Melber condemns ‘abortion’ of genocide memory
Silence unacceptable
Last week Melber stressed that true decolonisation requires structural transformation toward social justice and equality.
Professor Henning Melber has called out the silence of the international community on Germany’s controversial joint declaration with Namibia, which included an N$18.6 billion price tag for the descendants of the Nama and Ovaherero genocides.
He also pointed out that while colonial amnesia is a diagnosis applicable to many Germans, it is not true for many Namibians who are still living with the after-effects of the genocide.
"Just imagine for a moment, Germans would have offered Jews a similar formula in a joint declaration dubbed reconciliation agreement, to put the Holocaust to rest. And what the Jewish and wider international response would have been," said Melber.
True decolonisation
Germany, which has categorically stated that these monies settle all financial aspects of the issues relating to the past addressed in the joint declaration, has also emphasised that the door to renegotiating reparations is now closed.
In his keynote address at the International Conference Towards Humanising the Future, held in Freiburg, Germany, last week, Melber stressed that decolonisation is more than a mindset and talk, and that true decolonisation requires structural transformation toward social justice and equality.
He also pointed out that the negotiations between the successor state of the former colonial perpetrator Germany and the state of independent Namibia can be qualified as a statist model, where political elites holding centralised state power in both societies negotiate over historical wrongdoing – without the involvement of the people.
Asymmetric power
“The deal between two governments has not in any meaningful way involved the people in both countries, though these governments negotiated on their behalf. And they endorse a Schlussstrich (final line), suggesting that history can be put to rest,” Melber said, adding that “this is more evidence that colonial relations are reproduced in the present, not only in the asymmetric power relations of global policy but also in domestic policies of both countries. Such a formula is deeply flawed. It is tantamount to the abortion of any meaningful concept of memory and commemoration.”
He underlined that “memory is not something you put in a box, close it, and store it on a shelve in the basement, maybe with ‘sanitized memory’ as a label. Memory is alive as long as people have not forgotten.”
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He also pointed out that while colonial amnesia is a diagnosis applicable to many Germans, it is not true for many Namibians who are still living with the after-effects of the genocide.
"Just imagine for a moment, Germans would have offered Jews a similar formula in a joint declaration dubbed reconciliation agreement, to put the Holocaust to rest. And what the Jewish and wider international response would have been," said Melber.
True decolonisation
Germany, which has categorically stated that these monies settle all financial aspects of the issues relating to the past addressed in the joint declaration, has also emphasised that the door to renegotiating reparations is now closed.
In his keynote address at the International Conference Towards Humanising the Future, held in Freiburg, Germany, last week, Melber stressed that decolonisation is more than a mindset and talk, and that true decolonisation requires structural transformation toward social justice and equality.
He also pointed out that the negotiations between the successor state of the former colonial perpetrator Germany and the state of independent Namibia can be qualified as a statist model, where political elites holding centralised state power in both societies negotiate over historical wrongdoing – without the involvement of the people.
Asymmetric power
“The deal between two governments has not in any meaningful way involved the people in both countries, though these governments negotiated on their behalf. And they endorse a Schlussstrich (final line), suggesting that history can be put to rest,” Melber said, adding that “this is more evidence that colonial relations are reproduced in the present, not only in the asymmetric power relations of global policy but also in domestic policies of both countries. Such a formula is deeply flawed. It is tantamount to the abortion of any meaningful concept of memory and commemoration.”
He underlined that “memory is not something you put in a box, close it, and store it on a shelve in the basement, maybe with ‘sanitized memory’ as a label. Memory is alive as long as people have not forgotten.”
[email protected]
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