Time for a quick roundup of responses to Survival’s ‘Most Racist Article of the Year’ award. This year’s worthy recipient was Paraguay’s newspaper La Nacion for an editorial which compared Paraguayan Indians to a ‘dangerous cancer’ and described them as ‘filthy’.

The award triggered a firestorm of commentary at Ultima Hora, Paraguay’s largest daily newspaper website, currently running to six pages of heated discussion (in Spanish, of course).

The Independent’s Pandora noted the occasion…

Champagne flows and the awards season continues apace. Yesterday brought the Most Racist Article of the Year presentation. … Step forward (drum roll)… the Paraguayan paper La Nacion! I’d like to thank my parents, my editor…

… the award got an honourable mention at Racism Review, while over at IndyBlogs Jerome Bell cried foul:

Clearly the awards is a bit of a cheeky PR stunt by Survival but what the heck.

Cheeky PR stunts? Us?

Jerome wondered how the arrival of the award certificate would be received at La Nacion:

For their journalistic excellence the editors of La Nacion will be sent a certificate inscribed with a quotation from a Native American author who died in 1939. The inscription reads: “All the years of calling the Indian a savage has never made him one.”

I wish I could be a fly on the wall when the editor of La Nacion opens up that parcel.

Indeed.

And for your viewing pleasure, here’s the certificate that La Nacion will shortly be receiving:

Our news item is up on Digg and needs a bit of help, so please vote away.

We are now putting together our Saa! Saa! Saa! Team for the 2008 Mazda London Triathlon, and would love you to be part of it.

Triathlon is the fastest growing sport in the UK, with more and more people coming back each year to compete in this fantastic event. Most of our triathletes are first timers, and Survival will help you every step of the way. Coaching, training and advice are all part of the service. We just ask that you be confident of raising £650 to take part in the race of a lifetime for tribal peoples.

If you’re curious, but still unsure if Triathlon is for you, read on, as Tom, one of our returning triathletes, describes how he got hooked on the event:

“A brilliant experience… As well as getting fit and raising money for a very important charity I knew that the group of other people who raced triathlon now included me.”

Tom, Saa! Saa! Saa! Triathlon Team 2006 and 2007

Triathlon was always something I thought amazingly fit other people do. And yet last August I found myself in a wetsuit nervously bobbing around in a dock with a group of equally worried looking people. What were we thinking of? Had I trained enough, would I even finish the swim? What about the other two legs of the “race”…All the worries and “what ifs” lasted until the horn signalled go and the water turned white like a scene from a Jaws movie. We were off – and there was no turning back.

The build up to the race was pretty hard work. Training was boring but necessary and there were a lot of questions that I wanted answered. Thankfully the Survival team were there with the answers and it was reassuring to know that there was a group of other people in the same boat, taking on the challenge for the first time, and all with similar worries. Organised training rides and drinks after work kept us fired up and the opportunity to don the skin-tight orange and black Survival tri-suit (nice…) ensured that no one was going to drop out.

The race actually went very well. The swim was a bit crazy but the adrenaline got me through much quicker than I had expected. The bike was next and was a really enjoyable ride. Famously busy London roads were closed to traffic, spectators clapped us on and fellow riders were a really friendly bunch. There were people racing at all levels and I soon found my place in the stream of bikes. The run was, as expected, the worst part for me. I knew by that stage that I was going to finish and my legs decided that they didn’t have to work anymore. Shouts of “nearly there mate” from fellow racers helped keep my walking to minimal stretches, even when being passed by the inhumanly fast international elite, and I even managed to run across the finish line, just to keep up appearances.

All in all the race was a brilliant experience and when the email to book for 2007 arrived in my inbox I knew (fairly) immediately that I would do it again. As well as getting fit and raising money for a very important charity I knew that the group of other people who raced triathlon now included me.

To find out more, or to join the team, go to www.survival-international.org/actnow/sponsoredevents

Daniel and Joseph have recently returned from the trip of a lifetime. The two Survival supporters decided to go to Botswana and find out first-hand what was happening to the Bushmen in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. This is the first instalment, written by Joseph.

The further we get from Gabarone, the capital city of Botswana, the dustier the road. We filled our gasoline tanks up to the brim at the last stop, a deserted gas station in the middle of nowhere, and then left the asphalt to drive the last 150km to Kaudwane resettlement camp on a dirt and gravel road. I’m really trying my best with this new experience of four-wheel driving. The road gets bumpier and bumpier and we try to figure out how to keep up the speed without feeling like we are riding a horse.

Joseph (left) and Daniel with the rental vehicle

As we drive, Daniel updates me on everything he knows about the Bushmen and what we might be able to do for them in the coming week. I know very little and feel a bit dizzy with all the names of Kalahari places that roll so easily off his tongue. He has been there twice before and knows a lot. I try to keep up.

I was the one who suggested we go to Botswana together. My driving license would allow us to rent a car and really do something useful for the Bushmen.

We are hoping to film their living conditions, and to provide them with a way to share their concerns with the world. We might even help some of them to return home to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR).The sun is setting as we approach Kaudwane, one of the two main resettlement camps to which the Botswana government took the Bushmen when they evicted them from their land in the game reserve in 1997 and in 2002.

The unpaved road sometimes gets really difficult and we are anxious about missing the turn-off. Road signs are scarce in this area of the world!But suddenly there is the sign: Kaudwane. The Botswana government thought it would be nice to make a short asphalt road into the resettlement area. That appears to be their main investment in the town.

Bushmen children in Kaudwane

As we pull up at last, Daniel makes the good point that we really have to find someone who can translate for us – a challenge as it is now half an hour before sunset, and there are few people here that will speak any English. In the dark it will be hard to approach people, and we are still looking for a place to camp.

