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| Bushman child, CKGR, Botswana 2004
© 2004 Stephen Corry/Survival |
Launching a month-long tour of the USA, two Kalahari Bushmen are to visit
Hollywood with Amnesty International.
Roy Sesana and Jumanda Gakelebone will
attend an event in Beverly Hills on 27 August hosted by singer-songwriter
Jackson Browne, to raise awareness of the Botswana government's eviction of
their people from their ancestral land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.
They will discuss their concern that they have been evicted to make way for
future diamond mining. The USA is the largest market for Botswana's
diamonds.
The two Bushmen, from the organisation First People of the Kalahari (FPK),
are travelling the USA from coast to coast to draw attention to the forced
evictions and their struggle to return to the lands of their ancestors.
On 28 and 29 August they will meet members of Los Angeles'
African American community at a church in South Central LA. On 3
September they will be interviewed by National Public Radio, before
attending 'The Gathering', a multi-cultural festival, from 6-12
September. They will then drive across the Southwest, visiting the Hopi
and Navajo tribes. The Bushmen will travel on to Washington DC, where they will
appear with Amnesty before the Human Rights Caucus on Capitol Hill on 23
September. On 24 September they will give a press
conference at the National Press Club, DC, 9-11am. They will then continue to
New York, to give a public talk at the American Museum of Natural History,
chaired by writer Gloria Steinem, at 2pm on 26 September. Their
tour of the USA will end with a visit to the United Nations on 27
September. The Bushmen will then travel on to Europe.
The Gana and Gwi Bushmen and their neighbours the Bakgalagadi were evicted
from their land in 1997 and 2002 by the Botswana government, and forced to live
in resettlement camps where they are dependent on government handouts. Many in
the camps are turning to alcohol, begging and prostitution. 243 Bushmen have
taken the Botswana government to court over the forced evictions. The case began
in July and was recently adjourned.
For information on the USA tour contact:
Rupert Isaacson
(001) 512 294 1561 rupertisaacson@hotmail.com or
Kim Langbecker, (001) 310 663 4139 kimlangbecker@sbcglobal.net
For background information, please contact Miriam Ross at
Survival International on: +44 20 7687 8734 or email mr@survival-international.org
View Related Material for more information on the Bushmen.
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