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The San Diego Voice & Viewpoint
• Thursday, JANUARY 27, 2022
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS ACTIVISTS WARN OF ‘FORTRESS CONSERVATION’ EVICTING KENYANS FROM ANCESTRAL HOMELANDS Global Information Network
Nature conservancies, with the stated goal of protecting wilderness and endangered wildlife, have enabled the removal of tribal peoples from their ancestral homelands in Africa to allow superior “western” models of conservation to prevail, according to the activist group Survival International. Under the western model, half of all land must be kept in a natural state to protect Earth, as the National Geographic Society recently declared on its magazine pages, if a stable climate and high quality of life are to be preserved in the near future. Survival International, a policy think tank, has dubbed this “fortress conservation” whereby Indigenous peoples and other local populations are evicted from their lands to create a park that aims to “preserve nature.” Often, these parks are then accessible to tourists who can afford to pay for a luxu-
rious safari, while the local population who depend on the landfor survival is prohibited from entering their ancestral land. To address these evictions, Survival International, has launched a campaign to “decolonize conservation”.
Survival International was one of the guest speakers at a recent webinar hosted by the California-based Oakland Institute titled “Elevating Voices – How Community Conservancies Devastate Land & Lives in Northern Kenya.” Evictions are taking place, they asserted, where governments and charities fence off vast areas of land claiming this is necessary for conservation. “Stolen lands are called a “Protected Area” or “National Park” and keep out the original inhabitants, sometimes using a shocking level of violence,” a spokesperson for Survival said. “This is colonialism pure and simple: powerful global interests are shamelessly taking land and
resources from vulnerable people while claiming they are doing it for the good of humanity,” Survival declared.
Violet Matiru, a zoologist, researcher and executive director of MCDI, a Kenyan organization that promotes environmental solutions to natural resource challenges, addressed this issue at the Oakland Institute event. “Foreign donors have a vested interest in accessing our resources for their own citizens. They are not angels brought from above to come and help us. We need to understand this so we can push back.” “Some 50 million acres in Africa are already controlled by these conservancies and water is their next target. They are working with Coca Cola to privatize our water resources,” she maintained. Colonial conservation, also known as Fortress Conservation, according to speakers at the webinar, rests on the racist misconception that indigenous people cannot be
COURT FREEZES PLANNED AMAZON HEADQUARTERS IN
CAPE TOWN ON HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT SITE Global Information Network A massive new complex housing Amazon’s proposed South African headquarters along with a hotel and other businesses continues to face stiff opposition from indigenous Khoisan, environmental and community groups despite city officials already approving of construction of the nine-story construction. Opponents say the project will ruin a historically significant riverside site in Cape Town and harm the environment. The Khoisan were some of the country’s first inhabitants and their presence in the southern tip of Africa dates back thousands of years. “We’re in a situation where a terrain that is so sacred to the people of our country is not just under threat, but being damaged and destroyed as we speak,” said Tauriq Jenkins, high commissioner of the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoi Indigenous Traditional Council, one of the groups fighting the project. The site lies in the confluence of two rivers which are sacred to the Khoi and San.
“For us today and for the seven generations to come, this is the beginning of a liberated zone for which we will never step away from our responsibilities to our people,” Zenzile Khoisan, protesting in front of the high court, told a reporter. Construction has already begun at the site which is already occupied by a restaurant and golf course. But the case is currently stalled in an African court which has put off ruling on the group’s objections.
