Facebook reveals hostility towards Basarwa

STEPHEN CORRY | Thursday February 3, 2011 00:00

It's called 'I hate Survival International' and was started on 15 January, just two days before the Appeals Court hearing. It consists almost entirely of those who support the old government policy (at least, let's all hope it's old and past) of harassment of Basarwa in the CKGR.

The 'friends' of the group accuse Survival of all manner of bizarre things. We are supposed to be paid by the British government and/or the BBC, and are supposed to want the CKGR diamonds for ourselves.

We are, of course, 'colonialist' and 'racist' for opposing the Botswana government: this is perhaps one of the more tedious accusations, which does not grow any less self-contradictory - or indeed, silly - through repetition. But it gets wilder. Consider the following:

'Survival... You Satanists, racists go to hell and burn there. I don't need you to advocate for my country. I don't think you guys are normal, get help from rehabilitate (sic) centres, drugs are hard to overcome, but with time you will get there'.

Survival, it is claimed, is supposed to have offered Basarwa money, food and alcohol 'for having sex' (which rather ignores the fact that, for a very long time, Basarwa have had babies without any need for any bribes, presumably in much the same way as everyone else!)

It gets worse though. One of the most crackpot claims is that Survival took 'snuff' and sex videos of Basarwa and posted them on porn sites. The Motswana who makes this deranged allegation does not explain why we might have wanted to do this, or how he claims to know about it, but his passion for his country has drawn him to live in... Britain!

What is more interesting than all this lunacy is that the site clearly shows how correct Survival is about the attitude towards Basarwa displayed by (at least these) government supporters.

The pervasive view is that the Basarwa are living in the Stone Age - a term frequently used - and have no capacity whatsoever to make their own decisions about their own future. It also makes it clear that throwing them off their ancestral land for mining is welcomed. They will, in the words, of one writer, be 'easy to manage'.

Here are just a couple of other comments (with corrected spelling): 'The judgement is neither here nor there, they are still going to relocate, soon we will be mining the resources... and there ain't nothing Survival or Basarwa can do about it.' 'Our government will continue MINING, ALLOCATING, RELOCATING people as (they) see fit.' (original emphasis).

I doubt most Batswana will be overjoyed to know their views are being hijacked by this corrosive - and illegal - hysteria. In my experience, whatever they may think of Survival International, most Batswana support Basarwa rights and believe they should not be treated degradingly (the words of the appeal court about how the government actually has treated them), illegally or with discrimination.

Those that do think Basarwa are human enough to make sensible decisions about their own lives can at least gain some comfort from the fact that the new group has a mere 153 followers - as compared to over 40,000 'friends' of Survival International's real Facebook site.

However, I suggest that perhaps the way these haters of Survival are falsely portraying Batswana views, and the image they are giving about Botswana as a whole, is likely to put off more tourists than it attracts - to say the least.