© Gem DiamondsIn 2004, a Botswana Minister said there was no mining nor any plans for future mining anywhere inside the CKGR. In 2014 a $4.9bn diamond mine opens.
The Bushmen were told they had to leave the reserve soon after diamonds were discovered in the 1980s, but the Botswana government has repeatedly denied that the illegal and forced evictions of the Kalahari Bushmen - in 1997, 2002 and 2005 - were due to the rich diamond deposits. It justified the Bushmen's evictions from the land in the name of "conservation".
In 2000, however, Botswana's Minister of Minerals, Energy & Water Affairs told a Botswana newspaper, "the relocation of Basarwa (Bushmen) communities from [the Central Kalahari Game Reserve] is to pave way for a proposed Gope Diamond Mine"; and in 2002, the Bushmen told Survival International, the global movement for tribal peoples' rights, "Foreign Minister General Merafhe went to the reserve and told us we had to be moved because of diamonds."
The mine opening has also exposed Botswana's commitment to conservation as window dressing. The government falsely claims that the Bushmen's presence in the reserve is "incompatible with wildlife conservation," while allowing a diamond mine and fracking exploration to go ahead on their land.
© Philippe Clotuche/SurvivalThe Bushmen's sustainable methods of hunting are not incompatible with wildlife conservation, contrary to government claims.
A Bushman whose family was evicted told Survival, "This week President Khama will open a mine in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Do those organizations who have been awarding President Khama for his work with the flora and fauna still believe he is a good example to the world? The residents of the Reserve are not benefitting anything from the mine. The only benefits go to communities living outside the reserve, while our natural resources are being destroyed. We strongly oppose the opening of the mine until the government and Gem Diamonds sit down with us and tell us what we will benefit from the mine. "
The government continues its relentless push to drive the Bushmen out of the reserve by accusing them of "poaching" because they hunt their food. The Bushmen face arrest, beatings and torture, while fee-paying big game hunters are encouraged. The government has also refused to reopen the Bushmen's water wells, restricted their free movement into and out of the reserve, and barred their lawyer from entering the country.
Survival's Director Stephen Corry said today, "When the Bushmen were illegally evicted from their ancestral homelands in the name of 'conservation', Survival cried foul play - both we and the Bushmen believed that, in fact, diamond mining was the real motivation for kicking the tribe off their territory. Government and its cronies vigorously denied these accusations, but finally we have been proven correct. Meanwhile, organizations such as Conservation International continue to laud President Khama for his environmental credentials and turns a blind eye to his human rights abuses."
Note to editors:
- Download a timeline of events leading to the opening of the Ghaghoo diamond mine (PDF, 639 kB)
Let me see if I’ve got this:
The Botswana government (it is claimed) tortures, imprisons and ethnically cleanses the Kalahari Bushmen from their ancestral hunting grounds, claiming that the Bushmen (who have lived in balance and harmony with nature as hunter-gatherers for literally generations upon generations, as far back as history goes) are despoiling the reserve area via their subsistence approach to living. Yet, that same government allows big game hunting in the reserve for big profits, and then, to top it off, reneges openly on promises not to allow diamond mining in this relatively pristine expanse of wild African nature. Diamond mining, as we all know, is a kind, gentle and utterly unobtrusive method of resource extraction, which in no way adversely affects the environment and leaves no human or industrial footprint during its construction and operation, and disappears benignly upon completion of the extraction process. Clean and green, all the way. Oh, and fracking, too, which is another completely environmentally benign activity. Lovely!
In fact, one can clearly see from the picture attached to the article (assuming the pic is of the actual mine) that the caring diamond miners have created ‘wildlife corridors’ all over the reserve, to ‘help’ all of the ‘protected’ species living there. Awwwww, how sweet!
And this same Botswana government is highly praised by “Conservation International” as a partner in ‘protecting’ this very area (and others, too, it should be noted), despite the fact that, in reality, the diamond mine is an unbelievably intrusive and destructive activity, like almost all mining operations, and especially when compared to the impact of the subsistence hunting of the Kalahari Bushmen. (We won’t even discuss fracking.)
And exactly who runs “Conservation International”? Certainly NOT jews, corporatists and jewish sycophants, that’s for sure. But let’s look at the Big Three in control of Conservation International, anyway, just for shits and giggles:
1.) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer: Peter Seligmann (who bears a striking resemblance to Golda Meir, except with far less hair) and appears, obviously, quite jewish.
2.) Chairman of the Executive Committee: Robert Walton (yes, THAT Rob Walton), scion of one of America’s richest families, and the caring, liberal man who heads up one of the most progressive forces in the world of employee rights and benefits, Wal-Mart; and
3.) Vice Chairman: Harrison Ford, a half Jew/half Irish, Hollywood icon who knows exactly which side his matzos are buttered on (“When I think of myself as a man, I’m Irish; when I think of myself as an actor, I’m Jewish.”) A mental chameleon, clearly.
And the world’s diamond trade is controlled by whom? Why, “Mr Diamond”, of course!
Boy, I sure am glad that beneficent, altruistic and throughly trustworthy organizations such as Conservation International are there to ‘protect’ African wildlife. Why, if I am not mistaken, the black rhinos and elephants are experiencing a huge resurgence, as are most all other charismatic megafauna species in Africa, under the caring guidance and protection of such international environmental NGOs.
Because with environmental ‘friends’ like that............. :-(
Nevertheless, no matter how you look at it, the venerable Bushmen are still getting screwed royally. And that’s a crying shame.
(But dark humor aside, it may just be that CI is simply trying to make the best of a bad situation, and besides, I used to donate a lot of $ to CI years ago, and I really don’t want to think I supported another poop-bag like I did when I donated $500 to the Obama campaign in early 2008, transfixed and hypnotized by change I ‘could believe in’. Sadly, maybe PT Barnum was right.......)