Botswana's president has said that if his government loses the case against the 'Bushmen', it will appeal until it wins. He even visited the Bushmen eviction sites personally to tell them they cannot return home. Some 200 Gana and Gwi Bushmen have nevertheless risked their lives and returned to their lands where they are now arrested if they attempt to hunt. Their courage and determination are inspiring and, thanks to the enormous worldwide show of support for their cause, undiminished by the government's threats and humiliations. We are all playing our part in this ground-breaking case.We know every tree and water hole and corner of this land - everything has a name.
We know this land as you know your children.
However the court decides, it is vital that the best possible legal arguments are presented now. New points cannot be made later - this really is the only chance. Substantial funds are needed, and the Bushmen are relying on Survival to help them at this, the most important moment in their history. The Gana and Gwi Bushmen will simply not survive without their land, and many now think that the eviction is a deliberate attempt to finish with them altogether. Unlike the devastation of American Indians which we now read about in history books, this is happening today, under our own eyes. This gives us both the opportunity and the responsibility of preventing the Botswana government from repeating the tragedies of the past, when whole cultures were destroyed in the name of 'progress'.
