The planning for and execution of commemorations in 2004 illustrates that while these commemorations bore some resemblance to regular commemorative practices, they also brought to light conflicts over history- and memory-production among Ovaherero and within Namibia as well as some of the ways in which this past is intertwined with present concerns amidst a relatively new postcolonial nation-state.
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Commemorations are complex social practices. As we have seen, they are contexts in which community struggles become visible, whether over memory, history-making, or leadership (Sider and Smith 1997, Werbner 1998). Although much of these events was devoted to public speeches, commemorations are also not merely performances of texts. They are sites of remembering and memory-making (Werbner 1998). Commemorations are also particular sorts of experiences for all involved, as any performance is not merely a recitation of memorized words and movements (Werbner 1998).
Although I will return to this matter in the last chapter, I want to introduce here the idea that these 2004 commemorations constitute part of the restorative justice process in Namibia. First, this was an occasion in which the multiple stakeholders attempted to
negotiate a common conception of the German-Herero past. This negotiation was, however, certainly not complete or accepted by all to whom it pertains today. I suggest that what was negotiated was an official history, one that bases its authority on its support from government representatives and national-level Herero leadership. Acceptance of this version of the past would ideally radiate outwards, but in a diminishing fashion from these central authorities. However, there was an explicit dialogue about this past across all the stakeholder
communities to a degree that it hadn’t previously circulated. At the same time, the planning about how to commemorate the past provided a concrete context in which these largely disparate stakeholder groups came together with greater or lesser success to contribute to these discussions that so many cared about tremendously in different ways. While most of these conversations occurred amidst national leaders of various sorts, many others less central to the planning process or entirely uninvolved were provoked to conversations about this past as well. For example, the conferences planned in Germany and Namibia in
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recognition of the commemorative occasion brought together historians, documentarians, and other scholars from many countries. German or Herero tourists reportedly engaged one another in conversation about these commemorations. Conversations may even have
transpired between German-Namibian bosses and Herero employees. Simply, the recognition of one another’s agency and humanity, which Tutu and others deem a necessary component of restorative justice, partially occurred simply through the conversations that emerged as parties addressed how these commemorations should or should not proceed. Third, it appears that the leaders of the restorative justice movement significantly shape the terms with which other Ovaherero understand the project. For instance, Riruako made clear at Ohamakari that the apology would not be the end of his efforts, although he left vague the precise aim of restorative justice for Ovaherero. In other words, it appears as though the relevant categories, claims, and measures for evaluating the Herero restorative justice project need to be
produced via the process itself as they were not inherently obvious to the Herero communities.
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Notes:
1
Although I’d originally intended to carry out research in both Germany and Namibia, for which 2004 would have been an exceptionally fascinating year, research funding seemed to have presented itself more easily for extensive time in Namibia and I quickly came to see my funding opportunities as fortuitous because there was more than enough work for me in Namibia simply trying to figure out what was going on in Namibia in regards to memory of the German past. In a sense, not being in Germany in 2004 then highlighted for me all the more the links between the commemorative year in both places.
2
Although it is termed a “commemorative conference,” the choice of title seems to frame it as a facet of restorative justice. The word “decontaminating” brings to my mind a secular variant of “cleansing” or “purifying,” a first step towards the process of “healing” a historic “wound.”
3
The conference, termed an “international conference’, was entitled “The German-Herero War – 100 Years After 1904-2004: Realities, Traumas, Perspectives” and was planned jointly by the Bremen Africa Archives in the Faculty of Law, University of Bremen, and the Faculty of Law of the University of Namibia
4
Throughout the media coverage of this meeting, it was consistently clarified that Lothar von Trotha had no descendents of his own and this von Trotha family are only relatives not directly related to the General of ill repute.
5
The article, which I will discuss in a later chapter, authored by several scholars who are quite visibly involved in public history projects in Namibia, responded to a previous article in the Windhoek Observer that
summarized the arguments of a recent MA Thesis by Klaus Lorenz that argued that German soldiers did not intend the results for the Ovaherero which many others have interpreted as genocide (Silvester et al. 2001).
