How the Affirmative Reposition (AR) Movement in Namibia has applied the Populist-Socialist ideology in its fight for provision of urban land.

Introduction

Affirmative Reposition Movement is a radical movement of Landless urban youth in Namibia which aims at improving the socio-economic being of the youth at large. THE Affirmative Repositioning (AR) Movement is not a political party. Far from it. It is not even an aspiration thereto. The AR Movement is a response to an aching issue our Government has dismally failed to address, the situation of the elite black bourgeoisie fraction of the fortunate minority who grew, and continue to grow, from some corrupt and opportunistic class of the politically well- connected. (Hangula, 2016). In its effort to achieve its goal the AR Movement have employed some populist-socialist ideologies which have made its efforts to enjoy popular support from urban youth. The following discussion will look at how AR has manged to take the populist-socialist pathway through giving relevant examples of the activities it has involved in and paralleling them with features of populist-socialist ideology which are outlined by Guy Martin in his book Africa Political Thought, 2012.

Background of the Affirmative Reposition Movement

Affirmative Reposition came to life On the 9th  November 2014, when Amupanda, Kambala and Nauyoma cleared land which they named "Erf number 2014" in Windhoek's affluent Kleine Kuppe suburb, stating high rental prices in town and nepotism in the municipality as reasons for their actions. The action was widely seen as illegal land grabbing. Amupanda, who was  Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL)'s Secretary for Information, Publicity and Mobilisation at that time and also served in the youth wing's executive committee, resigned his positions shortly before all three activists were expelled from SWAPO for their actions.(Mongudhi, 2015). This was the beginning of a new dawn in Namibia that was never seen since attainment of independence. The movement has managed to gather the support of many urban youth through their message that is appealing to this rejuvenated generation fighting for economic independence through provision of Land.

What is Populist-socialist ideology?

Populist-socialist ideology is a developmental doctrine that calls for direct control of means of production by citizens of a country; these are labour, land, and capital. It is also an ideology comprising of three dimensions these are accountability, decentralisation and political education (Martin, 2012) which combine national sentiment with radical politics. These dimensions have large popular support hence the populist nature. This ideology has (5) foundational feature as elaborated by Martin, these are (1) Radical Nationalism, (2) Radical Mood, (3) Anti-capitalism, (4) Populism and exaltation of the peasantry and (5) adherence to moderate form of socialism. These are going to be explained and further juxtaposed with Affirmative Reposition activities as the way to exhibit how they apply the populist-socialist ideology.

How AR has applied the Populist-Socialist ideology

To begin with the first feature of a Populist-socialist ideology, which is Radical Nationalism, it can be best explained in John Kennedy words  “Ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country.” This is a classic definition of radical nationalism as it calls for people to put behind personal interests for the National cause. This was depicted when the AR movement led a youth March on the 16^th of June 2016. Despite the statement by chief superintendent of the Namibian Police force to ban marches between 15 and 18 of June due to international events in Windhoek the AR managed to stage a robust march on which they were against building of a new parliament saying that it is too expensive and at the expense of the youth, they called the government to focus on more eminent issues like housing. (Angula, 2016). This was a true sign of Radical Nationalism as they are putting things that will only benefit the legislature behind and putting the needs of the people ahead. Thus from this analysis it is clear that the AR is applying the populist-socialist ideology in its fight for the provision of land.

A radical mood is defined as a feeling or belief of taking things into extremes so that they go the way a person or a group desires. This has been envisaged by the AR movement through its vow to drag the Namibian government to court for not implementing rent control as agreed during a meeting earlier this year. The AR and government agreed during a meeting at State House on 11 April that rent control regulations would be put in place.  AR leader Job Amupanda said in a statement yesterday that they had highlighted to government that they have a duty to apply section 33 of the Estate Agents Act 11 of 1976, but government had failed to do so. (Shapwanale, 2016). This is indeed a radical mood as they are going to the extremes of taking the highest office to the court due to the failure to meet its demands. This was a way to make housing rent affordable and subsequently leading to low housing prices. Thus from this assessment it can be depicted that the AR movement is by all means applying the populist-socialist ideology.in its fight for the provision of urban land.

