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bookshelfdreams · 11 months

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Hey I like a lot of the takes you have regarding the pirate show so I wanted to ask for your opinion on smth that's been bothering me for a while:

I have a deep seated dislike for Hamilton. Twinkifying the fucking founding fathers, romanticizing slave abusers and overall villainizing the wrong people while others (Hamilton at the front naturally) gets sung at. Speaking of singing - I really hate it. Shipping (i want to repeat) the founding fathers, the blatant white washing bla bla bla. Anyway those are all known problems and better people have said it smarter before and that isn't really my point

It's the fact that a friend of mine recently brought up that Ofmd pretty much is the same and I shouldn't scream so loud in my glass house. Inaccurate historically speaking, the blatant ignoring of the slave owning that the real Stede and Edward did and so on and so forth. Minus the singing perhaps if we ignore Frenchies and Izzys

So. Does it make me a hypocrite to like ofmd so much but despise the mere mention of Hamilton? It's a thing I'm really stressed about lately and that kind of ruined my joy about finally getting season 2. I would love to hear your opinion. or that of your followers for that matter.

Thank you 😊

oh thank YOU because I do feel that this is an interesting thing to examine and we do not talk about it enough.

I have never seen Hamilton, or listened to the songs (except some snippets). I have never been involved in the fandom. I really, really can't speak to what the musical itself did wrong and right. But I will say this: There was a reason it got as popular and received the critical acclaim that it did. I can't speak to how it addresses the systemic injustice baked into the USA from the very beginning, and I do have a suspicion that it glosses over a lot of uncomfortable truths. But I also feel it is important that we divorce the source material from the fandom it spawns because ultimately, Miranda isn't responsible for Hatsune Miku Binder Jefferson, or the whole hivliving debacle.

Just as David Jenkins isn't responsible for the handwaving of slavery in fanworks, or the great Izzy Hands Debate, or whitewashing in fanart, or shitty, racist headcanons of the characters of colour, or whatever deranged scandal is yet to come to light. This is true for all fandoms; criticizing fandom dynamics is a very different conversation from criticizing the canon.

Let's focus on the canon here, though, because defending the fandom is pointless, and not something I want to do. Curate your experience.

The first thing to say is: If you like ofmd but don't like Hamilton, that's not hypocritical at all, that's first and foremost a matter of taste. Things are good when we like them and bad when we don't. We don't have to find objective reasons for it.

If the fact that the historical Stede Bonnet was a slaveowner, and the historical Blackbeard also participated in the slave trade, are dealbreakers for someone, that's valid. People have every right to be uncomfortable with that. The conversation could end at this point, if we want it to (I don't because I love to hear myself talk).

If we look at the historical figures a little closer the first stark difference is the cultural context in which they exist. The founding fathers seem to be extremely mythologized in the american consciousness but also, are understood to be real historical people. The founding myth is fundamental to the way in which the USA perceives itself (that is, as a beacon of freedom and democracy), and it's pretty hard to reconcile that with the bloodshed and human misery it was founded on. It's uncomfortable; and it's not just an American problem. Every western nation/former colonial power has quite literal corpses in their closets they'd rather not talk about (just so you don't think I'm getting on a high horse about the famed Erinnerungskultur here; go ask a german person about Lothar von Trotha and what he did to the Nama and Herero to receive a blank stare). The difference is, that the founding fathers are too prominent and too important to just not talk about, so instead, they are sanitized to a degree that can be straight up historical revisionism.

That's not Miranda's fault. Nor is it the fault of any one particular piece of historical fiction, biography, documentary, or what have you. But it is the context in which Hamilton exists and, from what I understand, a culture to which it contributes. Especially since it's based on a biography of the real Alexander Hamilton, and (again, to my understanding) claims to tell a more or less accurate story.

Pirates, on the other hand, are perceived completely differently. They are mythologized, but not for ideological reasons, not as state-building propaganda. Pirates are more like folk heroes; cultural icons (near) completely divorced from whatever historical figure once lived. They are "real" in the sense that they are based on real people, but engaging with them, from the start, has a layer of removal from reality that engaging with figures like the founding fathers hasn't. Blackbeard is from a saga. George Washington is from history.

ofmd, specifically, makes clear at every turn that what we are told is a fictional story that has very little to do with any real events. It's openly anachronistic, it has absurd internal logic. Life-threatening injuries are walked off. There's actual magic. Dinghies are treated like spawn points in a video game. Everything, from the costumes to the vernacular to the story beats, tells the audience that none of this is real.

You wouldn't accuse, idk, A Knight's Tale, or Mel Brooks's Men In Tights of whitewashing history. I feel like ofmd plays in a similar league; it's a comedy very vaguely based on history, and it makes sure the audience knows we are not about to be told anything true. If you watch ofmd, you know this isn't about the real, historical Stede Bonnet or Edward Teach.