6
One way in which the government attempts anti-tribalism is in the labels it uses to refer to various Namibian groups. Each group is known by a language group, rather than according to any cultural identities. Thus, all cultural groups speaking any dialect of Otjiherero are officially merely “Otjiherero-speaking peoples.” Similarly, all Namibians of German descent are officially “German-speaking peoples.” While cultural or ethic labeling is also wrought with problems, the Namibian government’s approach seems particularly ill-suited because people in Namibia continually label themselves and others according to cultural labels, which hold far greater meaning than broad language groups.
7
Aminuis, like virtually every other place that would today be identified by Namibians as being a Herero area, is a former Native Reserve, one of the rural areas designated for Ovaherero by the South African
administration’s Bantu policies.
8
Broadly speaking, political parties in Namibia divide to a great extent, but certainly not wholly, along ethnic lines. However, public perceptions make these divisions much stricter. As is also the case with the other political parties, the fact that Ovaherero are associated in Namibia with the DTA and NUDO seems to have much to do with the originating members of the parties. DTA and NUDO were united under the banner of DTA until Kuaimo Riruako pulled NUDO out of DTA in 2004, just months before national elections.
9
Chief Riruako is a very charismatic leader and some Namibians indicated to me they are put off by his personality, which one friend described to me as a “cult of personality.” However, there is also division among the Herero community about his claim to the title “Paramount Chief” as well as his dual position as a traditional and political leader since he is also currently a Member of Parliament for NUDO.
10
According to him, the Namibisch-Deutschen Stiftung (NaDS) was founded around the time of Namibian Independence, but it emerged from the existing InterresseeGemeinschaft of German-speaking Namibians (Society for the Interests of Germans). There was no common perspective in the German-Namibian community about Independence; some thought it better to stay under South African rule. The liberals in this debate formed NaDS in an effort to decolonize the minds of all Namibians, deal with the past, help create the Namibian nation, etc. He said that while NaDS only has about 160 members (2003), they could spend time trying to recruit
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members but that they would then risk becoming conservative as statistics of German-Namibian population would suggest. NaDS is supposed to link Germans and Namibians as well as German-Namibians with other Namibians. While NaDS sees itself as a cultural institution, it does not does not promote or conserve German culture.
11
NBC is the public radio and television station of Namibia, owned in part by the government of Namibia.
12
The Herero/Mbanderu royal houses are constituted by inheritable chieftaincies from the six royal houses whose authenticity is considered to be historically-based--Maharero, Nguvauva, Kambazembi, Zeraeua, Vita- Thom, and Mureti. A 1992 meeting held in Okakarara and chaired by Advocate Vekuii Rukoro established the joint leadership structure of the Ovaherero and Ovambanderu for the purposes of the Council of Traditional Leaders to be formed in accordance with Article 102(5) of the Namibian constitution. Those present declared that the chief of each of the six Royal Houses plus Kuaima Riruako (who was not in attendance) as a seventh chief would constitute the Herero/Mbanderu Chiefs’ Council. The latter position was to be eliminated upon Riruako’s death as it was a special measure intended to resolve a dispute about the pre-Independence position of Paramount Chief. This Chiefs’ Council has certain rights and responsibilities in relation to the Council of Traditional Leaders under Namibian law.
13
Because Damara were living with Ovaherero at the time of the wars with Germans, the Germans also killed Damaras alongside Ovaherero. However, the Germans never explicitly fought against the Damara and it was only Ovaherero who were specifically targeted in von Trotha’s extermination order.
14
The “Blue Book” is a collection of accounts by officials of the British Union of South Africa about German colonial rule in SWA. I describe it in further detail in chapter three.
15
The committee formed sometime between late 2003 and early 2004 and it was in June and July that the joint committee was formed and plans began in earnest.
The Kambazembi Royal House is located in Okakarara and is one of the sub-groups of Herero traditional leadership. It is understood to be a historical institution constituted by a chief, his family, his advisors, and his followers. The chieftaincy is an inherited position.
16
This is the Okakarara Community Cultural and Tourism Centre which I discuss below.
17
For further information about the Otruppe movement, see chapter three. This group was known as “Spieltruppe” by Germans, meaning “play troops.”