Anti-capitalism encompasses a wide variety of movements, ideas and attitudes that oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists, in the strict sense of the word, are those who wish to replace capitalism with a moneyless society or with another type of economic system. Anti-capitalism is more of Socialism which advocates public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals, with an egalitarian method of compensation. (Newman, 2005). This has been noted with AR as it denounces the tendencies of the ruling elite to feed their bellies at the expense of the populace. AR is a grievance movement about policy inadequacies in the governance of the commons. In this case, access to land. It is why it rose in intensity in the Windhoek enclosure at a time when the media revealed dubious land deals at the City of Windhoek. Thus we see AR being against private ownership of land which is the flagship of capitalist system, thus AR denouncing such act shows that they are applying the populist-socialist ideology in the fight for provision of Urban Land.

Moving on, Guy Martin comes up with the fourth feature of a populist-socialist ideology which is Populism and Exaltation of the peasantry. Populism is coming up with policies that enjoy popular conformity and following and exaltation of the poor is about poverty eradication by means that improve people’s livelihoods. Affirmative Reposition are focused on representing the poor youth in Namibia without land by offering legal assistance and financial assistance which has significantly resulted in a lot of youth acquiring land, this was noticed when Job Amupanda intervened in Otjumuise this year when City of Windhoek demolished shacks there, we later see his dragging the city to court in which the AR won the case.. (Katjiuanjo, n,d). by AR standing for the poor giving them legal assistance shows how much they are willing to deliver. In the end AR is indeed applying the ideologies of the populist-socialsit ideology.

Lastly, Guy Martin presents us with the fifth perspective, which is adherence to social democracy and moderate form of socialism. Social democracy is an ideological stance that supports a broad balance between market capitalism, on the one hand, and state intervention, on the other hand. Being based on a compromise between the market and the state, social democracy lacks a systematic underlying theory and is, arguably, inherently vague. It is nevertheless associated with the following views. (Heywood, 2012). This is noted when the government promised the AR 200 000 serviced land plots at the state house, which was a result of an ultimatum by the AR movement to take action. Conclusively we see an employment of populist-socialist ideology in its fight for urban land.

Conclusion

The above essay has managed to come up with the similarities of features of Populist-socialist ideology and the activities of the AR which has managed to show how this movement has been applying such an ideology. The essay went further to highlight how the influence of a populist-socialist ideology has had an effect on how AR carries out its routine tasks which have made it the biggest mass peaceful demonstrations to be heard off since 1990. To this end it clear that though AR is not necessarily a movement based on populist-socialist ideology, it also borrow some ideals from this concept of governance.

References

1.      Martin, G. (2012). African Political Thought. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

2.      Newman, M. (2005) Socialism: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

3.      Heywood, A. (2012). Politics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan

4.      Hangula, T, N. (2016, January 28). Affirmative Reposition; A Breakdown. Confidente, C & A Letters.

5.      Mongudhi, T. (2015, July 20). Tit for Tat expulsions, as Swapo expels Ngarure, others. The Namibian, p.1

6.      Angula, S. (2016, June 09). Katali weighs on new parliament. The Observer. Retrieved from http://www.observer.com.na/index.php/sports/item/6340-katali-weighs-in-on-new-parliament last accessed on 04.09.2017

7.      Swapanale, N. (2016, August 16). Affirmative Reposition Vows to drag the government to court. The Namibian. P.5

8.      Hengari, A, T. (2016, March 21). Reposition Affirmative Reposition into republican reasoning. The Namibian. P.7

9.      Katjiuanjo, J, K. (n.d). Shakes demolished by City of Windhoek. Swapo party. Retrieved from http://www.swapoparty.org/shacks_demolished_by_city_of_windhoek.html last accessed on 04.09.2017.