1. Democratic Rights in the UK and around the world
Link to Fundamental British Values: democratic values, the law and civil liberties

2. Objectives
To consider the importance of democratic values and the political rights we have in the UK
To understand that other people may not enjoy these rights
To understand and empathise with others who flee their countries due to political persecution

3. What would you do if…………?
Move around the room and find a partner. Ask your partner your question. ‘What would you do if ………?’ Once they have given you their response they ask you their question and you respond. Then exchange your slips of paper so that you have a new question and find another partner. There are 8 questions in total so do not partner with somebody with the same question.

4. What can you do if you don’t like what the government is doing?
Ask the question of the class and they should be able to respond from the previous activity and the pictorial prompts. The pictures are from left to right: Petition, twitter, protest, voting, blog, meetings with local officials
Pictures sources

5. Right to protest
The school has decided to abolish the summer holiday and replace it with five hours a day of maths lessons. Stand up if you would protest against this decision.
Hopefully almost all of the student will stand up. For older students you may want to use a more serious topic like ‘Your friend is put in prison for a crime they did not commit’.
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6. Right to protest
In the UK we have the right to political protest in law but those in other countries are not so lucky. There can be very serious consequences of protesting and protesters can suffer political persecution for their actions. Sit down if you would not protest if you could:
become very unpopular
lose your mum and dad their jobs
lose your family their house and belongings
be imprisoned and tortured
lose your life
The idea is that you should slowly get more and more students sitting down. You could ask the ones who have sat down why they sat down and the ones stood up why they stayed standing.

7. The Arrivals Project
Arrivals: Making Sheffield home was an exhibition at Weston Park Museum by photographer Jeremy Abrahams. He photographed people who arrived in Sheffield from another country between 1945 and 2016 and took down a short profile of their story. Today we will explore those people who fled to the UK for political reasons and now live in Sheffield.
You may wish to show your class some of the photos
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8. Denied the right to protest
What different things happened to those who where not allowed to protest or be involved in politics? Use the profiles to figure out what the words below are and write them in your books. See if you can find any extra ones. For example M_____________ = Murdered A_______________ T_______________ D_______________ K_______________ M_____ I___________ - long and intense questioning of lots of people F______ E________ - being sent out of your country as a punishment H______ D_________ - not being allowed to leave your house, using your home as a prison How did they escape to the UK? Why are they lucky?
Hand out the political profiles and have the students complete the words in their books, answers are on the next slide. The questions at the bottom can be extension questions.

9. Answers
Arrested Tortured Disappeared Killed Mass Inquisitions - long and intense questioning of lots of people Forced Exile - being sent out of your country as a punishment Home Detention - not being allowed to leave your house, using your home as a prison How did they escape to the UK? Why are they lucky?
One extra one should be unable to study

10. Your Legal Rights In The UK
In 1998 the UK passed the Human Rights Act giving UK citizens, by law, the fundamental rights already laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights. This means that we have a legal right to:
Freedom of conscience & religion
Hold the opinions and beliefs you want to without persecution
Freedom of expression
Express your views so long as it doesn’t break the law
Freedom of assembly
To gather with others and if necessary to demonstrate
Freedom from discrimination
Not to be discriminated against for any reason

11. Why are they legal rights?
It is important that these rights are legal rights. This means that if you are denied one of these rights you can fight this in a court of law. The law is independent of government so they cannot influence the decision, this is not something which is true in every country in the world.
You may wish to skip this slide with younger students
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12. Why is it important that we have these rights in the UK?
Imagine your are an asylum seeker coming to this country fleeing political persecution. Write a speech about why it is so important in the UK we have these political rights. Take about what life was like back in your country and compare it to life in the UK.
Freedom of conscience & religion
Hold the opinions and beliefs you want to without persecution
Freedom of expression
Express your views so long as it doesn’t break the law
Freedom of assembly
To gather with others and if necessary to demonstrate
Freedom from discrimination
Not to be discriminated against for any reason

13. Here are a few different countries
Here are a few different countries. In which country do you think people think democracy is most important?
Sweden
Ghana
Image sources:
Jordan
United Kingdom

14. The answers Most important Sweden Ghana Jordan United Kingdom
Choose and you can compare what people in the UK think to others here
Ghana
Jordan
These are just an example there are other countries where people view democracy as more important than in the UK on the website. If you have time you can compare the views in the UK on democracy and civil liberties to the views of those in other countries on the website link on the slide.
Image sources:
United Kingdom
Least important

15. British or Universal?
So can democracy be said to be a British value and should we value it more?