The press is not the enemy of the people

Attacks on the news media is not a new phenomenon, but something that we have witnessed over the course of history from dictators as well as from democratically elected leaders.

The current President of the United States was not the first nor will he be the last to criticize and label the press as the enemy of the people. However, it is important to take cognizant of the age we live in today, an age of citizen journalism where every Tom, Dick and Harry has the power to influence public opinion at the click of a button.

Calling the press the enemy of the people, because it disagrees with government policies or is too critical of a leadership can lead to dangerous consequences. 

It creates doubt and an atmosphere of confusion in an already fragile media environment in which the public are increasing receiving misleading and unverified news from social media such as Facebook.

Today, many people, especially the youth are unfamiliar with traditional news outlets and their primary source of news is social media. As a result, they consume information from just about anyone, without verifying the validity of the information or the credentials of the source. Some examples include the false and unconfirmed information that spread on the mobile messaging platform WhatsApp in India which led to the killing of innocent lives and in Myanmar (or Burma) where Facebook posts based on false information encouraged and led to the torture and murders of people of the Rohingya tribe who are mainly Muslims.

If a world leader is calling the mainstream media ‘fake’ and the ‘enemy’, then where are people to go to for accurate, factual and reliable information?

What is real news and what is fake news when the US President has been found to create his own truths by lying over and over again and still continues to perpetuate the untruths, even when the facts have been pointed out to him?

Surely the mainstream media is not perfect, but that is no reason to continuously denounce it, but to rather continue to call out the untruths and demand retractions or rectifications. In a world where false and unverified information is the order of the day, and where it is becoming increasingly difficult to identify false news, the media has an even more crucial role to play in helping us recognize false stories and provide us with the facts and the real stories.

The dangers of hyphenated national identities

South African comedian and host of the American TV programme, The Daily Show, Trevor Noah sparked a debate on race, culture and national identity after he made a joke about France’s 2018 soccer World Cup win when he referred to it as a victory for Africans, as most of the players are black.

The black French players insisted they were French and the French Ambassador to the US wrote to Noah to explain his country’s policy on race, ethnic and cultural relations stating that France does not define their citizens with a hyphenated identity as is the case in the US and other parts of the world.

Noah mocked the Ambassador’s letter and maintained the players were Africans. Although I do not fully agree with Noah, I agreed with his argument about the double standards towards non-white players (or on-white European citizens). When they do well, they belong to us, when they perform poorly or commit a crime, they must go back to where they came from.

What I disagree with is the continued reference of citizens with a hyphenation based on their ethnicity. Why can you not just be American, French, Spanish, German or African?

We live in a global village where simply being black does not make you African, nor does being white make you European. This is not to say that you don’t recognize where your ancestors came from.

These hyphenated identities are partly to blame for black Americans still fighting to be fully accepted as Americans, 400 years since the first Africans arrived on American soil.

I never understood why black Americans and other minority groups in the US were described based on their ethnic or cultural connection to a continent their ancestors came from, such as African-American, Asian-American and so forth, yet few white Americans are not referred to as European-Americans, even though their ancestral lineage is European, all of them. The United States of America is after all a stolen land. Australian whites are simply described as Australians, although they all came from Europe, but everyone else has a hyphenated identity. 

This type of labelling perpetuates the ethnic and cultural divide and racism in any country, especially in a terribly divided USA where everyone’s descendants, except of course the Native Americans, were originally from other continents. What is wrong with officially calling all citizens Americans? Racism and xenophobia are ugly realities in our societies and by making these types of jokes or statements perpetuates and normalizes these issues, thereby creating an environment where hateful speech is likely to happen. 

The French are on the right track and I believe other countries should follow suit.

Tackling the root causes of international migration

Europe has experienced one of the highest migration levels over the past three years with migrants coming from war-torn countries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. There has also been a significant number of migrants from African countries such as Ivory Coast, Mali and so forth.

