Local campaign for Bushmen

Botswana's International Socialist organisation has started a campaign in support of the Bushmen of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.

In a letter to the UK paper ‘Socialist Worker', the Botswana socialists write, ‘Our campaign gives the lie to the Botswanan government's claim that only "foreign" organisations are concerned over this issue.'

‘Our petition calls on the government to unconditionally grant the Basarwa [Bushmen] the right to live in their communities inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, to immediately stop the harassment and criminalisation of the Basarwa, to allow an independent inquiry into torture of Basarwa and to fully respect the Basarwa's constitutional rights.'

‘We cannot be silent. It is the right of the Basarwa to live on their land and to determine their way and pace of development on their own.'