18
Although the actual date of the conclusion of this battle was August 11, 1904, the organizers wanted the event to be held on a Saturday for the sake of attendance so that the commemoration was held on August 14th.
19
The Otruppe, I suggest, constitute part of the remembrance of the German colonial time for Ovaherero and, thus, I will discuss the Otruppe in more detail in a following chapter.
20
The Council of Traditional Leaders was established by section 2 of the Council of Traditional Leaders Act, 1997 (Act No. 13 of 1997).
21
Although speakers in Namibia describe a commonality in the languages and both language groups are related among the Bantu language family, historical linguistic research suggests that their historical relationship may not be as close as what oral histories suggest.
22 The Okakarara Community, Cultural and Tourism Centre (OCCTC) is the result of an initiative taken by the Okakarara Chamber of Commerce in 1999 with the original aim of using cultural performances to attract some of the many tourists who visit the Waterberg Plateau Park to travel to Okakarara. The initiative was unable to secure sufficient financial support, but was revived in 2004 with the financial support of the German
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Association of Namibia “Report on the Okakarara Community, Cultural, and Tourism Centre (OCCTC) planning workshop” 27-28 July 2005).
23
One Okakarara resident suggested to me that Mr. Diekmann had donated the land so that he wouldn’t have lots of Ovaherero on his farm for the commemoration. This comment leaves open the question of how Ovaherero, especially those in the area, perceived Mr. Diekmann’s donation. Was it viewed in the reconciliatory spirit publicly described or with skepticism?
24
Ovahimba and Ovazemba are also Otjiherero-speakers and close relatives of Ovaherero. Oral history suggests that when Bantu groups migrated into the area of southern Angola and Namibia in the last 1700s, Ovaherero moved further south while these other groups remained in the north. These groups share many cultural practices and their most visibly obvious difference is the choice of most Ovahimba and Ovazemba, living in the north to wear clothing more similar to their ancestors than to the largely Euro-American clothing worn by Ovaherero. The different geographic locations of these groups, however, meant very different historical involvement with Germans during that colonial period since Germans for the most part did not make it as far north as the areas of the Ovahimba and Ovazemba.
25
As the head of Swapo and Swapo’s Presidential candidate for the 2004 elections, Pohamba effectively attended as the future President of Namibia.
26
I’m particularly reminded of Talal Asad’s (2003) discussions on this topic in Formations of the Secular.
27
As I will discuss later, the Mbanderu are variously referred to as a subgroup of Ovaherero or a separate group of Otjiherero-speakers.
28
I’m reminded of a conversation with one Genocide Committee member about the responsibility of parents not to communicate any negative feelings they may have about the past to their children, who may then be able to live together with children of other cultural groups. He cited the example of his daughter, then a student at DHPS, proposing that she and one of her German friends deliver a statement together at the first
commemoration event of the year.
29 In listening to my recording of her speech again later, I noted that the majority of the audible applause occurred during her speech in English, with relatively little following the Otjiherero summary. It led me to wonder if the majority of Herero attendees were not better educated (or younger, such that English was their medium of instruction in school) portions of the community such that they could easily understand her English verbiage.
30
Today, it is estimated that 80-90 percent of the Namibian population is Christian (CIA World Fact Book https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/wa.html, accessed March 14, 2010).
31
Some Ovaherero I spoke with about the Ohamakari commemoration, felt it a slight that the then President of Namibia, Sam Nujoma, was not present at the event. Ostensibly, Pohamba was seemingly selected to represent the government because his then Ministry is charged with attempting to rectify the inequalities in land
ownership born of German colonialism and South African Bantu policies. I think it’s at least as likely that he was chosen so as to have an occasion to present himself to a large gathering of voting Namibians (particularly Ovaherero, who are a stronghold for opposition parties) three months before the national elections in which he was the Swapo Presidential candidate. After winning the Presidential election in November 2004, he became the second President of the Republic of Namibia on March 21, 2005.
32
However, there are certainly better reasons for Riruako and others choosing to leave German Namibians aside as restorative justice is pursued with the German government. It is both less controversial in Namibian and more economically promising to leave the German government as the named perpetrator of the genocide and other atrocities of the colonial period.