So. Let's examine the actual story, yes? The story that is told here is anticolonialist, antiracist, and challenges oppressive power structures as much as is possible for a production like this. It addresses these things and condemns them, both explicitly and in its underlying message. (I'm not gonna explain all of this, enough ink has been spilled about it by people smarter than me)

I do not know what Hamilton is about at its core. I know Our Flag Means Death is about authenticity in the face of the whole world telling you there's something wrong with you. It's about resisting dehumanization and reclaiming your personhood. It's about love, in a radical, system-destroying way, about breaking the cycle of abuse, about healing, and finding joy.

Yes, the real historical figures it's based on were all horrible people. Again, if that's a dealbreaker, that's fine. I'm not trying to convince anyone who is deeply uncomfortable with that fact; it's perfectly understandable.

However, for me, personally, the story as a whole is so far removed from reality, and so firm in its message, that I feel this is forgivable.

(Oh, and a lat aside, I also feel like likening ofmd to Hamilton seldom seems to come from a place of genuine criticism. Often it seems to be more along the lines of "Hamilton is cringe, and if I say ofmd=Hamilton ppl will be too embarrassed to defend it" which yk. feels kinda disingenuous to me.)

#oh also im a white european so yk limited perspective here #i do encourage people with different perspectives to join in the conversation!#or like link the things youve already written on this because i know people have talked about this before #i just kindly ask you to leave your 'ew cringe' arguments at the door. thanks.#our flag means death #anonymaus #message #thoughts

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workingclasshistory · 2 years

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On this day, 12 January 1904, a rebellion began by the Herero people in Namibia against oppression by German occupiers of their country. The rebellion had begun in January 1904 in response to rising tensions within the German colony and was initiated by an order from Samuel Maharero, leader of the Herero. In 1884 the German state had declared South-West Africa a German colonial territory. The Germans took land from local African inhabitants and instituted laws and policies that served to oppress the local population. The Herero remained more economically powerful until a plague in 1897 killed up to 90% of their herds, weakening the Herero. German policies became more brutal in response and the Herero people’s freedom and culture became heavily restricted. The rebellion began with the invasion of Okahandja, a city in central Namibia, by mounted Herero, who killed 123 people, mostly Germans, and set buildings alight. The uprising spread across the region with Herero occupying a military station and killing soldiers, besieging another city and ambushing a German military company. Eventually, however, the Herero were overwhelmed by German forces. Many died of starvation and thirst as they fled through the Omaheke desert. 12,000 were forced to surrender and were placed in concentration camps where medical experiments and daily executions occurred. Many people from the camps were enslaved and forced to build railways, docks and buildings throughout the country. 80% of the Herero population of Namibia were wiped out during the revolt. General Lothar von Trotha, who was sent to crush the resistance, ordered that, “Within the German borders every Herero, whether armed or unarmed, with or without cattle will be shot.” A report published in London in 1918 stated that German soldiers had killed unarmed women and children. The war and the extermination order by general Lothar von Trotha, are considered by most historians to be the first genocide of the 20th century. https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/2184461488405656/?type=3

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survivingcapitalism · 11 months

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Israel’s campaign to displace Gazans—and potentially expel them altogether into Egypt—is yet another chapter in the Nakba, in which an estimated 750,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes during the 1948 war that led to the creation of the State of Israel. But the assault on Gaza can also be understood in other terms: as a textbook case of genocide unfolding in front of our eyes. I say this as a scholar of genocide, who has spent many years writing about Israeli mass violence against Palestinians. I have written about settler colonialism and Jewish supremacy in Israel, the distortion of the Holocaust to boost the Israeli arms industry, the weaponization of antisemitism accusations to justify Israeli violence against Palestinians, and the racist regime of Israeli apartheid. Now, following Hamas’s attack on Saturday and the mass murder of more than 1,000 Israeli civilians, the worst of the worst is happening.

[...]

It’s not only Israel’s leaders who are using such language. An interviewee on the pro-Netanyahu Channel 14 called for Israel to “turn Gaza to Dresden.” Channel 12, Israel’s most-watched news station, published a report about left-leaning Israelis calling to “dance on what used to be Gaza.” Meanwhile, genocidal verbs—calls to “erase” and “flatten” Gaza—have become omnipresent on Israeli social media. In Tel Aviv, a banner reading “Zero Gazans” was seen hanging from a bridge.

Indeed, Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza is quite explicit, open, and unashamed. Perpetrators of genocide usually do not express their intentions so clearly, though there are exceptions. In the early 20th century, for example, German colonial occupiers perpetrated a genocide in response to an uprising by the Indigenous Herero and Nama populations in southwest Africa. In 1904, General Lothar von Trotha, the German military commander, issued an “extermination order,” justified by the rationale of a “race war.” By 1908, the German authorities had murdered 10,000 Nama, and had achieved their stated goal of “destroying the Herero,” killing 65,000 Herero, 80% of the population. Gallant’s orders on October 9th were no less explicit. Israel’s goal is to destroy the Palestinians of Gaza. And those of us watching around the world are derelict in our responsibility to prevent them from doing so.

