Media and Resistance Politics in Namibia: The Alternative Press in Namibia, 1960-1990. Heuva, William. Basel, Switzerland: Schlettwein Publishing, 2001. 166 pp. 

Print/Download PDF

William Heuva’s 2001 publication is part of The Basel Namibia Studies Series launched in 1997 by Schlettwein publishing. The objective of the series is “to make research results on Namibia accessible and known to a new generation of Namibian readers in particular and to the international research community in general.” (p.ix). Heuva, a journalist by profession, presents a comprehensive historical analysis of the advent and development of the alternative press in Namibia. This historical extrapolation of the alternative press in Namibia focuses on the objectives, institutional character, economics, and ideology of the alternative press in Namibia prior to the attainment of political independence from the forces of imperialism and colonialism. The Namibian alternative press was a fragmented group as it addressed different issues affecting the colonized Namibians. This press was made up of early nationalist, community, labor, church, and student press.

The study provides an account of the emergence and use of the alternative means of mass communication by the Namibian people against the colonizers. The study also analyzed the major alternative press focusing on aims and objectives, content, language and messages transmitted and the context under which they emerged.

The first of four sections of the book explores the historical emergence, development, and aims of the alternative press as well as the roles of the intellectuals in establishing the alternative press. The author focuses on the nationalist, church, community and the progressive-independent press, explaining the major issues that affected the targeted groups. The nationalist press was a brainchild of the intellectuals emerging from the colonized bloc. The South West News was the dominant paper in this category and was used to champion the emerging Black Nationalism in Namibia. The introduction of liberation theology transformed the church press as it began to challenge the dominant apartheid ideology. The political theology that emerged in the church press was opposed to the conservative values of the apartheid system. The community press communicated grassroots issues, especially community struggles against the apartheid system. The progressive-independent press voiced the aspirations of the colonized people at a national level. Even though the alternative press was fragmented, they managed to provide a voice against the entrenched apartheid system. 

The second section dwells on the institutional character of the alternative press and examines the key themes of ownership, control and structure, journalistic practice and target audience and news source. The alternative press was owned and controlled by forces oppositional to the hegemonic block of the state. This created a leeway for the alternative press to unabashedly develop and advance the anti-apartheid discourse.  The libertarian and democratic-participant theoretical perspectives characterized the alternative press. There was lack of clear-cut bureaucratic structure at most of these alternative presses and this entailed a collective responsibility among activists in the production and distribution of the press.  The media activists in the alternative press practiced ‘advocacy journalism’: fair and balanced news presentation was not their main driving force due to their role in the struggle against apartheid system. In Heuva’s words, these media activists were “functionaries of their people’s hegemonic struggle… (hence) could not be neutral, impartial and objective in the process” (80). The news sources of most of these publications were leaders of the progressive movements and individual activists within these movements. Their targeted audience was a broader spectrum of the colonized people of Namibia.

The third and fourth sections focus on the political economy and the content and language of the private press respectively. Funding and distribution (and how they affected the content and distribution of the alternative press) were the major themes explored. While the mainstream press was profit-oriented and catered for the dominant elites, the alternative press was essentially not for profit and provided a platform to challenge the oppressive apartheid system. Financing of the alternative press was donor-centered since the inherent contents were not politically correct and thus did not attract advertising: what was omitted in the mainstream press found coverage in the alternative press. 

Although Heuva deals with complex material regarding the alternative press as a site for resistance against the oppressive apartheid, his writing is concise and logical. His main thesis that the anti-apartheid presses were alternative in nature to the mainstream colonial press is well developed and well supported. The purpose of these alternative publications was to provide a counter narrative to the grand propaganda provided by the elites to justify the apartheid system. Thus the targeted oppositional readership was provided with alternative symbols and means of receiving and imparting information about the socio-cultural, economic and political reality under apartheid. This was from the prism of the oppressed, hence it was racially and class centered.

The study utilizes a theoretical framework that draws from critical cultural studies, the Latin American left press and the South African alternative press of the 1980s. What is common among these three approaches is that they “address the creation of symbols of resistance and alternative means of communication by dominated groups in society, in their struggle against the dominant bloc.” (8). This framework provides us with tools to analyze the production and circulation of the alternative messages that serve to counteract the status quo. The major thrust of this framework, as espoused by John Fiske, is that meaning is essentially contested and provides a site for struggle between the dominant bloc and the marginalized group in the society. The dominant group tries to ‘naturalize’ the meanings that advance their interests while the marginalized resist them.

The author employs indepth interview and document analysis for his data collection. The in-depth interviews were conducted with Namibian elites (intellectuals, editors and journalists) who worked for the alternative press. The document reviews supplemented the in-depth interviews in providing the history and context surrounding the emergence of the alternative press. Secondary materials in the form of books were utilized to support the interviews and documents reviewed. The author also used qualitative content analysis of the alternative press to assess the type of news articles and content that dominated these papers. Thus, the author had at his disposal a substantial array of data gathering techniques.

Heuva’s study serves to successfully provide a comprehensive historical and analytical account of the advent and development of the alternative press in Namibia. His work is-and will be-of tremendous value to scholars and students of many disciplines such as media, cultural studies, history and anyone interested in the theoretical perspectives of alternative press as well as its origins, structure, role, and language in Namibia. Heuva’s simple but effective language makes the book even more interesting to read.

Wence Kaswoswe
Ohio University