http://allafrica.com/stories/201403312450.html



Africa: Botswana's Hunting Ban - Bushmen Starve, Trophy Hunters Carry On

31 MARCH 2014


PRESS RELEASE

Bushmen hunting with spear, for food. 'You talk to him and look into his eyes. And then he knows he must give you his strength so your children can live.'

Is this an April Fool or not? Go to the bottom to find out

Botswana's President Khama has banned all hunting nationwide, even for Bushmen who hunt to feed their families - but an exception is being made for trophy hunters paying up to $8,000 to hunt giraffes and zebras.

Wealthy tourists are being invited to travel to Botswana to hunt big game on private ranches that have been exempted from the ban. But Bushmen from Botswana's Central Kalahari Game Reserve, who have hunted with spears, bows and arrows for millennia, are being arrested, beaten and jailed for subsistence hunting.

The ban openly flouts Botswana's landmark high court ruling in 2006, which upheld the Bushmen's right to hunt on their ancestral land in the reserve.

In February President Khama was an honoured guest at a global anti-poaching conference in London, alongside Prince Charles and Prince William. The initiative resulted in the launch of Prince William's United for Wildlife, drawing together seven big conservation organizations, including US-based Conservation International (CI). President Khama is a CI board member.

Bushmen put on staged 'hunts' for tourists, but in reality have now been banned from hunting.

© Botswana Tourism/www.botswanatourism.co.bw

Although some communities affected by the 2014 ban have been offered food parcels, the reserve's Bushmen have been left to starve, without any assistance from the government. Perversely, the Botswana Tourism Organization uses images of hunting Bushmen to attract tourists, especially big game hunters. Survival has called for a boycott of tourism to Botswana.

The depth of meaning that hunting has for tribal peoples like the Bushmen was explained by Bushman leader Roy Sesana: 'I grew up as a hunter. All our boys and men were hunters. Hunting is going and talking to the animals. You don't steal. You go and ask. You set a trap or go with bow and spear. It can take days. You track the antelope. He knows you are there, he knows he has to give you strength. But he runs and you have to run. As you run, you become like him. It can last hours and exhaust you both. You talk to him and look into his eyes. And then he knows he must give you his strength so your children can live'.

Hunting for food is now banned in Botswana, but trophy hunting by wealthy foreigners is allowed.

© Public Domain

Survival's Director Stephen Corry recently exposed how the conservation movement was founded by proponents of eugenics and other extreme-right theories; and that the first national parks were established on the lands of indigenous peoples after their eviction.

Stephen Corry said today, 'Banning hunting in order to feed your family, but allowing the wealthy to hunt for trophies, plays to a lobby still rooted in racist beliefs about tribal peoples' inferiority. The national park movement entailed the enforced eviction, often the complete destruction, of the tribes who lived off the land. Satellite imagery now proves that many tribal peoples are the world's best conservationists, yet they're still being destroyed. It's not 'conservation'; it's just an old colonial crime, and it's time the responsible organizations opposed it. Instead, they hide behind hollow policies, while continuing to support governments guilty of such inhuman behaviour.'

Answer: this is NOT an April Fool

Yes, go and consult with Piss Charles and Piss William
That will solve all the problems.
Those high and mighty " Nobles " play Know it all " all the times.
Spare me, please.
Why they can't let them guys hunt for subsistence?
Come up with tag system and quotas and be done with it.

Having hunted in Botswana with Bushmen i have never seen more gentle people who care for their children. Further, they are some of the best conservationists alive. Another African despot at work. The Bushmen will not stop hunting.

Truly a real tragedy.

When the Ape's run the zoo

quote:

President Khama

This guy is just a bloody black rasist he hates the san/bush People and does all he can to make them suffer more!!!!

quote:

The Bushmen will not stop hunting.

You are right.
It's a matter of survival & I would do the same & woe be unto him that tried to stop me.

Funny how so many people speak of "indigenous peoples" as if they're somehow different from the rest of us.

quote:

Originally posted by SteveGl:
Funny how so many people speak of "indigenous peoples" as if they're somehow different from the rest of us.

In the case of the San, they are. they are Africa's original inhabitants. Not that the average black African would be willing to admit to that.

And not that I expect you to be able to appreciate that even remotely, either. Move to Africa. Live here for a while. See how things really work. THEN start throwing rocks and being a smart-arse.

quote:

Stephen Corry said today, 'Banning hunting in order to feed your family, but allowing the wealthy to hunt for trophies, plays to a lobby still rooted in racist beliefs about tribal peoples' inferiority. The national park movement entailed the enforced eviction, often the complete destruction, of the tribes who lived off the land. Satellite imagery now proves that many tribal peoples are the world's best conservationists, yet they're still being destroyed. It's not 'conservation'; it's just an old colonial crime, and it's time the responsible organizations opposed it. Instead, they hide behind hollow policies, while continuing to support governments guilty of such inhuman behaviour.'