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drsonnet · 8 months

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The Herero and Namaqua Genocide : Photograph showing German forces gathered in GSWA to join in the conflict against the herero people in 1904.

The Herero and Namaqua Genocide was the massacre of approximately 50,000 – 65,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama between 1904 and 1907 by German military forces in German South West Africa (GSWA) – modern-day Namibia.

Background

Germany formally colonised GSWA in 1884. Prior to colonisation , several distinct native groups lived freely in the area, including the Herero, the Nama, the Damara, the San, and the Ovambo. Under German rule, many of these native groups were used as slave labour and had their land confiscated and their cattle stolen. As a result of this treatment, tensions between the native population and the ruling Germans continued to rise.

Uprising

In January 1904, the Herero population, led by Chief Samuel Maharero, carried out a large armed rebellion against the oppressive German colonial rule. The German ruling forces were unprepared for the attack and approximately 123 German colonial settlers were killed by the Herero. Over the following months, however, the Herero were slowly overwhelmed by the more modern, well-equipped German force under the command of Major Theodor Leutwin. By June 1904, Major Leutwin had cornered the Herero forces at the Waterberg Plateau and was attempting to negotiate their surrender.

The German government in Berlin were frustrated by Leutwin’s slow progress in dissipating the uprising, and in May 1904 appointed Lieutenant General Lothar von Trotha Supreme Commander of GSWA. Trotha arrived in GSWA on 11 June 1904.

Genocide

On 11 August 1904, Trotha abandoned negotiations for a surrender and attempted an aggressive encirclement tactic, surrounding the Herero at the Battle of Waterberg and killing between 3,000 – 5,000 Herero combatants. Yet, despite the brutal tactics of the Germans, most of the Herero managed to escape into the Omaheke desert.

Under Trotha’s command, the Schutztruppe ruthlessly pursued the thousands of Herero men, women and children who were attempting to cross the desert to reach to British Protectorate of Bechuanaland (modern-day Botswana). Thousands of Herero died from being shot to death, drinking water from poisoned wells, or from thirst and starvation in the desert.

On 2 October 1904, Trotha escalated the violence against the Herero in an order: ‘Within the German borders, every male Herero, armed or unarmed […] will be shot to death. I will no longer take in women or children but will drive them back to their people or have them fired at. These are my words to the Herero people. [From] The great general of the mighty German Kaiser’ [Katharina von Hammerstein, ‘The Herero: Witnessing Germany’s “Other Genocide”’, Contemporary French and Francophone Studies 2016, 20:2, 267-286, 276].

In November 1904, the German government in Berlin overturned General Trotha’s inhumane execution order, and instead commanded that the surviving members of the Herero population be incarcerated in concentration camps, such as the Shark Island Concentration Camp . By this point, however, many thousands of Herero had already been murdered.

The remaining Herero who were incarcerated in the concentration camps were subjected to lethal conditions (with a mortality rate of 47-74%), and prisoners endured poor hygiene, little food, forced labour and medical experiments.

In 1905, the Nama people in the south also rose up against the German rule and engaged the colonisers in guerrilla warfare for the following two years. Any Nama that were caught by the Germans were executed or incarcerated in the same concentration camps as the Herero, with extremely high mortality rates.

In total, by the end of the conflict on 31 March 1907, approximately 50,000 – 65,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama had been murdered by the German ruling forces.

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whileiamdying · 1 year

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A Movie Confronts Germany’s Other Genocide

“Measures of Men” tells the story of the systematic massacre of Herero and Nama people in what is now Namibia. Its maker hopes the film will bring a debate about Germany’s colonial guilt into the center of society.

Leonard Scheicher, left, and Girley Jazama in “Measures of Men,” which tells the story of the Herero and Nama genocide in what now Namibia through the eyes of a German anthropologist.Credit...Julia Terjung/Studiocanal GmbH

By Thomas Rogers Reporting from Berlin March 31, 2023

Germany is often praised for its willingness to confront the darkest moments of its history, but in recent years, activists have pointed to a blank spot in the country’s culture of remembrance. Decades before the Holocaust, Germany perpetrated the 20th century’s first genocide: From 1904 to 1908, German colonial officials systematically killed tens of thousands of Herero and Nama people in what is now Namibia. This atrocity is little known outside academic circles, and there are few memorials or pop cultural depictions of those events.

