Namibia, Rising from Blood and Tears, and the True Humanitarian Respect Demonstrated by the Chinese President

Jul 14, 2026 at 12:15 PM

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Lanka Leader

I came across this article shared on Facebook by Sagara Deyagama and found myself reading it from beginning to end. It was a story I had never heard before—a story about Namibia that, in many ways, also resonates with us and is deeply relevant to Sri Lanka.

From here onward is the excerpt:

"There are certain images that, at first glance, strike directly at our hearts and leave us lost in deep thought. That is exactly how I felt when I saw this remarkable photograph.

In this picture stands the leader of one of the world's most powerful nations economically, politically, and militarily—the President of China, Xi Jinping.

Walking proudly beside him, with remarkable dignity and composure, is the President of Namibia, a small nation on the African continent that has inherited an exceptionally tragic and painful history.

The scene of the two leaders walking together on the red carpet during a grand state welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing is far more than an ordinary diplomatic event.

It is a powerful display of one of the world's strongest countries treating the leader of a much smaller nation as an equal. Witnessing such respect evokes a profound sense of admiration.

Looking at the Namibian President in this photograph takes us back some 120 years.

During the late nineteenth century, around 1884, amid the scramble by Western powers to divide Africa among themselves, present-day Namibia became part of the German Empire.

At that time, the territory was known as German South West Africa.

In 1904, the indigenous Herero and Nama peoples rose in rebellion against German colonial rule, which had seized their ancestral lands and reduced them to servitude.

In response, German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II dispatched the notoriously brutal General Lothar von Trotha to suppress the uprising.

Once there, he issued what has become one of the most horrifying orders in recorded history—the Extermination Order.

How was this cruel order carried out?

German troops surrounded the Herero and Nama people and drove them into the deadly desert. They then poisoned the few available water sources, leaving the fleeing population with no means of survival.

Tens of thousands of innocent men, women, and children perished in the desert, dying of thirst, starvation, and the scorching heat.

Yet the suffering did not end there.

Those who survived were confined to what are regarded as some of the world's earliest concentration camps. There they were subjected to forced labour, starvation, disease, sexual abuse, and brutal medical experiments.

Historians widely regard these events as the first genocide of the twentieth century."

More than 80% of the Herero population—over 65,000 people—were killed in this atrocity beyond human comprehension. More than 50% of the Nama population, amounting to over 10,000 people, was also exterminated.

Perhaps the most appalling aspect of this tragedy was that hundreds of skulls of deceased Namibians were taken to Europe by German scientists to conduct pseudo-scientific experiments. Their aim was to "prove" the racist theory that Black people were an inferior race to White people by measuring their skulls.

While the world has long spoken about what Hitler did to the Jews, these horrific crimes committed in Africa remained largely absent from history books for decades.

It took Germany more than a century to officially recognize these atrocities as genocide.

It is from such a past—from such an ocean of blood, tears, and unimaginable suffering—that Namibia emerged.

As Sri Lankans, we perhaps understand this pain better than many others. Have you ever heard about the devastation inflicted upon our own country by the British during the 1818 Uva–Wellassa Rebellion?

Every male over the age of eighteen was reportedly killed. Paddy fields were burned, irrigation tanks and dams destroyed, homes and livestock wiped out, leaving the entire Uva Province in ruins.

This was the pattern of Western imperialism across the world.

Even today, many Western countries continue to view African and Asian nations as inferior societies that need to be "civilized" and remain dependent upon them.

Through institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, they attach conditions to loans and seek to influence the domestic politics of developing countries.

When leaders from countries like ours meet Western leaders, the relationship often appears more like that of a master and a servant.

Yet the image before us presents a completely different picture.

China today is one of the world's leading powers, increasingly challenging even the United States.

Nevertheless, its President receives the leader of Namibia—a nation of fewer than three million people—as an equal, sovereign, and dignified head of state.

That respect and civility represent what the author describes as true humanitarianism.

That respect and that sense of civility are what the author describes as true humanitarianism.

Many people may ask why China pays so much attention to Africa. The answer lies not merely in contemporary politics but in a much longer shared history.

China and the African continent are linked by a common legacy of anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggle.

During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, as African nations fought to free themselves from Western colonial rule, the United States and many European countries often labeled these liberation movements as "terrorism."

China, despite itself suffering from severe poverty at the time, provided African liberation movements with weapons, financial assistance, and moral support.

China also supported SWAPO, the movement that led Namibia's struggle for independence.

Furthermore, when the United Nations held the historic vote to recognize the People's Republic of China as China's legitimate representative in place of Taiwan, many African nations voted in China's favour.

Chairman Mao Zedong later remarked, "It was our African brothers who carried us into the United Nations."

Today, through the Belt and Road Initiative, China is helping construct highways, railways, ports, airports, and hospitals across Africa.

While Western powers extracted Africa's resources—including gold, diamonds, and copper—for over a century, they left behind little permanent infrastructure.

China, may also be pursuing its own economic interests, but does so in a way that promotes mutual development and mutual respect.

Looking at this photograph, we cannot remain indifferent. Sri Lanka, too, is an important member of the Global South.

During the historic United Nations vote of 25 October 1971, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), together with many African countries, voted in favour of recognizing the People's Republic of China as the sole legitimate representative of China.

Sri Lanka not only voted accordingly but was also among the countries that actively advocated China's admission to the United Nations.

Against the backdrop of Sri Lanka's current economic challenges, debt burden, and external pressures, the author believes there are important lessons to be drawn from this image.

The author notes that Sri Lanka has yet to establish even a commission to investigate the destruction caused during the Uva–Wellassa Rebellion and the seizure of land for plantation agriculture under British rule.

While Namibia eventually succeeded in persuading Germany to officially acknowledge the genocide committed against its people, the author argues that Sri Lanka has not similarly pressed Britain to confront its own colonial legacy.

Namibia, however, continues to seek reparations from Germany because it has not forgotten what happened to its ancestors.

"Remember, a nation that forgets its history has no future."

When Western countries criticize Sri Lanka over human rights issues in Geneva, Sri Lanka should also remind them of the atrocities committed by their own colonial predecessors.

Finally, let us return once again to this remarkable photograph.

It conveys a profound humanitarian message that transcends politics.

A person should respect another not because of wealth, power, or physical size, but because every human being possesses the same flesh and blood, the same tears, and the same heart.

Relations among nations, the author argues, should be guided by the same principle.

A country should not be marginalized simply because it is small, poor, or has suffered greatly in the past.

The image of President Xi Jinping walking beside the President of Namibia on the red carpet, amid full military honours at the Great Hall of the People, is portrayed as a symbolic challenge to the imperial mindset of the West.

It is the emergence of a new era in which every individual, every culture, and every sovereign nation is entitled to equal rights and equal dignity.

Such scenes, the author concludes, offer hope for the future and symbolize a world gradually moving away from imperial domination toward one founded upon humanity, mutual respect, cooperation, and greater justice.

End of excerpt.

Thank you for this thought-provoking article.

(Adapted from a Facebook post by Lal de Alwis.)