It sinks, this news, like an old waterlogged sailing ship, full of thick timbers and countless days at sea, inevitably to the bottom, settling there, in repose: the Bushmen have won the right to return to their homeland. That little factoid sinks into the soft rivereen mud of my life, welcome news, more than unexpected, unhoped for. I’d thought it would be the other–another loss, coming as it does after miners were spotted heading back to their lands. A blow, falling upon a bruise.

But no. Instead, hope. I wrote friends, family, editors, everyone I could think of with the news as below. The space I was holding to do this story now lies empty, like the space in the water, after a ship has sunk, replaced effortlessly by the work it seems I’m to do as Burning Man’s Environmental Manager. That’s how the Brits described their exit from Afhganistan so many years back, you know. “It will be like pulling your hand from a bucket of water.”

I’d looked on that rotting craft for so long, longed to sail her, felt guilty I wasn’t, felt as though there was something wrong and selfish and distracted in me for not getting the world out there farther, more, doing what I could to help. It was such a mess–the bullshit from Survival, the worse BS from the government, the oh-so-clear lines between world’s oldest indigenous peoples and worthless clear rocks being muddled by misguided do gooders.
And now, it seems it’s settled. And I can get on without guilt or remorse, and with perhaps a small bit of satisfaction that I helped in some way, anyway.

And then there’s this: the soft warm nugget of truth that sometimes, in someplaces, right still wins out, and faith isn’t naive or pointless, and the little guy and gal can still win.

Hope: Reign On Me.

(email msg):

Friends, family, colleagues:

I really, truly, can’t believe it.

This morning Botswana’s High Court ruled against Botswana’s government, ruling the eviction  of the Bushmen from their homelands was illegal and unconstitutional. Coming as it does just two weeks after diamond mining resumed in their homelands, the Bushmen victory is a stunning, stunning success for indigenous people. I am in complete shock: it never occurred to me that they might win–it was the longest, most expensive trial in Botswana’s history. The government’s strategy was clearly to break the Bushmen’s will, and indeed, they almost did. Then came the ruling this morning:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1971197,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=1

Some background about why I feel so close to their story: I was the first journalist into their homelands after they were evicted in 2002, sneaking in with an interpreter on assignment for Mother Jones , with work from that trip appearing later National Geographic Adventure and NPR ( thank you Tim Dickinson and Jerry Bielinson ), helping to give their story traction when it needed it.  Later, I broke the story of the World Bank’s IFC funding diamond mining in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve–as if the world’s wealthiest mining companies needed the boost.

I even pitched a book about their plight. Last September, when it wasn’t picked up, I instead stayed in southern Mississippi, doing hurricane relief work. And even though that worked out very well indeed ( I’m now actually finishing up on a documentary film about the experience, which should be out in the late spring ), I felt pangs of remorse for not being able to give this important story more attention.   Last month I was able to break another story on the topic, this time about the first diamond miners returning to the CKGR, but I still felt like more was needed.

Well, now there’s no need. Amazing. The little guy, and gal, and their kids, too, won.  The world’s longest unbroken connection between a people and a landscape will continue. The dances under the stars in the Kalahari will continue. The stories will still be told.  And, perhaps, a little bright light on the brink of guttering out will flicker yet a bit longer, illuminating our modern world with lessons from a time long past.

This announcement also settles a personal challenge I’ve been having. I’d been asked to accept a year long consultancy, filling the newly created post of Environmental Manager for Burning Man. It’s an incredible offer, to use the world’s largest interactive arts event as a global showcase forum for groundbreaking environmental technology, all turned into fantastic art.  Yet I felt like some of the work I was doing on stories like this one would suffer if I stopped writing so much for a while.  Now there’s no need to choose, and there’s clearly a need for people to, for example,  highlight new ways of dealing with the world’s challenges regarding energy generation and storage. Seems I’m in the right place at the right time, should be an interesting ride.

Wishing you all the very best this holiday season, and thanks for letting me prattle on. Genuine good news is so rare, when it does come around, it’s worth passing around.

-Tom