Now, a new movie, “Measures of Men,” aims to change that and bring a debate about Germany’s colonial guilt into the center of society. The glossy film, directed by the German filmmaker Lars Kraume, tells the story of the killings through the eyes of a German anthropologist. Aside from playing in movie theaters, where it opened last week, “Measures of Men” had a special screening for lawmakers in Germany’s Parliament, and was the focal point for a series of events at the Humboldt Forum, a central Berlin museum housing ethnological items. Its distributor, Studiocanal, said in a statement that it was planning to show the film in school and educational contexts.

“Measures of Men” has also prompted a new discussion in the German media about what many see as Germany’s sluggish attempts to come to terms with its colonial past. In recent years, the country has moved to return numerous artworks acquired during the colonial period, but the process of ratifying a reconciliation agreement between Namibia and Germany has stalled, and thousands of African human remains, transported to Germany from its colonies, remain in institutional collections.

In an interview in Berlin, Kraume, 50, explained that his movie was partly inspired by the 1978 NBC mini-series “Holocaust,” an early fictionalized TV depiction of the Shoah, which played a key role in spreading awareness of German guilt after it was broadcast here. “You have the possibility through cinematic storytelling to reach an audience that doesn’t engage so much with history books,” he said, adding that he hoped his film would be the first of many, much in the way “Holocaust” paved the way for films like “Schindler’s List.”

Lars Kraume, who directed “Measures of Men,” said, “You have the possibility through cinematic storytelling to reach an audience that doesn’t engage so much with history books.”Credit...Gordon Welters for The New York Times

“Measures of Men,” which was filmed in Berlin and Namibia, focuses on an ambitious German ethnologist (Leonard Scheicher) who develops a fascination with a Herero woman (Girley Jazama) after measuring her cranial features as part of his research. His fixation leads him to travel to German South West Africa (now Namibia), where he witnesses and eventually become complicit in the colonial slaughter.

“It’s not just a film about the genocide,” Kraume said, “but also about ethnologists who want to explore foreign cultures, but destroy them.”

Many of the scenes were based on real events of the genocide, which took place during a conflict between Germans and Africans known as the Herero and Nama War. After thousands of Herero men, women and children fled into the Omaheke Desert in 1904 to escape the fighting, German troops sealed off its edges and occupied the territory’s water holes, leading many to die of thirst. Lothar von Trotha, the governor of the colony, then issued a proclamation calling for all remaining Herero to be killed.

After the Nama joined the fight against the German colonizers, they were also targeted, and colonial officials set up concentration camps, ostensibly to provide labor for German-owned businesses, in which hundreds of prisoners died. The film depicts real facilities in one such camp in which the decapitated heads of Herero and Nama were boiled and cleaned for export to German ethnological institutions. Thousands of skulls of unclear origin remain in German collections to this day.

Kraume long wrestled with how to tell the story as a European filmmaker, and said he had decided to depict it from a German perspective for fear that centering it on African protagonists would represent a form of “cultural appropriation.” At one point in the development, he hoped to structure it similarly to Hollywood films about the Vietnam War, such as “Platoon” and “Apocalypse Now,” that center their plots on conflicts between “good” and “bad” American soldiers. “But there were actually no good Germans,” Kraume said.

Girley Jazama, who plays the movie’s female lead, discovered that her great-grandmother has been born in a German-run concentration camp while researching to play the role.Credit...Gordon Welters for The New York Times

Jazama, an acclaimed Namibian actress who plays Kezia Kambazembi, the film’s lead female role, learned German to play her part. In preparation for the role, she spoke to relatives about her family’s connection to the genocide and discovered that her great-grandmother had been conceived in a German-run concentration camp. “My ancestors need to be at peace,” she said in an interview. “That’s why I became a part of this story.”

Jazama said that, though the film had largely been made to spur discussion in Germany, it had also been a talking point in Namibia, where the events of the genocide had often been passed down via family members. “A lot of people are grateful,” she said, recalling that one audience member had shared appreciation that “now there is a visual representation of what happened, versus just it being told orally.”

The reaction in Germany has been more mixed. Writing in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, the critic Bert Rebhandl wrote that the film focused too much on “German self-understanding” while pushing African perspectives to its edges. A writer in the Süddeutsche Zeitung argued that the film depicts too little of the genocide to transmit the scope of the killing and it does not do “justice to the horror.”

Henning Melber, a political scientist who has written extensively about German colonialism, said that criticism of the film shouldn’t distract from its potential role in remedying what he described as Germany’s “colonial amnesia.” He said that the film “triggers a debate in a wider German public in a way that none of us academics can achieve.”

Kraume emphasized that, although “Measures of Men” was meant to appeal to a mass audience, it was an explicitly “political film,” and that its rollout was partly engineered to spur a discussion. He hoped the screening for lawmakers would drive politicians to work harder at compensating the Herero and Nama, he added.

