Dialogue / Media Reports

Public outraged at KKK images in newspaper – New Era 01-07-2015

“PUBLIC OUTRAGED AT KKK IMAGES IN NEWSPAPER

2015-07-01 BY STAFF REPORTER

Walvis Bay

Hundreds of people yesterday signed an online petition demanding an apology from the organisers of the popular Kuska Karnival that was held on Saturday in Swakopmund, saying the event stirred up racism and was insensitive to the feeelings of blacks.

This follows after pictures of people dressed as Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members and some painted as black labourers appeared in the Monday edition of the German newspaper Allgemeine Zeitung.

The newspaper, the oldest in the country and Africa’s only German language daily, issued an apology on its Facebook page yesterday for what it called an “error of judgment and bad journalism”.

KKK is a racist, anti-Semitic and anti-black movement with a commitment to extreme violence to achieve its deplorable and abhorrent goals of racial segregation and white supremacy.

By yesterday about 223 people had signed an online petition circulating on the internet.
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Some said that those who entertained such images and allowed the German speakers to dress up like the KKK do not have any sympathy for those who suffered and were killed by the organisation during the 1800s and 1900s.

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Ironically, the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan in America received approval on Monday from South Carolina officials in the USA to hold a pro-Confederate flag rally, just less than two weeks after a white youth shot dead nine black people in a church.

The accused in the church shooting, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, confessed to the murders and had previously posted a racist manifesto online as well as photos of him posing with a Confederate flag, a Civil-War era banner associated with slavery and seen by many as a symbol of racist oppression.

Namibians yesterday said circulating visual material or even appearing in public by resembling the KKK is unacceptable for any Namibian regardless of their cultural background.

“We have been independent and democratic for 25 years yet we experience this offensive content in our press! We need to act, and fast. We need to stand up and call for an end to this racial insensitivity. We hereby call for a public apology from the individuals in costume, and an explanation from the organizers of the event as to how this was permitted to happen,” the online petition reads.

The petition also requests that the paper that published the picture do an inquiry into its own reaction and lack of critical response to heinous and damaging behaviour.

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When contacted for comment one of the organisers of the Kuska Karnival, Joachim von Wiedersheim, said they were aware of the uproar the pictures caused on social networks.

He said the pictures certainly do not represent the ideals and goals of the festival at all. “We are unhappy with the pictures being published. The management is currently discussing the matter and will issue a statement as soon as possible,” he assured.”