of a post-colonial patriotic background with the socio-economic and political realities of the nation-building venture. He additionally investigates even if, although the relative balance triumphing so far, the negotiation of managed switch in the course of Namibia's decolonization may have accomplished greater than easily a transformation of these up to speed.
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Extra resources for Understanding Namibia: The Trials of Independence
Sample text
The South African Administrator General, who officially remained the ultimate authority during the transition process, got away with a number of tactical tricks on procedural matters, which were clearly seeking to favour the local allies. The liberation movement benefited from some goodwill in the process of an UNTAG fact-finding mission investigating in Angola accusations of human rights violations by SWAPO. 22 It might be questioned, given the number of occasions when the UNTAG authorities acted with flaws, if this was an honest brokerage in the true sense of the word ‘honest’.
He qualified the domiÂ�nant narrative as 35 understanding namibia a language of unity and a language that tends to represent the unified people as embodied in the liberation movement organisation and then equates them with the people as a whole. […] In a sense the liberation movement depicts itself as a proto-state. 45 â•… The situational application of militant rhetoric as a tool for inclusion or exclusion in terms of the post-colonial national identity is common practice. It demonstrates that the declared notions of national reconciliation and the slogan of ‘unity in diversity’ do not always receive acknowledgement in terms of political pluralism and permissiveness.
Although 10 December was originally celebrated as ‘Human Rights Day’, in the Namibian context this conjures up the memory of violent oppression in 1959, when police opened fire on protesters at a demonstration against the planned forceful removal of the black urban residents from the ‘old location’ in Windhoek to the new township of Katutura, killing eleven € € € € 28 STRUGGLE MENTALITY AS NATIONAL GOSPEL people. It has been re-named ‘Day of Namibian Women’ in accordance with a decision of the SWAPO majority in Parliament.