A scene from “Measures of Men.” In 1904, thousands of Herero people fled from German soldiers into the Omaheke Desert, where many died of thirst.Credit...Willem Vrey/Studiocanal GmbH

Although Namibian and German authorities agreed in 2021 on the terms of a reconciliation agreement, including around $1.1 billion in aid that Germany would pay over the next 30 years, the process has since come under fire from groups representing victims’ descendants, who argue that amount is too low, and say they were unfairly left out of the negotiation process. The Namibian government has since backtracked on plans to ratify the agreement, and the German authorities have resisted calls by the Namibians to reopen talks.

Kraume said Germany’s president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, should travel to Namibia and officially apologize for the genocide, and that all human remains still held in Germany should be returned. “Europe has done far too little to reconcile with victims,” he said. “I think cinema allows us to awaken emotions, and implant images that can let you see events differently,” he said. “But this is only the beginning of the discussion.”

#Germany #Cinema #Measures of Men #Namibia #Genocide #Herero #Nama #Lars Kraume #Leonard Scheicher

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aktionfsa-blog-blog · 1 month

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Deutschlands ungesühnte Kolonialverbrechen

Schlacht am Waterberg

Gestern vor 120 Jahren, am 11. August 1904 begann mit der Schlacht am Waterberg der erste Genozid von Deutschlands "Schutztruppe" in Afrika. Telepolis schreibt: Unter dem Kommando von General Lothar von Trotha wurde eine militärische Offensive gegen die Hereros gestartet, die darauf abzielte, die Hereros systematisch zu vernichten.

Der indische Kolonialismus-Kritiker Pankaj Mishra beschreibt in seinem letzten Buch "Freundliche Fanatiker" die Vorgänge so: ... in Deutsch-Südwestafrika (...) befahl on Trotha, auf alle Angehörigen des militärisch bereits besiegten Volks der Herero zu schießen, wo man sie nur fand, einschließlich der Frauen und Kinder, und sie in die Omahek-Wüste zu treiben, wo sie verdursten mussten.

Auch die ersten deutschen Konzentrationslager unter deutschen Regie entstanden dort nach britischem Vorbild. Die gefangenen Aufständischen mussten in den KZ dahin vegetieren und bei schlechter Ernährung schwere Zwangsarbeit verrichten.

Zwischen 60.000 und 100.000 Hereros starben während dieses Genozids bis zum Jahr 1908, was einen erheblichen Teil der Bevölkerung ausmachte. Über viele Jahre ignoriete die Bundesrepublik die Vorgänge in der Kolonialzeit völlig. Verschiedene deutsche Regierungen haben Entschädigungszahlen abgelehnt. Auch Gerichtsprozesse in den USA gegen "Nachfahren" beteiligter deutsche Firmen, wie die deutsche Bank, blieben erfolglos. Nach 6 Jahren Gesprächen wurden 2021 1,1 Milliarden Euro Wiederaufbauhilfe vereinbart.

Mehr dazu bei https://www.telepolis.de/features/Kolonialverbrechen-und-deutsche-Schuld-Schlacht-am-Waterberg-9831161.html

Kategorie[21]: Unsere Themen in der Presse Short-Link dieser Seite: a-fsa.de/d/3Cb Link zu dieser Seite: https://www.aktion-freiheitstattangst.org/de/articles/8869-20240812-deutschlands-ungesuehnte-kolonialverbrechen.html

#BundesrepublikDeutschland #Kolonialverbrechen #Namibia #Waterberg #LotharvonTrotha #KZ #Konzentrationslager #Genozid #Transparenz #Informationsfreiheit #Verhaltensänderung #Entschädigung #Klagen #Diskriminierung #Ungleichbehandlung

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simplicius-simplicissimus · 2 months

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Out of Africa (Jenseits von Afrika)

David Livingstone

The name “David Livingstone” is closely linked to the Victoria Falls because he discovered this natural wonder of the earth. But not only that - he is one of the white people who is still fondly remembered in Africa. Zambia's first president Kenneth Kaunda once described Livingstone as "Africa's first freedom fighter" in 1964 (when Zambia gained independence). Livingstone witnessed the massacre of 400 blacks by Arab slave traders. A diary entry by Livingstone about this event, later published by the journalist Morton Stanley, contributed significantly to the closure of the most important slave trading center in East Africa on the island of Zanzibar. Great Britain forced the ruling Sultan to do so by force of arms. Livingstone's pioneering work, his love for this continent and his fight against the slave trade are the reasons why he is revered in Africa - even the bus driver who drove us to a boat trip on the Zambezi in Victoria Falls expressed this reverence in his words.

