Placing Namibia's Post-Colonial/Apartheid Justice Dialogues in a Socio-historical Context (original) (raw)

Justice is the foundation for social progress (Rawls, 1999: 1). Without it, we cannot attain a good life (material and immaterial) nor abide by the ideal of living together. All virtues can only be sustained in the context of justice (Sagovsky, 2008: 106–107). Post-colonial and post-apartheid dialogues have often veered into secondary themes and made justice an appendix. I would like to argue that colonialism/apartheid happened in socio-historical contexts, therefore, dialogues of justice must happen in socio-historical contexts. Independence, for Namibia, must imply advancing the good of humans and undoing unfreedoms resulting from unjust structures. If the conditions of living and the choices that individuals and communities make are influenced by or even dependent upon the colonial/apartheid socio-economic structures, then justice-related dialogues must happen in the socio-historical context that tangibly redresses material and immaterial deprivation. Injustice does not happen in a vacuum, and neither must the dialogue of justice be reduced to philosophical, social, political, economic, or legal abstractions. In this presentation, I argue that colonialism/apartheid were systems of injustice which deprived entire communities of the agency to develop or experience life in its fullness; if we seek to redress inequalities, then we must question and dismantle the kinds of structures that presently continue to sustain colonial/apartheid legacies. I will use a critical dialogical approach to explore the notion of justice in a socio-historical context, focusing on Namibia.