The Unforgiving Land – Basis for a Post Liberation Programme in Namibia

SUMMARY Namibia's independence will pose a number of challenges to its first government. History, ecology, the structure of productive forces and the mode of production have imposed constraints and a need for change. The degree of freedom available is very limited. ‘Gradualism’ and ‘moderation’ are no longer viable options because of the course of the liberation struggle and of the efforts to repress it. Initial priorities are examined including maintenance of production in key industries and expansion of provision of basic services. These are also reviewed in terms of SWAPOs political programme goals which appear to be potentially consistent with a workable transitional strategy. RÉSUMÉ Le pays sans pardon. Base pour un programme d'après la libération pour la Namibie L'indépendance de la Namibie va poser un certain nombre de problèmes à son premier gouvernement. L'histoire, l'écologie, la structure des forces productrices et le mode de production ont imposé des contraintes et la nécessité d'un changement. Le degré de liberté possible est très limité. Le ‘gradualisme’ et la ‘modération’ ne sont plus des solutions viables en raison du déroulement de la lutte pour la libération et des efforts pour la réprimer. L'article examine les priorités au nombre desquelles le maintien de la production dans les industries clef et le développement du système assurant les services de base. Ceux?ci sont également envisagés dans le cadre des objectifs du programme politique de SWAPO qui semblent pouvoir s'accorder avec une stratégie de transition susceptible de réussir. RESUMEN La tierra que no perdona. Las bases de un programa posterior a la liberación en Namibia La independencia de Namibia planteará numerosas disyuntivas a su primer gobierno. La historia, la ecología, le estructure de les fuerzas de producción y el modo de producir han impuesto restricciones y exigen el cambio. El grado de libertad disponible es muy limitedo. El ‘gradualismo’ y la ‘moderación’ ya no son alternativas viables debido al curso tornado por la luche de libereción y e los esfuerzos para reprimirle. Se examinan las prioridades iniciales, que incluyen el mantenimiento de la producción en industrias clave y la expansión de la disponibilidad de servicios básicos. También se examinan estas prioridades en relación con los objectivos del programa político de SWAPO que parece tener consistencia probable con una estrategia pragmática de transición

Model and experiences of initiating collaboration with traditional healers in validation of ethnomedicines for HIV/AIDS in Namibia

Many people with Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) in Namibia have access to antiretroviral drugs but some still use traditional medicines to treat opportunistic infections and offset side-effects from antiretroviral medication. Namibia has a rich biodiversity of indigenous plants that could contain novel anti-HIV agents. However, such medicinal plants have not been identified and properly documented. Various ethnomedicines used to treat HIV/AIDS opportunistic infections have not been scientifically validated for safety and efficacy. These limitations are mostly attributable to the lack of collaboration between biomedical scientists and traditional healers. This paper presents a five-step contextual model for initiating collaboration with Namibian traditional healers in order that candidate plants that may contain novel anti-HIV agents are identified, and traditional medicines used to treat HIV/AIDS opportunistic infections are subjected to scientific validation. The model includes key structures and processes used to initiate collaboration with traditional healers in Namibia; namely, the National Biosciences Forum, a steering committee with the University of Namibia (UNAM) as the focal point, a study tour to Zambia and South Africa where other collaborative frameworks were examined, commemorations of the African Traditional Medicine Day (ATMD), and consultations with stakeholders in north-eastern Namibia. Experiences from these structures and processes are discussed. All traditional healers in north-eastern Namibia were willing to collaborate with UNAM in order that their traditional medicines could be subjected to scientific validation. The current study provides a framework for future collaboration with traditional healers and the selection of candidate anti-HIV medicinal plants and ethnomedicines for scientific testing in Namibia

The elephant in the room? Problematizing ‘new’ (neoliberal) biodiversity conservation

As argued recently in Forum for Development Studies, a ‘back to the barriers’ approach to biodiversity conservation is again prevalent, after some two decades of emphasis on ‘community-based’ initiatives. This involves the establishment and expansion of national parks from which people are variously excluded. In this article, however, I suggest that community-based approaches such as Community-Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) remain important, and in many ways simply constitute the other side of the same coin of modern conservation practice under the political and economic, and cultural, value-frame of neoliberalism. My aim is to highlight some shared conceptualisations and rationalisations regarding perceptions of ‘the environment’ and of people–environment relationships that inform both of these two broad-brush policy and practical orientations towards ‘biodiversity conservation’. The article thus draws on a Foucaultian analytics to ‘problematise’ the contemporary and globalising neoliberal episteme within which both these approaches are produced; and to open a space where orientations (towards ‘the environment’) that are ‘othered’ and thereby silenced by this frame might be articulated