His goals - to prove that the Zambezi could be used as a transport route and to find the source of the Nile - Livingstone could never achieve. However, his achievement is that he brought Africa closer to the Europeans. His descriptions, his observations and his notes about animals, plants and people expanded knowledge about the previously largely unknown continent. We traveled to Africa because of the animals and the unique landscapes. We got to know many ordinary, but satisfied and friendly people who presented their country and their way of life to us with pride and often with humor (“you get an African massage when driving over the bumpy African roads”). But we also saw the negative side of the coin: poverty and people who will do almost anything to survive.

The tour guide and bus driver on our trip was such an ordinary and friendly man - and very proud of his Herero origins, which he often emphasized. From 1884 to 1915, Namibia was part of what was then the German Empire as German South West Africa. The Herero and Nama rose up against their colonial masters in 1904. This uprising was brutally suppressed by German troops under the command of Lothar von Trotha. Most of the Herero fled to the almost waterless Omaheke Desert. Trotha had it blocked off and chased away the refugees from the few waterholes that existed there, so that thousands of Herero, along with their families and herds of cattle, died of thirst. Trotha's actions are considered by scholars to be the first genocide of the 20th century. The Herero still remember this today with a day of remembrance. A strange scene: The Herero, whose ancestors were so harassed by Germans, now had the task of driving and accompanying a German tour group safely through Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia.

Germany has been working on a reconciliation agreement in this matter with Namibia for some time - which was pushed forward by Namibian President Hage Geingob, who died earlier this year. However, an official agreement with Namibia on “reparations payments” has not yet been reached. Africa is sometimes “complicated” - depending on which ethnic group is “in charge” in the country and sometimes does not necessarily focus on the interests of other ethnic groups.

The UN Genocide Convention of 1948 emerged as a direct reaction to the mass atrocities committed by the German Reich in World War II. The Soviet Union ensured that the destruction of entire layers or classes – later called sociocide – was not included in the definition. What is hardly known, however, is that Great Britain and France, but also the USA, Canada and Australia, as old colonial powers, ensured that the systematic cultural destruction of a group and the forced assimilation of indigenous peoples and national minorities were not included in the definition as well. It's easier to point the finger at others than to admit or deal with your own crimes. The Africans have regained sovereignty over their land - the indigenous peoples in America and Australia were less fortunate.

There is still a monument in Swakopmund today that commemorates the German soldiers who died in the 1904 conflict described above. Namibia has been independent from South Africa since 1990 - and I couldn't help but wonder why the monument hasn't been torn down long ago? Maybe because every death in a conflict is one too many? Swakopmund is generally a very “German” city - with many buildings, its flair and street names from the former colonial era. You go to the chic, expensive restaurants and cafes in Swakopmund and you almost only meet “white” customers there. “Blacks” often cannot afford this - which is why “blacks” almost exclusively serve “whites”. Inwardly I thought to myself: “Somehow not much has changed in this regard in the last hundred years!” It was a depressing situation for us. African countries are free today - but are they really independent? A statement from our tour guide: “We are still so dependent on South Africa. When truck drivers go on strike in South Africa, the shelves in Namibia's supermarkets are empty. When Namibia was still part of South Africa, life was even better.” The African continent has raw materials and quite clever people - but somehow they often can't get the horsepower on the road there. There is still a lot to do - and I think the ex-colonial powers have a special responsibility to help this continent which they have plundered for decades.

There are these “perfect days” - and our second day in Chobe National Park in Botswana was one of them. On the morning safari in an open off-road vehicle, we not only saw one of those red African sunrises - we also saw two male lions walking completely unperturbed, almost tactile, in front of us. In the afternoon we took a boat along the Chobe River and were able to observe many animals up close in their natural behavior: grazing water buffaloes, hippos and crocodiles dozing in the afternoon sun. There were also two elephant bulls who were playfully competing against each other. And an elephant matriarch who led her family swimming across the Chobe River. You don't see anything like that in a zoo. The icing on the cake was that our boat was steered to the perfect spot to photograph the sunset. All highly emotional moments.

The majestic Namib Desert stretches along the 1,500 km long Namibian coast (also called the “skeleton coast” because of the many whale skeletons there). The coast is therefore almost deserted (there are only 4 small coastal towns there - including Swakopmund)… and is lined with shipwrecks because there is often dense fog, treacherous currents and shifting sandbanks. The coast includes three national parks, each extending approximately 50 km inland: Namib Naukluft National Park, Dorob National Park (with Cape Cross) and Skeleton Coast Park. These are intended to preserve the unique nature there - probably out of wise foresight, because Namibia is one of the leading mining nations for diamonds, uranium, zinc and fluorspar. The Namib Desert was my first desert with a wide dune landscape. The wind creates an incredibly majestic and beautiful scenery there. Every picture taken is like a painting in sand colors.

Apart from Africa, there is probably no other continent where the wilderness is so well preserved and can be experienced up close. It's definitely not the last time we've been to Africa. Maybe that's the magic of this continent - once you've visited it, you come back with longing.

