Henning Melber

Henning Member (born 22 August 1950) is a German political scientist and sociologist. He is a German-Namibian and Swedish Africanist and political activist. Quotes The ANC is increasingly criticised for what is labelled a neo-liberal paradigm in its socio-economic orientation. The society has shifted from racial segregation towards a similar discriminating and marginalizing class structure, with members of a new black elite joining the “haves”. Meanwhile, the living conditions of the “have-nots” (who remain mainly black) have shown little if any improvement. The South African government's role in the international arena is similarly problematic and contradictory, and at times ambivalent and controversial in different ways. In its attempt to gain from the existing global market, South African policy is criticised on the one hand for a too collaborative approach to the G8 and the international financial institutions. Liberation movements in Southern Africa emerged from the anti-colonial struggle as political parties in government. Since taking power they have consolidated their position in both the political arena, as well as within most, if not all, state and parastatal structures. In securing a power of definition in the political arena they are shaping – to the extent of manipulating - public discourse to suit their ends. Why have the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), to a lesser but clearly visible extent the South West African Peoples Organisation (SWAPO of Namibia) - and also to some degree the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa - not displayed a more consistent commitment to democratic principles and/or practices? Why have they also largely abandoned their once-sacrosanct goal of socio-economic transformation aimed at reducing inherited imbalances in the distribution of wealth? Participants in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Seminar on “Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press”, held in Windhoek, Namibia, from 29 April to 3 May 1991, declared: “Consistent with article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the establishment, maintenance and fostering of an independent, pluralistic and free press is essential to the development and maintenance of democracy in a nation and for economic development. I was born in 1950 in the southern part of West Germany; VfB Stuttgart was my ‘home team’. My parents divorced when I was 13. My mother took care of my younger brother and me and she worked hard to raise us properly. We had a modest lifestyle, though I never felt being poor. Her new partner was a refugee child during World War 2. In search of a better life, my mother’s brother had already left Germany for South Africa, and my stepfather followed. In search of a job, he ended up in what was then the ‘fifth province’ – South West Africa – to manage the store at Neue Haribes, a big karakul farm between Mariental and Maltahöhe. Read more: Henning Melber: Genocide claims are valid - New Era He talks about his background There is a popular quote that “The past is not dead, it is not even past”. It also applies to the genocide committed by the German colonial troops among the Ovaherero and Nama (including parts of the Damara). As long as we do not seek to come to terms with this past and its structural legacies, reconciliation in Namibia remains unfinished business. The German-speaking minority can only secure a sustainable future build on a social contract, which acknowledges the consequences of this past and seeks ways to address them. This does not mean to hold us as German-speakers responsible for what happened long before we were born. His view on the Ovaherero/Nama genocide case in terms of its validity External links Category:Political scientists from Germany Category:Sociologists from Germany Category:Political activists Category:1950 births Category:Living people