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UPDATED: Six Bushmen arrested for hunting...FREED!
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by angryindian | September 3, 2007 at 11:46 am
499 views | 5 Recommendations | 3 comments
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For readers not aware of the dire situation of the traditional Bush communities, it is an issue of ethno-cultural survival in the face of state and economic pressure to either sink or swim. Forced relocations and cultural destruction is rampant but thanks to international organisations such as Human Rights Watch and Indigenist NGO's such as Survival International, such struggles gain attention from the world community. And as we can see from this most recent incident, the genocide of Aboriginal populations has never truly abated. - The Angryindian
From Survival International:
Twenty-one Botswana Bushmen
arrested in June and July for hunting to feed their families were
celebrating today after all charges against them were dropped.
They
appeared yesterday before a magistrate in Gantsi. After an attorney had
presented arguments on their behalf, the police withdrew all charges.
However, six Bushmen arrested last week, also for hunting, are still waiting for their case to be heard.
Last December the High Court of Botswana ruled
that the Bushmen had the right to live on their ancestral lands in the
Central Kalahari Game Reserve and that the government had acted against
the law in 2002 when it refused to issue them with hunting permits and
then evicted them from their lands.
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Six Gana and Gwi Bushmen have been arrested by Botswana police for hunting on their ancestral land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana. This follows twenty-one arrests for hunting in June and July.Last December the High Court of Botswana ruled that the Bushmen had the right to live inside the reserve and that the government had acted against the law in 2002 when it refused to issue them with hunting permits and then evicted them from their lands.
Justice Phumaphi said in his ruling, ‘the simultaneous stoppage of the supply of food rations and the issuing of SGLs [hunting licences] [was] tantamount to condemning the remaining residents of the CKGR to death by starvation.’
Since the judgment, the government has continued to insist that the Gana and Gwi do not have the right to hunt within the reserve. It has also refused to let the Bushmen use the water borehole on their land or to bring their few goats back into the game reserve.
Bushman spokesperson, Jumanda Gakelebone, said today, ‘Why does our government want to keep the Bushmen out of their ancestral land? Last year's court ruling said we could go back and said that the government may not refuse to issue us with hunting licences. So why are our people still being arrested? This is a serious human rights abuse. It is especially bad for the people inside the reserve. They are not allowed to hunt and not allowed to use their borehole. They have nothing to eat or drink.’
For further information contact Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or email mr@survival-international.org
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 14:14 on September 3rd, 2007
angryindian, thank you for drawing attention to this situation.
at 04:28 on September 4th, 2007
Hi HI Angryindian, I actually had this vid you got the jpeg from on my desktop until yesterday, Damn musta batch deleted it.
Anyway I think this has more to do with the methods of hunting. Using AK-47 in the national park is not permitted. Secondly, the point you make about the food drops is important. They can only get into the area for a few months of the year, the rest of the time they have to hunt to survive.
Another thing I suspect is going on here is that Tourists, who have been visiting them a lot recently, (to take photo's of the Plate Lip women) have caused this, they probably paid them to do it for some doco they were making and the authorities saw the film. This is just a guess, but, I think it is likely that is what happened.
at 07:28 on September 4th, 2007
It's all that you mentioned above plus the state doing its very best to eradicate the Aboriginal presence in the country by forcing them to culturally shift to a capitalist economy and lifestyle. In many regards the current African governments are still following the colonialist model of absorbing First nations communities into the larger national identity. Nearly all African liberation movements left or right ideologically view themselves as entitled by the right of conquest to alter the lives of Aboriginal people. This is one of the reasons why I become annoyed with NP contributors who insist that I am supportive of left-wing movements and perspectives. I fault both ends of the recognised political spectrum for practising genocide against Indigenous societies. The arrogance of both views does not allow for other ways of managing a society that benefits more than just a chosen few.