Saturday, October 1st: MMA fights and Confronting in a Club Made for Whites

This Saturday night was a fun—yet interesting—one.

From an advertisement on Independence Avenue, I knew that the event billed as the "African Fight Night" with fighters from over six different countries was not to be missed. The venue was Sport Klub Windhoek, the traditional sport hall and fitness club for the German-Namibians. My fellow students Duncan and Aaron and I went and watched over eight fights (and even one under two-minute TKO).

Afterward, we met up with some friends and had an interesting clubbing experience. We went to Club Origin because we heard it was safe for a big group of people. I personally was quite disappointed.

While both events were entertaining, I feel as though it is important to deconstruct the racial dynamics from a historical perspective.

The MMA fight was held in a White environment in Olympia, where White Namibians live and are comfortable in. The audience ratio was about 70-30 with White as the majority and it was slightly uncomfortable that all of the fighters were either light-skinned Coloured or Black.

Meanwhile, Club Origin was 90% plus White, which is pretty startling in a country where they are less than 8% of the population. Based on my own conclusion, the crowd was mostly Germans and other Europeans on vacation in Namibia looking for a sanitized and "safe" to go out.

All in all, it left a bad taste in my mouth and I will not be returning.

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