Der Name „David Livingstone“ ist eng mit den Victoria Falls verbunden, denn er entdeckte dieses Naturwunder der Erde. Aber nicht nur das - er ist einer der Weissen, an den man sich in Afrika immer noch gern erinnert. Sambias erster Präsident Kenneth Kaunda bezeichnete Livingstone 1964 einmal als „Africa's first freedom fighter“ (als Sambia seine Unabhängigkeit erlangte). Livingstone wurde Zeuge an der Massakrierung von 400 Schwarzen durch arabische Sklavenhändler. Ein vom Journalisten Morton Stanley später veröffentlichter Tagebucheintrag Livingstones über dieses Ereignis hat wesentlich dazu beigetragen, dass der wichtigste Sklavenhandelsplatz Ostafrikas auf der Insel Sansibar geschlossen wurde. Grossbritannien zwang den herrschenden Sultan mit Waffengewalt dazu. Livingstones Pionierarbeit, seine Liebe für diesen Kontinent und sein Kampf gegen den Sklavenhandel sind der Grund dafür, dass er in Afrika verehrt wird - selbst der Busfahrer, der uns in Victoria Falls zu einem Bootstrip auf dem Sambesi fuhr, lies diese Verehrung in seinen Worten spüren.

Seine Ziele - zu beweisen, dass der Sambesi als Verkehrsweg nutzbar sei, sowie die Nilquelle zu finden - konnte Livingstone nie erreichen. Sein Verdienst aber ist es, dass er den Europäern Afrika nahe brachte. Seine Beschreibungen, seine Beobachtungen, seine Notizen über Tiere, Pflanzen und Menschen erweiterten das Wissen über den bis dahin weitgehend unbekannten Kontinent. Wegen der Tiere und der einzigartigen Landschaften reisten wir nach Afrika. Wir lernten dabei viele einfache, jedoch zufriedene und freundliche Menschen kennen, die uns mit Stolz und häufig mit Witz („eine afrikanische Massage bekommt man, wenn über die holprigen afrikanischen Strassen fährt“) ihr Land und ihre Lebensweise präsentierten. Die negative Seite der Medaille sahen wir aber auch: Armut und Menschen, die fast alles tun, um zu überleben.

Der Reiseleiter und zugleich Busfahrer unserer Reise war ein solch einfacher und freundlicher Mann - und sehr stolz auf seine Herkunft als Herero, die er oft betonte. Namibia gehörte von 1884 bis 1915 als Deutsch-Südwestafrika zum damaligen Deutschen Reich. Die Herero und Nama erhoben sich 1904 gegen ihre Kolonialherren. Dieser Aufstand wurde brutal durch deutsche Truppen unter dem Kommando von Lothar von Trotha niedergeschlagen. Der größte Teil der Herero floh in die fast wasserlose Omaheke-Wüste. Trotha ließ diese abriegeln und Flüchtlinge von den wenigen dort existenten Wasserstellen verjagen, so dass Tausende Herero mitsamt ihren Familien und Rinderherden verdursteten. Trothas Vorgehen gilt in der Wissenschaft als erster Völkermord des 20. Jahrhunderts. Die Herero erinnern noch heute mit einem Gedenktag daran. Eine eigentümlich Szene also: Der Herero, dessen Vorfahren durch Deutsche so drangsaliert wurden, hatte nun die Aufgabe, eine deutsche Reisegruppe sicher durch Simbabwe, Botswana und Namibia zu fahren und zu geleiten.

Deutschland arbeitet in dieser Angelegenheit seit geraumer Zeit an einem Aussöhnungsabkommen mit Namibia - das durch den Anfang dieses Jahres verstorbenen namibischen Präsidenten Hage Geingob vorangetrieben wurde. Eine offizielle Übereinkunft mit Namibia über „Reparationszahlungen“ konnte jedoch bisher noch nicht erreicht werden. Afrika ist manchmal „kompliziert“ - je nachdem, welche Ethnie im Land „das Sagen“ hat und dabei die Interessen anderer Ethnien manchmal nicht unbedingt im Fokus hat.

Die Genozidkonvention der Uno von 1948 entstand als unmittelbare Reaktion auf die Massenverbrechen des Deutschen Reiches im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Die Sowjetunion erreichte, dass die Vernichtung ganzer Schichten oder Klassen – später Soziozid genannt – nicht in die Definition einfloss. Kaum bekannt ist hingegen, dass Grossbritannien und Frankreich, aber auch die USA, Kanada und Australien als alte Kolonialmächte dafür sorgten, dass die systematische kulturelle Zerstörung einer Gruppe und die Zwangsassimilation von indigenen Völkern und nationalen Minderheiten auch nicht Eingang in die Definition fanden. Es ist eben leichter auf andere zu zeigen, als sich selbst seine Verbrechen einzugestehen oder aufzuarbeiten. Die Afrikaner haben die Souveränität über ihr Land wieder zurückerlangt - die indigenen Völker in Amerika und Australien hatten da weniger Glück.

