By Olivia Murray
Okay, now this is funny—and kudos to the Botswanan and Namibian governments for making an utter fool of these delusional politicians who consider themselves God’s gift to earth, meddling in the affairs and local policy-decisions of sovereign African nations, from over 5,000 miles away, all because they’re suffering from the leftist savior complex, and have nothing better to do. I got such a kick out of this story, and I think you’ll agree; from Thomas Brooke, via Remix News:
Botswana has offered to send 20,000 elephants to Berlin, telling Germany’s left-wing government it should try living with the mammals before pushing trophy hunting bans on African countries.
Calls by Germany’s Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke for bans on trophy hunting have been met with stiff opposition in Botswana’s capital of Gaborone, with political leaders insisting that hunting, when done sustainably, helps to protect crops and villages from being destroyed and boosts tourism to developing countries.
But, but, Lemke is a bureaucrat! And a leftist bureaucrat at that! She knows better than those silly little Stone Age African people of Botswana, too primitive to understand the evils and impact of hunting! I mean, okay sure, she’s got no idea what actually goes into agricultural production, and what it really takes to get food from the fields and onto people’s tables, but she does have a college degree in agricultural studies. And fine, I’ll admit, she’s been a huge proponent of the “clean energy” measures undertaken by the government which has pushed Germany into its greatest energy crisis in modern history, a problem so bad that many of the German people can’t afford to heat their homes, but she is a white leftist greenie politician, totally removed from the reality of the situation, so of course she’s the subject matter expert.
Here are the details, per Brooke:
Speaking to the Bild newspaper, Botswanan President Mokgweetsi Masisi said his country was suffering from an elephant plague after recent conservation efforts, and the Botswanan people are dependent on some of the animals being culled through controlled and ‘sustainable’ hunting.
‘We are paying the price for preserving these animals for the world,’ Masisi told the German tabloid, explaining it was very easy for left-wing politicians like Lemke of the Green party ‘to sit in Berlin and have an opinion about our affairs in Botswana.’
He explained that his government had already offloaded 8,000 of the animals to nearby Angola due to their exploding population, and threatened to send 20,000 elephants to Berlin so German politicians can ‘live together with the animals in the way you are trying to tell us to.’
And it’s not just Botswana, but Namibia too; from Michael Curzon via The European Conservative:
Germany’s Green Party has been hit with accusations of ‘causing damage’ in Africa and acting as though Namibian citizens ‘can’t think for themselves’ over plans to ban the import of hunting trophies.
…
Lemke has complained about the hunting of animals ‘facing extinction,’ prompting Namibian officials to stress that hunting is, in fact, a key part of conservation.
The African nation’s environment minister, Pohamba Shifeta, told German newspaper Bild that trophy hunting takes place under strict international guidelines, adding that, if Germany were to make this ‘impossible,’ this would be ‘an illegal, neo-colonial interference that runs counter to the international legal situation.’
Although elephant trophy-hunting is not something I would personally participate in, there is nothing morally wrong about it, when done responsibly and respectfully; and since that’s the case, it would be wrong to use government to compel others to live by my personal convictions and interests. Now, of course I don’t want to see elephants wiped from the face of the earth, but from what I gather, neither do the African people. They have a vested interest in the survival of elephants as a species, because trophy-hunting makes up a significant portion of each nation’s economy; it brings millions of dollars into rural and developing communities. And, much of the money generated through hunting, is earmarked for world-class conservation efforts.
But of course, that’s beside the point; this is a cut-and-dried case of eco-colonialism, coming from the very group of people who rage and rage about the colonial West of yesteryear: white Europe telling black Africa what it can do with its natural resources and blessings is apparently the most unforgivable sin in the history of humanity, yet here they are, doing exactly that. Sure, one might argue that Germany is just legislating (or is it decreeing?) as it sees fit (banning imports of trophy-hunted animals), but of course, that’s because they can’t push these policies from the inside of Botswana and Namibia.
It’s like the Democrat winos of Martha’s Vineyard telling the good Americans of El Paso and Eagle Pass that a lawful and orderly immigration is just xenophobia; it’s like the sanctuary city politicians, pre-migrant crises currently devouring these locales telling the border states to have some compassion, and welcome the hordes; it’s like the progressive leftists, fleeing the blue hellholes they created, then pushing their failed policies on me in Alabama—I just met one last night at my son’s soccer practice. “We got priced out of the Pacific Northwest, can you believe that?” Yes, of course I could believe it, because that’s what high taxes, more handouts to freeloaders, and bigger government does. “But blech! It’s an adjustment, this is the first time I’ve lived in a red state, and it’s the Bible Belt, ya know?” Now I was slightly confused, because I still don’t know where this Bible Belt is—if someone has any insider knowledge, please let me know because I’d love to go there—and as I looked around, in smalltown Decatur, Alabama, if I didn’t know any better, I could’ve sworn I was in Guatemala, or El Salvador. (Needless to say, she and I didn’t exactly “click” after that.)
The left is comprised of the most self-unaware people, the useful (blithering) idiots, reaping chaos, and this is just one more reminder that the greenies, with their delusions of intelligence and awareness, have some very serious real-world implications and consequences.