This huge influx has clearly put an economic strain on European countries, especially Germany which has taken in over a million migrants in such a short space of time. 

In the midst of this crisis are fears of ethnic and cultural extinction, job losses and crime, amongst others. But what can Europe do to tackle the root causes of immigration and to appease their citizens? 

Migration from Africa countries is largely driven by social and economic factors and less so by political issues, with a few exceptions.

These factors which include poverty, high unemployment rates and poor living standards are caused by a variety of factors, but a significant one is the issue of international trade agreements where African countries often get the short end of the stick. With African countries unable to compete against European countries, the continent ends up being flooded with cheap European goods, consequently killing local companies and causing thousands of job losses. Of course it is not only European goods, but also Chinse and Indian goods and others that has led to local business closing down and people losing their livelihoods.

We often hear African leaders urging entrepreneurs to venture into manufacturing and agriculture to create employment, but the call has largely fallen on deaf ears, because it is unsustainable for them to do so, leaving African countries in a perpetual state of ‘developing countries’ that imports goods that it would otherwise have been able to produce. A continent of consumers rather than producers.

For as long as we have unequal and unfair trade agreements, immigration from Africa to Europe and elsewhere will remain a problem, because let’s face it, who doesn’t want a better life that would enable them to provide for their family?

It is time that these causes are addressed, because it would ultimately be a positive for all parties and Africa would probably stop depending on foreign aid to provide for their citizens.

Are Namibian women holding themselves back?

It is one thing to strive towards achieving a 50/50 women representation, but it does not mean anything if women only hold positions of low stature where they are unable to influence the decision making process.

Often times, the statistics that are used to support the progress towards equal representation are taken at face value, but when examined in greater detail, one realizes that it is the men who are still in control.

This continuous trend of the dominant men is probably due to our social construct that has created or conditioned an unconscious bias, in both men and women, that men are better leaders than women. When we think of leaders, we think of men.  This explains why women who are in power and those aspiring to higher positions in society are treated with contempt and disrespect.  

Coming back to the statistics, take for example the data on parliamentary representation which seems to have become a benchmark for a country’s progress on gender equality and representation. When you take a closer look at some of these data, you discover that most women are just mere members of parliament (MP) or deputy ministers, positions that are considered insignificant. The same goes for the public and private sectors, where the term ‘management’ is overemphasized to make it look as if women representation is substantial, when in actual fact, the women hold low ranking management positions while the majority of senior level positions are occupied by men. Sometimes, some positions are deliberately reclassified into the management category to beef up the numbers, for the sake of compliance and public relations.

As a Namibia, I was disappointed that the women’s wing of the ruling party failed to back or put forward a female Presidential candidate for the 2017 Presidential elections, because they felt that no one was ready to challenge the nominated male nominee. So disappointing that women don’t have confidence in themselves and don’t support those who are willing to take up the challenge.

This happens everywhere in the world, with the best example of Hilary Clinton who was Presidential candidate for the Democratic Party in the 2016 Presidential elections. The harsh criticism she received from many, including those in her own party was based more on our social bias towards women leaders, because I am pretty sure that had she been a man, she would have made it into the oval office. We all saw how her opponent who despite his racist and misogynistic views, his divisive rhetoric and disrespect for anyone, but himself, not to mention his lack of experience, didn’t seem to matter to people. Again, it all comes down to our social bias, social conditioning, generational bias of what a leader is, especially in public office. Traditionally, when we think of leaders, we think of dominance, confidence, forcefulness and a no-nonsense attitude, characters that her opponent demonstrated and is known for.  Had he been a woman, he probably would not have made it to the Presidency.

Yes, there has been significant progress in gender equality, women’s rights and women representation in key decision roles, but it is a progress that is moving at a slow pace, because of women who are doubtful of their own capabilities and the capabilities of their female counterparts to lead at the upmost top.

It is possible to break the glass ceiling completely and have an even playing field, but it is up to the women to fight for what is theirs.