The propaganda war
The propaganda war

The propaganda war

Ashley Smith
Some of those writing the long and winding tales of western imperialism, laced with former apartheid president PW Botha and an array of other characters designed to besmirch parties and presidential candidates, would be better suited to Nollywood scriptwriting.

We encourage you to take your creative talents and use them to their fullest to write science fiction.

Look, we know some political masters are getting desperate ahead of next Wednesday's general election, but the stuff that is currently being spewed on social media and other platforms must rank right up there with the writing associated with Tinky-Winky, Dipsy, Laa Laa and Po, known as the Teletubbies, who frolic and play in the idyllic Teletubbyland.

The propaganda is reminiscent of the late Robert Mugabe in his heyday or former South African president Jacob Zuma's furious “intelligence report” scribbling that lacked, err, intelligence.

This election is a watershed one in so many ways, so any party that thinks it can use western ideology as a whipping boy, or somehow link it to opponents, has definitely lost the plot.

It is disgusting in every sense of the word when instead of fighting in the trenches of issues, you would want to harken back to the days when Namibians and foreigners were shooting and bombing each other in strange countries.

This is the kind of dangerous politics that any lover of true democratic process would give a wide berth. These nonsensical nitwits who perhaps think they will win a tender with their purple prose are playing with forces they have no idea of.

How can you take simple political contestation and turn it into a conspiracy that connects with the liberation struggle and the ideologies of that time, when Namibia has embraced a new beginning? Perhaps it is the epitome of laziness and perhaps fear that is driving this kind of rhetoric. Be that as it may, your fictional fantasies are hurting the battle of ideas, which is what this election should be all about.

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Namibian Sun 2024-05-19

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