Green Hydrogen from Namibia: 8 October 2025, 18:30, taz Kantine (Friedrichstr. 21, U Halle’sches Tor)
Admission free
In Namibia, the German military committed the first genocide of the 20th century. To this day, the German government has evaded responsibility for this genocide, and a ‘reconciliation agreement’ has so far failed because the descendants of those affected were not allowed to sit at the negotiating table.
Namibia's focus on the green hydrogen strategy of the German government and the EU is different. Renewable energy generated there will be used for the production of hydrogen, which will then be exported to Europe. Since then, the German federal government and companies have been developing activities there that have neocolonial features. For example, the ‘Namibian’ company Hyphen, in which the German company Enertrag holds a majority shareholding together with a British partner, has been awarded the contract for a mammoth project that is resisted for historical, democratic, environmental and social reasons. It is to be built on land that belonged to the Nama before the genocide and on which today there is a unique nature reserve. The port of the nearby small town of Lüderitz is to be massively expanded for what threatens Shark Island, the memorial site to the first concentration camp under German colonial rule. Negotiations on the project were conducted in camera and without the involvement of stakeholders. Concerns about far-reaching environmental impacts are ignored, a risk analysis does not exist to this day.
The two Namibian activists Paul Thomas (Nama Traditional Leaders Association) and Tjipura Unaune Tjipura (Social and Economic Justice Trust) will discuss their criticism of the project with Armand Zorn (MdB SPD – requested) and Christina Tenkhoff (ZUG gGmbH). Inviting organisations: PowerShift, attac, medico International, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stifung
