Save the Bushmen

For those of you who don’t know about the plight of the Bushmen, I will fill you in. The Bushmen of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana are part of a 100,000 year old culture. They are part of the oldest culture in modern human history, their non-materialistic hunting and gathering lifestyle has survived colonialism, wars, and climate changes. Now, however, our materialistic and increasingly globalized and corrupt world is trying to destroy the Bushmen and force them from their ancestral lands. They were removed to settlement camps, just as the Native Americans were and the Aborigines, where the people were exposed to AIDs, alcoholism, and violence. In 2006 the courts ruled that their removal was unlawful, however, their deplorable living conditions have continued as the government has offered little help in transporting the people back to their homes. They also have not allowed access to their water borehole, nor have they allowed them to hunt as they promised.

Cultural diversity is just as important as biodiversity. This planet will die if we continue to allow cultures to die (along with them dies wisdom, healing ideologies, philosophies, languages, the uniqueness of humankind). It’s not right, and we cannot sit and do nothing. So I implore you to realize how your life is playing a role in the war on cultural diversity. Support different ways of living. Plus, the world would be hella boring if we all believed in and liked the same shit.