Threat to Kalahari Bushmen

[twelveboar]

Did anyone else hear this on Radio 4's Today programme? You can listen to it on:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/

It sounds like the goverment of Botswana is trying to move the San people off their game reserve and into "civilisation" to provide them with schools and hospitals. Banned from accessing the Kalahari, ostensibly to control an outbreak of livestock disease, it seems a lot more sinister, with improving the lot of the Bushmen to be the least likely reason.
Given the Western political worlds complete apathy towards what happens in Africa, I don't think there is much point in saying "what can we do about it?" but I hope the members here will sympathise with their plight.

 

[Stew]

I hope the members here will sympathise with their plight.

I certainly do.

 

[jerv]

me too. that government has it the wrong way round. we need them to civilise us!

 

[Shinken]

Damn straight, it's just wrong wrong wrong

 

[nooky]

I agree its all wrong.They probably want to keep the kalahari for tourists they can make money from them, and dont worry about someones way of life.

 

[bloodline]

look on survival internationals website subscribe and they will send you regular up dates on the plight of tribal people world wide I did a sponsered walk through London a few years back and raised a few quid perhaps us bushmen wannabes could adopt this charity as they seem to be the only people in the world that want to preserve a lifestyle instead of making tribes merge with (civilisation)

 

[bloodline]

try http://www.survival-international.org/

 

[Beer Monster]

Here is the Survival International Website.

They were persecuted for years due to their race. But now something else looms on the horizon ............ Diamonds.

 

[stotRE]

Here is the Survival International Website.

They were persecuted for years due to their race. But now something else looms on the horizon ............ Diamonds.

That's it mate.

All that matters these days is money and materialism,these fat cat corporations can buy a country if its in their interest

All indidgenous people should be protected regardless of colour or creed, but how can these people defend themselves with bows and spears against dictatorships that are funded by the west.

 

[Beer Monster]

That's it mate.

All that matters these days is money and materialism,these fat cat corporations can buy a country if its in their interest

All indidgenous people should be protected regardless of colour or creed, but how can these people defend themselves with bows and spears against dictatorships that are funded by the west.

This is true in some countries but Botswana is slightly different. Botswana has a multi-party democratically elected government and is supposedly the least corrupt country in Africa (it's all relative I suppose ) and they have now realised that they cannot rely on diamonds and other mining products to last, so, they are now diversifying. However in the mean time diamond mining is still the number 1 producer and it looks as though De Beers and co may have got the better of them (even though they are putting a good spin on it with excuses about HIV prevention, schools etc)

Tourism is slowly turning into one of their major incomes. They have gazetted huge areas of land for national parks and they have aimed their tourist market at high cost low impact end of the scale. This could be the Bushmen’s saving grace. In my view the government should promote the Bushmen much more than they are with a view to getting more people to visit. The Diamonds will eventually dry up and disappear, hopefully, the bushmen won't.

 

[twelveboar]

Listening to the article, they did suggest that some diamond prospecting had been going in the Kalahari, although the government is denying this. I would be interested to find out what type of tourists they are looking to encourage, when you look at the cost of African hunting safaris and trophy fees, you can see there are some people prepared to pay BIG money for their sport.

 

[MarkB]

This issue really has me bamboozled at the moment and is the fuel for my current endeavours.

The problem is one thats been going on for thousands of years and isnt about to stop now whatever we try to do. Indigenous people are becoming extinct there is no two ways about it. but whats really being lost is the knowledge they possess.
The problem as I see it is not just that corporations and governements are taking land for money reasons but that our society, that is you and me, the Western mentality, is actually indoctrinating people and tricking them into selling out to the 'Machine' which then enslaves them as we are enslaved. None of us can live in this country without the 'Machine' now, you cannot live off the land and hope to survive anymore and all we are really doing is spreading this problem through the rest of the world rather than dealing with it at the source.

I seem to get a lot of stick when I say it but the whole Bob Geldof Live 8 thing strikes me as bad long term because all we are doing is developing people away from their indigenous ways of life by teaching them how to become slaves to said 'Machine' with handouts and progress, concrete and immortal plastic.

My personal view is we in the West need to learn and develop a better understanding of our connection to the natural world around us before it all gets concreted over and we become totally reliant on the supermarket way of life.
For this reason I am really interested in the community idea to buy woods in the UK and am hoping people here will pursue the idea for all they are worth.

Our attempts to rescue the people in other countries is doomed until we can rekindle the small flame of spiritual understanding in ourselves that is the bridge those indigenous people have connecting them to their land and to Nature and the Spirit. We see their plight as they are torn away from this and recognise it in ourselves, but then we do the wrong thing to address it.

Its us who has lost that ability and our attempts to save them I am certain will only make things worse for them. We need to save ourselves first is my conclusion which isnt something most people appreciate hearing since they enjoy TV and the comforts of fuel burning cars and large homes.

Anyway...there was a point to this and that is that my conclusions have led me to believe that I have a personal duty to try to learn the meaning behind Indigenous ways for myself and I have been working towards that for the last few years. Bushcraft and people involved in it seem to be a lot closer to that than the average person but there is still a long way to go before the Western mind gets the slap back it deserves and we start to get to grips with the spiritual core behind the indigenous world and realise it is our forgotten history and not just someone elses on some far off land who needs rescuing.

I think the best way to help is to learn it for ourselves and try to rebuild the bridge we have lost to that knowledge as an individual. Which is why I am endeavouring to give up my corporate job and head out for the new year in search of ways to achieve just that. I wont be taking a camera nor giving plastic items of the machine world to the natives I meet.

I am also a gob ****e as you may have noticed and have a lot to say on small matters but I hope you see where I am coming from on this as I am amazed how many people currently just dont and I am looking for mental support at this time to try to find a real and tangible way to do something to make things change.

I am attempting to give up my way of life in the UK to make a change to this since it has become very close to my heart so comments and the throwing of rotten tomatoes will all be welcomed ...

MB