Joint Press Release: AfricAvenir International – Afrika-Rat Berlin-Brandenburg – Arbeitskreis Panafrikanismus M\u00fcnchen (AKPM) – Artefakte\/\/anti-humboldt – Berlin Postkolonial – Deutsch-Afrikanische Gesellschaft Berlin (DAFRIG) – Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD-Bund) nPRESS RELEASE<\/b>nGerman Federal Government refuses to apologise for genocide
<\/b>nNGO alliance accuses governing coalition of a discriminatory remembrance policy<\/b>nBerlin, 23.3.2012. On 22 March 2012<\/b> a motion put forward by the Left Party and a second draft from the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Green Party were debated in the German Bundestag<\/b>. The motions sought for the campaigns of extermination against the Herero and Nama in the former colony of \u201cGerman South-West Africa\u201d (1904-08), today’s Republic of Namibia<\/b>, to be recognised as genocide. For the first time in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany the entire opposition argued in support of a formal apology<\/b> from the German Bundestag towards the descendants of the more than 100.000 victims. Nevertheless, votes from the governing coalition rejected both motions after only half an hour of debate.n\u201cIn light of the general consensus among both historians and the public that the imperial \u201cSchutztruppen\u201d committed genocide <\/b>against the Herero and Nama, the governing coalition’s renewed refusal to recognise the genocide<\/b> amounts to a<\/b> denial of it<\/b>\u201d, states Christian Kopp from \u201cBerlin Postkolonial\u201d. \u201cOn behalf of more than 100 NGOs from all parts of Germany<\/b> who, within a few days, have signed the appeal drafted by our alliance<\/b> we express our fierce condemnation of such dishonourable rejection of Germany’s historical responsibility! At the same time we welcome the fact that the opposition parties have set a real milestone on the path to reconciliation with the descendants of the victims. With their speeches they have proofed that a new, critical view on our colonial past <\/b>is beginning to establish itself in Germany, too. Above all we see this as a success resulting from the sustained commitment of the organisations in our alliance<\/b>." nSharon Otoo from \u201cInitiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland\u201d (ISD-Bund) stresses: \u201cAt the World Conference in Durban in 2004 the former Namibian Minister of Foreign Affairs Theo-Ben Gurirab <\/b>asked whether Germany had apologised for its crimes against Israel, Russia or Poland because they are dealing with Whites<\/i>. Other genocides were also recognised retrospectively as such<\/b>, although this category did not constitute a criminal offence under international law until 1948. Does the German government refuse to name the war of extermination in \u201cGerman South-West Africa\u201d as genocide retrospectively because here Black <\/i>people were murdered, dispossessed and raped<\/b>?\u201dnIsrael Kaunatjike, a Herero living in Berlin, reckons: \u201cThe refusal once again by the German government <\/b>to admit the genocide of my ancestors and the Nama, and to finally apologise for it, is a humiliating slap in the face<\/b> that we won’t put up with. The Namibian government won’t be able to ignore this either: this day is a catastrophe for Namibian-German relations at government level<\/b>. On the other hand the people in Namibia can now see very clearly who in Germany expresses a sincere interest in critically looking back on and reappraising the genocide and reconciling<\/b> with them.\u201dnThe SPD and Green Party<\/b> call for a special \u201crelief fund\u201d to support the people in the particularly affected regions as well as a \u201creconciliation initiative\u201d, which has been planned for years, within the framework of a more intensive development cooperation. The Left Party <\/b>advances a similar view to that of the representatives of the committees representing the descendants of the victims and the German NGO alliance<\/b>: it believes that reparations must be made unconditionally and therefore clearly set apart from development cooperation. They request the German Bundestag and German Federal Government to engage in dialogue with the Namibian National Assembly and Government and the descendants of the victims<\/b>.nContact<\/b>: Telephone +49 1799 100 976 nSharon Otoo: sharonotoo (at) isd-online.de<\/link> & Christian Kopp: buero (at) berlin-postkolonial.de<\/link> nWeb: http:\/\/www.restitution-namibia.de<\/link> nFacebook: http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GenocideCannotBeSubjectToPrescription<\/link> nTwitter: http:\/\/twitter.com\/#!\/restitution4nam<\/link> n|+| Download Press Release as PDF<\/link>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Joint Press Release: AfricAvenir International – Afrika-Rat Berlin-Brandenburg – Arbeitskreis Panafrikanismus M\u00fcnchen (AKPM) – Artefakte\/\/anti-humboldt – Berlin Postkolonial – Deutsch-Afrikanische Gesellschaft Berlin (DAFRIG) – Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD-Bund) nPRESS RELEASEnGerman Federal Government refuses to apologise for genocidenNGO alliance accuses governing coalition of a discriminatory remembrance policynBerlin, 23.3.2012. On 22 March 2012 a motion put forward by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events","category-kolonialismus-und-dekolonisierung"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n