DIAMONDS ARE FOR NEVER

On Wednesday (3rd), demonstrators from Survival International protested outside top nob jewellers Tiffany in London, San Francisco, Madrid, Paris and Berlin. Tiffany have been donating to the government in Botswana to fund boreholes in the Kalahari Game Reserve that are for the exclusive use of the game animals in the reserve. The indigenous people whose ancestral land they drilled to access the boreholes are forbidden to use them.

The Botswanan government kicked the indigenous Bushmen tribe out of the area in 2002 then cut off their water supply. Four years the Botswanan High court condemned this as illegal, but officials still refuse to allow the Bushmen access to water. As well as drilling new boreholes that are reserved for animals but not people, the government has also allowed a tourist lodge (complete with swimming pool) with a ‘Bushmen experience’ on the illegally seized land.

Supporters of Survival International handed letters in to the Tiffany stores and picketed outside, telling the chain to support the indigenous people before they support the government.

*www.survivalinternational.org/news/5500