----------------------------------------------
The fact that wealthy hunters are shooting animals for trophies on game ranches has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the bushmen are being denied the right to hunt on reserves. This is an apples and oranges argument that is intended to cater to ignorant race sympathizers.

Nobody is being allowed to hunt on the reserves, regardless of race or tribe. I am all in favor of granting the bushmen the right to subsistence hunting on tribal lands, and in fact I am all in favor of regulated hunting by others as well. But the argument at hand should not be taken as a black/white issue. This is indeed racial and tribal but I imagine very few whites are happy with the way things have developed outside of the ranch areas. Khama drank the Koolaid and wants to put an end to all hunting and just because the ranch hunts were spared does not mean that they will not be targeted next.

quote:

Originally posted by jvw375:

quote:

Originally posted by SteveGl:
Funny how so many people speak of "indigenous peoples" as if they're somehow different from the rest of us.

In the case of the San, they are. they are Africa's original inhabitants. Not that the average black African would be willing to admit to that.

And not that I expect you to be able to appreciate that even remotely, either. Move to Africa. Live here for a while. See how things really work. THEN start throwing rocks and being a smart-arse.

Uhm ... at whom do you imagine that I am throwing rocks?

That's what I was wondering.


Dutch

I've hunted with San trackers in Namibia. A more simple, peaceful people would be hard to imagine, but they have been abused by Bantus who invaded their country centuries ago, as well as colonial Europeans in the last couple of centuries.

Seems like little changes in Africa. But a lot has changed with the Bushmen and I fear that their culture is doomed to extinction.

They will never be a polical force. And, the Bantu regimes will never protect their interests.

http://news.yahoo.com/botswana...versy-152429820.html



Botswana diamond mine to open amid controversy
AFP
5 hours ago



Gaborone (Botswana) (AFP) - Botswana's government has come under fire over the building of a diamond mine with deposits worth $4.9 billion, which President Ian Khama is scheduled to open on Friday.

Khama will inaugurate the Ghaghoo Mine in the country's Central Kalahari Game Reserve, on the ancestral land of the Bushmen who have been evicted from the area.

"The official opening ... is tomorrow morning. His Excellency President Ian Khama will officially open the mine," said Ghaghoo's Batlhalefi Leagajang.

Botswana is one of the world's largest diamond producers, and the Ghaghoo mine is expected to yield more than 20 million carats, making it one of the world's largest mines.

Botswana's government has brushed off criticism of the evictions, saying the proceeds will be used to provide better schools and health facilities for Bushmen outside the reserve.

But the criticism intensified on Thursday, with rights group Survival International accusing the government of a "relentless push" to drive the Bushmen off their land.

"The Botswana government has repeatedly denied that the illegal and forced evictions of the Kalahari Bushmen ... were due to the rich diamond deposits," Survival International said.

"It justified the Bushmen's evictions from the land in the name of 'conservation'."

"The mine opening has ... exposed Botswana's commitment to conservation as window dressing."

The Bushmen have won a series of cases against the government, and several hundred of the thousands expelled have been allowed to return.

But activists say their life is made difficult for the returnees, who are treated like poachers for hunting food.

quote:

Originally posted by Kathi:
http://news.yahoo.com/botswana...versy-152429820.html



Botswana diamond mine to open amid controversy
AFP
5 hours ago



Gaborone (Botswana) (AFP) - Botswana's government has come under fire over the building of a diamond mine with deposits worth $4.9 billion, which President Ian Khama is scheduled to open on Friday.

Khama will inaugurate the Ghaghoo Mine in the country's Central Kalahari Game Reserve, on the ancestral land of the Bushmen who have been evicted from the area.

"The official opening ... is tomorrow morning. His Excellency President Ian Khama will officially open the mine," said Ghaghoo's Batlhalefi Leagajang.

Botswana is one of the world's largest diamond producers, and the Ghaghoo mine is expected to yield more than 20 million carats, making it one of the world's largest mines.

Botswana's government has brushed off criticism of the evictions, saying the proceeds will be used to provide better schools and health facilities for Bushmen outside the reserve.

But the criticism intensified on Thursday, with rights group Survival International accusing the government of a "relentless push" to drive the Bushmen off their land.

"The Botswana government has repeatedly denied that the illegal and forced evictions of the Kalahari Bushmen ... were due to the rich diamond deposits," Survival International said.

"It justified the Bushmen's evictions from the land in the name of 'conservation'."

"The mine opening has ... exposed Botswana's commitment to conservation as window dressing."

The Bushmen have won a series of cases against the government, and several hundred of the thousands expelled have been allowed to return.

But activists say their life is made difficult for the returnees, who are treated like poachers for hunting food.

Huge surprise there...

I fear the Bushman culture is doomed. They must hunt if it is to survive. But recently, they too have been influenced by western culture and that is truly a negative thing for them.