In Swakopmund gibt es heute noch ein Denkmal, das an die deutschen Gefallenen des oben beschriebenen Konflikts von 1904 erinnert. Namibia ist seit 1990 von Südafrika unabhängig - und ich fragte mich unwillkürlich, warum man das Denkmal nicht längst abgerissen hat? Vielleicht, weil jeder Tote in einem Konflikt einer zu viel ist? Swakopmund ist generell eine sehr „deutsche“ Stadt - mit vielen Gebäuden, seinem Flair und Straßennamen aus der ehemaligen Kolonialzeit. Man geht in die schicken, teuren Restaurants und Cafes in Swakopmund und trifft dort fast nur „weisse“ Kunden. „Schwarze“ können sich das nämlich oft nicht leisten - deshalb bedienen „Schwarze“ fast ausschliesslich „Weisse“. Innerlich dachte ich mir: „Irgendwie hat sich in den letzten hundert Jahren diesbezüglich dann nicht viel geändert!“ Es war eine bedrückende Situation für uns. Die afrikanischen Länder sind heute frei - aber sind sie wirklich unabhängig? Eine Aussage unseres Reiseleiters: „Wir sind immer noch so abhängig von Südafrika. Wenn in Südafrika die LKW-Fahrer streiken, sind in Namibias Supermärkten die Regale leer. Das Leben früher war sogar besser, als Namibia noch Teil von Südafrika war.“ Der afrikanische Kontinent hat Rohstoffe und durchaus clevere Menschen - aber irgendwie bekommt man oft dort die PS nicht auf die Strasse. Es ist noch viel zu tun - und ich denke, die Ex-Kolonialmächte haben hier eine besondere Verantwortung, dem Kontinent zu helfen, den sie jahrzehntelang ausgeplündert haben.

Es gibt diese „perfekten Tage“ - und unser zweiter Tag im Chobe Nationalpark in Botswana war ein solcher. Auf der morgendlichen Safari im offenen Geländewagen sahen wir nicht nur einen dieser roten afrikanischen Sonnenaufgänge - wir sahen auch zwei männliche Löwen, die vollkommen unbeirrt, fast greifbar vor uns entlang spazierten. Am Nachmittag fuhren wir im Boot den Chobe River entlang und konnten viele Tiere aus nächster Nähe in ihrem natürlichen Verhalten beobachten: grasende Wasserbüffel, in der Nachmittagssonne dösende Flusspferde und Krokodile. Auch zwei Elefantenbullen, die sich spielerisch miteinander im Kräftemessen übten. Und eine Elefanten-Matriarchin, die ihre Familie schwimmend durch den Chobe River führte. So etwas sieht man in keinem Zoo. Das Sahnehäubchen war dann noch, dass unser Boot an den perfekten Spot gesteuert wurde, um den Sonnenuntergang zu fotografieren. Alles höchst emotionale Momente.

Der 1500 km langen, namibischen Küste entlang (aufgrund der vielen Wal-Skelette dort auch „Skelettküste“ genannt ) erstreckt sich die majestätische Namib-Wüste. Die Küste ist deshalb fast menschenleer (es gibt dort nur 4 kleine Küstenstädte - u.A. Swakopmund)….und ist gesäumt von Schiffwracks, weil es dort häufig dichten Nebel, tückische Strömungen und wandernde Sandbänke gibt. Die Küste umfasst drei Nationalparks, die sich jeweils ca. 50 km ins Landesinnere erstrecken: Namib Naukluft National Park, Dorob National Park (mit Cape Cross) und Skeleton Coast Park. Diese sollen die einzigartige Natur dort erhalten - wohl aus weiser Voraussicht, denn Namibia zählt zu den führenden Bergbaunationen für Diamanten, Uran, Zink und Flussspat. Die Namib-Wüste war meine erste Wüste mit einer weiten Dünenlandschaft. Der Wind formt dort eine unglaublich majestätische und schöne Szenerie. Jedes geschossene Bild ist wie ein Gemälde in Sandfarben.

Es gibt neben Afrika wohl keinen weiteren Kontinent, wo die Wildnis noch so gut erhalten und hautnah erlebbar ist. Wir sind bestimmt nicht das letzte Mal in Afrika gewesen. Vielleicht ist das die Magie dieses Kontinents - wenn man ihn einmal besucht hat, kommt man mit Sehnsucht zurück.

-Simplicius Simplicissimus

#traveling #reisen #africa #afrika #david livingstone #herero #genocide #genozid #perfect day #perfekter tag #namib desert #wildlife #history #namibwüste #wilde tiere #geschichte #simplicius simplicissimus

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