speakers, museums, and bono

This week was full of really awesome class days.

In Political Development, we watched a lot of videos that portray Africa to the United States. Old videos with Sally Strothers, new Red Campaign videos, interviews with Angelina Jolie about Namibia, and, perhaps the most ridiculous, a commercial by Bono. The point of this was to understand exactly what these videos are supposed to accomplish and how there are very specific strategies to get Americans to spend money on Africa. A lot of these videos misrepresent the region and generalize. Not all of Africa is the same, but seeing these videos makes you think it is. They also give the illusion that all the country needs is money instead of a structural or long-term change. Bono really stuck out to me. I give him credit for all that he's done to help but he also does it in such a way that enhances his celebrity. For example, he went to volunteer at a refugee camp and later when he told the story he talked about how at first they had him shoveling shit so thank god they found out he was a famous musician- then he could play songs with the kids. That arrogance makes you question motives.

We also visited the 2 national museums- one was incredibly creepy with life-sized mannequins and dead animals stuffed by a taxidermist (who was properly thanked with a framed acknowledgment of his beautiful work). It was dark and frightening and a random Afrikaaner man gave us a tour- he looked like he just got home from safari and I'm still not entirely sure if he worked there.

The other one, though, was amazing. It's at the location of one of the old concentration camps where the Herero people were imprisoned. At the end of the German rule, about 80% of the Herero people had been massacred- men, women, and children were shot, starved, hanged, and kept as slaves until they died of starvation or Tuberculosis. The Germans had perfected the system of concentration camps even before the Holocaust- something I didn't know before. Just like during the Holocaust, they took diligent notes about the deaths of the people in the camps. It was so surreal being in the actual location. When I used to think about colonial rule I knew it was violent and oppressive but I had no idea that there were massive genocidal campaigns. After we learned all this our professor Romanus asked if the story was familiar to us. Yes, that's exactly what Europeans did in America, including the enslavement and genocide of Indians. So I guess looking critically at other cultures forces you to look at your own.

Also, a speaker came to our history class to talk to us about the liberation struggle. He was an amazing man- at 19 he was the first Namibian to appeal to the United Nations to tell them about the genocide and brutal apartheid rule occurring in Namibia. If he would have been caught he would have been shipped to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela and tons of other freedom fighters were imprisoned. So that he wouldn't get caught with the incriminating documents and petitions, his superiors made underpants out of them and he was not allowed to take them off for the entire 30 day boat ride overseas. That meant no showers and no changing underwear. He gladly did it though, and it worked. He then went to the States and worked closely with JFK and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Civil Rights movement. He spoke about this period in his life like there was nothing special to it- it was just what he did. He also named the country- he was given the honor of changing South West Africa to whatever he chose, and he chose Namibia.