Property owners Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust, or LLPT, said it did consult Indigenous groups while planning the site’s redevelopment. Company spokesperson James Tannenberger accused community leader Jenkins “of driving a misinformation campaign even as their concerns were validly dismissed by the competent authorities during the comprehensive three-year development approval process.” Other Indigenous leaders have reportedly given their approval to the project, Tannenberger claimed. The project includes a museum
Khoisan protestors at the development site. Photo: Courtesy of GIN.
trusted to look after their own land and the animals that live there. Its proponents view the original custodians of the land as a “nuisance” to be “dealt with”, instead of as experts in local biodiversity and key partners in conservation. An opposing view was defended by the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT), a local membership organization in northern and coastal Kenya that says it is building peace and improving livelihoods through conservation. Formed with support from USAID, NRT brings together local pastoralist landowners and the Government of Kenya to promote the long-term conservation of wildlife in Kenya’s northern rangelands and coastal region. Meanwhile, Mordecai Ogada, director of Conservation Solutions Afrika and co-author with journalist John Mbaria of the book ‘The Big Conservation Lie,’ spoke of the problems in Africa that stem from a racialized system that favors Western foreigners over Black Africans.
Photo: Courtesy of GIN
“Evidence proves indigenous people understand and manage their environment better than anyone else,” asserts Survival. “80% of Earth’s biodiversity is in tribal territories and when indigenous peoples have secure rights over their land, they achieve at least equal if not better conservation results at a fraction of the cost of conventional conservation programs.”
People chant slogans during a demonstration against the killing of dozens by Sudanese security forces since the Oct. 25, 2021 military takeover, in Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)
and memorial site for the community, along with low income housing and some 5,000 jobs. June Bam-Hutchison, a researcher with the Center for African Studies at the University of Cape Town defended the protestors. “They’re enslaved, they’re oppressed, they’re exploited,” she said. “Their language was also taken away, their culture was taken away, their knowledge systems that sort of helped us in so many ways to build a more peaceful and healthier society, that has also been taken away.” She said their unique cultural identity was only acknowledged by South Africa in recent decades. “Today, they are now being recognized. That took some time. The land question remains very much unresolved, highly disputed,” she added. Jenkins said losing the case would set a dangerous precedent for giving up historic sites to corporate interests. Amazon, which does not own the site but will be leasing the space once constructed, has been silent on the controversy.
US Says It Will Not Resume Sudan
Aid After Recent Violence The Associated Press The United States will continue withholding aid from Sudan until the country’s military rulers stop the killing of anti-coup protesters and a civilian-led-government takes power, two senior American diplomats said Thursday, January 20. The joint statement came after a two-day visit to Sudan this week by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Molly Phee and the newly appointed U.S. special envoy for the Horn of Africa, David Satterfield. The visit was meant to help pull the African nation out of a worsening crisis in the wake of the Oct. 25 coup. The military takeover has upended Sudan’s transition to democratic rule after three decades of repression and international isolation under autocratic President Omar al-Bashir, ousted during a popular uprising in April 2019. While in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, Phee and Satterfield met with Sudanese civilian and military leaders, as well as with families of some of the
killed pro-democracy protesters.
At least 72 demonstrators have been killed since the October coup. Seven were killed on Monday alone, according to a doctors’ activist group. Security forces used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse thousands who gathered in Khartoum. Among the seven killed, some were as young as 19 years old. Around 100 people were wounded, according to the Sudan Doctors Committee. On Wednesday, January 19, the committee, which is part of the pro-democracy alliance, documented the fatal shooting of another protester earlier in the day as security forces removed makeshift barricades in Khartoum’s twin city of Omdurman. The barricades were part of a two-day civil disobedience campaign the pro-democracy movement called for following Monday’s crackdown. Police officials have repeatedly accused protesters of attacking security forces and police buildings, but have
failed to provide evidence of such attacks. Main protest leaders have repeatedly called on demonstrators to use only non-violent tactics. Sudan’s turmoil escalated after the resignation of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok earlier this month. Hamdok, who was ousted in the October coup only to be reinstated a month later under heavy international pressure, stepped down on Jan. 2 after his efforts to reach a compromise failed. On Thursday, thousands again took to the streets, naming the day’s march after one of the recently killed young protesters. They beat drums and chanted anti-military slogans. Many reiterated calls for the military to leave power completely. Phee and Satterfield said military leaders they met with during their visit had expressed their commitment to the country’s political transition. The two diplomats said they made clear to the generals that the U.S. “will consider measures to hold accountable those responsible for failure to move forward,” according to the statement.
