S E S S I O N

1. NO ONE LEFT OUT 2. GOOD ATMOSPHERE 3. NO ONE TELLS YOU WHAT YOU SHOULD THINK! 3. NO ONE (not even the teacher) HAS ALL THE ANSWERS!

STAYING FOCUSED THINKING HARD WORKING AS A TEAM STAYING FOCUSED THINKING HARD WORKING AS A TEAM

1.Looking at PERSPECTIVES: image, film, cartoon, song, story 2.Drawing or writing your FIRST THOUGHTS and sharing it 3. Making QUESTIONS in pairs 4. VOTING on a question 5. TALKING about it 6. SHARING what we have learned 1.Looking at PERSPECTIVES: image, film, cartoon, song, story 2.Drawing or writing your FIRST THOUGHTS and sharing it 3. Making QUESTIONS in pairs 4. VOTING on a question 5. TALKING about it 6. SHARING what we have learned

The Bushmen of central Kalahari have been violently evicted from their lands in Botswana. These evictions started in 1997 following the discovery of diamonds on Bushman land. Kalahari Desert AFRICA Botswana

The President of Botswana said: “How can we have a stone age creature continue to exist in the age of computers? If the Bushmen want to survive, they must change or otherwise, like the Dodo, they will perish.”

The Bushmen say: “This is our home, the home of our ancestors, which we have inherited from our forefathers. Our ancestors have not told us to move on. This is our ancestral land. Now we are not allowed to hunt and gather food, which we do in order to live. They have prevented us from doing this, therefore how can we survive? This is our way. This is our culture. We survive off this land that feeds us. The government have stolen our goats and banned our way of life. The government lie, they do not tell the truth, we do not choose to move, we choose to stay and live on our land.” Letter from the residents of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve June 2006

The Bushmen asked an organisation called SURVIVAL to help them negotiate with the government to return to their land. You will see a discussion between an activist from Survival and a group of people in Botswana about the Bushman.

We don’t. This is not about living in the past or in ‘modern’ ways. This is about their right to the land of their ancestors and to be treated with respect. We are here to support them in defending their rights. Why are you here? Why do you help the Bushman? Do you want them to live in the past? Some people in Botswana Survival Activist

But living with the animals is no way to live! It is backwards! Other people live with animals too. Thinking that their way of life is inferior is prejudice. Some people in Botswana Survival Activist

But they are primitive! No, they are intelligent human beings. They live and eat well. They use their surroundings as if it were their supermarket. Other Botswana citizens use their herds in the same way, or use their skills to earn money to buy food. The Bushmen use their skills to get the food without needing money to buy it. There is nothing ‘primitive' about it at all. They deserve respect for their way of life, the same as everyone else. Some people in Botswana Survival Activist

These people live in the past, they have not changed! This is not true. All societies adapt and change – not just modern society. They have chosen to live in a way that is different from our ways. They are no more ‘savage’ than the rest of us. Some people in Botswana Survival Activist

Forcing them to adapt to modern society is for their own good. It will help them catch up with the civilised world. This idea has justified the destruction of entire peoples. The results of forced ‘development’ are almost always catastrophic for them: poverty, alcoholism, prostitution, disease and death. Some people in Botswana Survival Activist

But surely it is better for them to live like us. There is so much they need to learn! Is there? They have no debt, no bombs, no prisons, no poverty, no homelessness, no junk food and no pollution. Perhaps there are some things WE need to learn from them as well. Some people in Botswana Survival Activist

Surely some people are more advanced than others! This is an old European idea used to justify colonialism and fascism. It is what European racists used to say about Africans. It has no basis in science. Even if some peoples were ‘inferior' or ‘backward' it still would not justify violating their rights. Certainly, some societies are weaker than others, but that is a different thing. Some people in Botswana Survival Activist

Do you believe in progress? Yes, we believe that the fundamental basis of all human ‘progress' is respect for other people, particularly those who are weaker. It is easy for governments to respect the majority and the strong because they have to! Some people in Botswana Survival Activist

You should go back to your country and sort out your problems. Leave the problems in Botswana for the people of Botswana to solve! The basis for our work is international law and fundamental rights. The Bushman asked for support. We will stay until this problem is sorted. Some people in Botswana Survival Activist

No one can tell me how to live. If I told a Minister to leave his home, he would think that I am crazy! Based on an interview with Survival’s director Steven Corry and on other Survival materials. More information can be found at

1.Looking at PERSPECTIVES: image, film, cartoon, song, story 2.Drawing or writing your FIRST THOUGHTS and sharing it 3. Making QUESTIONS in pairs 4. VOTING on a question 5. TALKING about it 6. SHARING what we have learned 1.Looking at PERSPECTIVES: image, film, cartoon, song, story 2.Drawing or writing your FIRST THOUGHTS and sharing it 3. Making QUESTIONS in pairs 4. VOTING on a question 5. TALKING about it 6. SHARING what we have learned

1.Looking at PERSPECTIVES: image, film, cartoon, song, story 2.Drawing or writing your FIRST THOUGHTS and sharing it 3. Making QUESTIONS in pairs 4. VOTING on a question 5. TALKING about it 6. SHARING what we have learned 1.Looking at PERSPECTIVES: image, film, cartoon, song, story 2.Drawing or writing your FIRST THOUGHTS and sharing it 3. Making QUESTIONS in pairs 4. VOTING on a question 5. TALKING about it 6. SHARING what we have learned

1.Looking at PERSPECTIVES: image, film, cartoon, song, story 2.Drawing or writing your FIRST THOUGHTS and sharing it 3. Making QUESTIONS in pairs 4. VOTING on a question 5. TALKING about it 6. SHARING what we have learned 1.Looking at PERSPECTIVES: image, film, cartoon, song, story 2.Drawing or writing your FIRST THOUGHTS and sharing it 3. Making QUESTIONS in pairs 4. VOTING on a question 5. TALKING about it 6. SHARING what we have learned

1.Looking at PERSPECTIVES: image, film, cartoon, song, story 2.Drawing or writing your FIRST THOUGHTS and sharing it 3. Making QUESTIONS in pairs 4. VOTING on a question 5. TALKING about it 6. SHARING what we have learned 1.Looking at PERSPECTIVES: image, film, cartoon, song, story 2.Drawing or writing your FIRST THOUGHTS and sharing it 3. Making QUESTIONS in pairs 4. VOTING on a question 5. TALKING about it 6. SHARING what we have learned

1.Looking at PERSPECTIVES: image, film, cartoon, song, story 2.Drawing or writing your FIRST THOUGHTS and sharing it 3. Making QUESTIONS in pairs 4. VOTING on a question 5. TALKING about it 6. SHARING what we have learned 1.Looking at PERSPECTIVES: image, film, cartoon, song, story 2.Drawing or writing your FIRST THOUGHTS and sharing it 3. Making QUESTIONS in pairs 4. VOTING on a question 5. TALKING about it 6. SHARING what we have learned