Ovaherero Won’t Be Deterred

Open letter to Mr Victor Kuligin IN reply to a letter by one Victor Kuligin titled ‘Who should pay whom’ in The Namibian of 31/10/2006.

I would like to reply as follows. As a descendent of the people you are blaming and insulting, I want to know who you are and what role you are playing or have played in Namibia that gave you the right to attack others? You don’t understand our claim because you were never subjected to the suffering our people endured and are still enduring.We Otjiherero-speaking people have lost everything we possessed, land, livestock and others like myself lost our beautiful and proud black pigmentation, due to the fact that our womenfolk were raped at gunpoint.Our bones are scattered over Namibia, from Walvis Bay, overland to Luederitz.Dear Victor, how would you feel if your baby was thrown around like a rugby ball and at the end of the game to be pierced by a bayonet? We also understand that governments are elected to power to take over responsibilities and liabilities.That means all the successive German governments are legally responsible for the blood of the Otjiherero speaking people.We did not prevent other groups from filing for or claiming reparation.They are at liberty to do so.I pray and hope that you are not joining those who are playing football with the blood of the Ovaherero people.There is no question that it was a matter of Whites versus Blacks.Whites came to Africa with one purpose only – to colonise and subject blacks to all forms of oppression including slavery and theft of land.Germany has so far had two World Wars but never issued an extermination order because it fought against other whites; even the first-ever atomic bomb was not dropped on white Germany, which started the war, but on non-white Japan.We should not compare the Ovaherero claims for reparations with blacks oppressing one another or Arab slavery.The question of the people who were the first inhabitants of Namibia is open for discussion as the only version comes from those who came to divide and rule.San drawings are found all over the world from South Africa up to the southern coast of Europe.Who then chased the San people out of Europe into Africa? The very same people who are accusing the Ovaherero of chasing the San people out of Namibia.Before criticising those who suffered at the hands of the German butchers, one must learn to distinguish between genocide and extermination.There are many examples of genocide, but there is only one extermination order, that of General von Trotha on the Ovahereros.How do people want us to behave if our whole tribe was to be wiped out not by disease or natural calamity but by military power? The Ovaherero people thank God they survived to tell the tale and that is why we went to Ozombuzo Vindimba to relive the history of our people.The negative attitude prevailing amongst pale skins and other sceptics will never deter the determined Otjiherero speaking people from their chosen path of claiming reparations from the German governments.Yours for those who survived the genocide and extermination order.Heitjevi Veii WindhoekAs a descendent of the people you are blaming and insulting, I want to know who you are and what role you are playing or have played in Namibia that gave you the right to attack others? You don’t understand our claim because you were never subjected to the suffering our people endured and are still enduring.We Otjiherero-speaking people have lost everything we possessed, land, livestock and others like myself lost our beautiful and proud black pigmentation, due to the fact that our womenfolk were raped at gunpoint.Our bones are scattered over Namibia, from Walvis Bay, overland to Luederitz.Dear Victor, how would you feel if your baby was thrown around like a rugby ball and at the end of the game to be pierced by a bayonet? We also understand that governments are elected to power to take over responsibilities and liabilities.That means all the successive German governments are legally responsible for the blood of the Otjiherero speaking people.We did not prevent other groups from filing for or claiming reparation.They are at liberty to do so.I pray and hope that you are not joining those who are playing football with the blood of the Ovaherero people.There is no question that it was a matter of Whites versus Blacks.Whites came to Africa with one purpose only – to colonise and subject blacks to all forms of oppression including slavery and theft of land.Germany has so far had two World Wars but never issued an extermination order because it fought against other whites; even the first-ever atomic bomb was not dropped on white Germany, which started the war, but on non-white Japan.We should not compare the Ovaherero claims for reparations with blacks oppressing one another or Arab slavery.The question of the people who were the first inhabitants of Namibia is open for discussion as the only version comes from those who came to divide and rule.San drawings are found all over the world from South Africa up to the southern coast of Europe.Who then chased the San people out of Europe into Africa? The very same people who are accusing the Ovaherero of chasing the San people out of Namibia.Before criticising those who suffered at the hands of the German butchers, one must learn to distinguish between genocide and extermination.There are many examples of genocide, but there is only one extermination order, that of General von Trotha on the Ovahereros.How do people want us to behave if our whole tribe was to be wiped out not by disease or natural calamity but by military power? The Ovaherero people thank God they survived to tell the tale and that is why we went to Ozombuzo Vindimba to relive the history of our people.The negative attitude prevailing amongst pale skins and other sceptics will never deter the determined Otjiherero speaking people from their chosen path of claiming reparations from the German governments.Yours for those who survived the genocide and extermination order.Heitjevi Veii Windhoek