As I’m standing next to the car, taking in my first impressions of the resettlement area, Daniel approaches two young guys that are walking towards us on the road. One has a flamboyant cowboy hat; the other is much smaller and wears a little hat. They are really friendly and welcoming. We are immensely lucky: these two people that we have met are the best guides we could have hoped to encounter.

One of them, Thuso, happens to be on holiday from university, and is currently living with his grandparents in Kaudwane. His English is as eloquent as we ever could have wished for – even better – and he proves to be a really outspoken person, both about the situation of the Bushmen and about what needs to be done to restore their rights to their land. His friend Ntyame is a bit more timid, but looks really sweet and gentle, and also helps us out.

With their help we are able to communicate with the family that evidently hosted Survival staff last time they were in Kaudwane, and they say we can stay in their compound. I drive the immense car through a very tiny gate, consisting of an iron bar attached to piece of wood. We are unsure whether that will keep the lions out.

Even in the half dark it is clear the Bushmen live in extremely simple conditions. The family has a square yard fenced with straight branches. The ground is sandy. The only structures are a hut made of tightly packed branches with a straw roof, and another structure without a roof, also made of straight branches, that functions as the kitchen. Our big four-wheel drive vehicle in the yard looks totally out of place.

Hungry and tired by now, we cook dinner by torchlight. Some of the kids from Kaudwane join us around the fire and we sing a mixture of songs. They do an excellent job of imitating us singing in English and Dutch and laughing throughout. Every few seconds one of the kids holds his breath and then, leaning into the fire, exhales directly onto it. As he moves his head away the fire grows into a huge dancing flame, illuminating the child’s face with a warm glow and puncturing the darkness of the night with a halo of light.

Joseph cooks up a storm as the children look on

Exhausted, we head to bed very early. Daniel prefers to sleep in the car, while I settle for the tent. We are full of excitement about this amazing visit and the luck we have had finding our new friends. I think Daniel is still talking as I doze off.

The second and third installments of the trip diaries have now been published.

One or two people have asked me, since the launch of Survival’s Stamp it Out campaign last year, how necessary it is.

‘Do some people still really think tribal peoples are primitive?’ I was asked. ‘Or stuck in the Stone Age?’

Tragically, the answers to both these questions are the same: one emphatic ‘Yes!’ followed by another.

If you don’t believe me, just look at the article on our Stamp it Out page published in La Nacion, a Paraguayan newspaper.

There a group of Paraguayan Indians are described as being ‘Neolithic’ (three times), possessing a ‘backward, withered culture’, maintaining an ‘out-of-date way of living’ and having ‘filthy habits’. Their humanity is questioned and their presence in Paraguay’s city, Asuncion, is compared to a ‘dangerous cancer.’

What does this tell us? That there are people, some of them in positions of authority and influence, who do still harbour racist opinions about tribal people. That these people think their way of living – in cities, paying taxes, for example – is somehow ’superior.’ That Stamp it Out is needed more than ever.

Please do join our campaign and send a postcard. Sending one can rarely have meant so much.

Since the Penan episode of the BBC’s Tribe series aired last night on UK television, we’ve had lots of messages of support for the Penan – with comments here on the blog and e-mails asking what people can do to help.

We’ve had several donations, which of course are vital in helping to continue Survival’s campaign for the Penan (and the other peoples and campaigns we’re working for). But there’s more that you can do to help the Penan directly.

We’d like you to write some letters supporting the recognition of the Penan’s rights to their own land, and the halting of Samling’s logging activities on Penan ancestral land.

Time and again we’ve found that letters from Survival supporters have called governments and organisations to account. Policies have changed and lives have been saved.

The most powerful way is to post your letter, but for some of the addressees we have published e-mail addresses or fax numbers. However, e-mail addresses change and fax machines get unplugged. If you can post a letter, please do.

It’s also great to hear about the letters you write, and any response you get. Please post a comment on this article or e-mail us at info@survival-international.org. Thanks!

1. Please write a polite letter to the chief executive of the Malaysian Timber Certification Council, asking him to revoke the certification of Samling’s Sela’an-Linau Forest Management Unit on Penan land:

Mr. Chew Lye Teng
Chief Executive Officer
Malaysian Timber Certification Council
19F, Level 19, Tower 1 Menara PGM
No. 8, Jalan Pudu Ulu, Cheras
56100 Kuala Lumpur
MALAYSIA
FAX: +60 3 9200 6008
chewlt@mtcc.com.my

2. Please write to Samling, asking them to recognise the Penan’s right to their land and to stop logging Sarawak’s last remaining primary forest:

Mr. Yaw Chee Ming
Chief Executive Officer
Wisma Samling Head Office
Lot 296, Jalan Temenggong Datuk Oyong Lawai Jau
98000 Miri, Sarawak
MALAYSIA
enquiry@samling.com

3. Finally, please wite to the Chief Minister of Sarawak asking that the Penan’s right to their land be fully recognised and that no logging should take place on their land without their full, free and informed consent. Please also urge him not to allow the authorities or companies to use force against the Penan to gain access to their forest:

YAB Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud
Chief Minister of Sarawak
Office of the Chief Minister of Sarawak
22nd Floor, Wisma Bapa Malaysia Petra Jaya
Kuching
93502
Sarawak
MALAYSIA

Fax: + 60 82 442755

Jonathan Mazower, Research Co-ordinator at Survival, has just returned from Paraguay. Jonathan was finding out about the situation that uncontacted Ayoreo-Totobiegosode face in the country’s rapidly-disappearing Chaco forests.

Here he speaks to Katya Brooks about his trip and how Survival supporters can help the Ayoreo reclaim their traditional territory.

[audio:ayoreo_podcast.mp3]

(use the player above or download the mp3 file)

In episode two of Barney & Mike’s triathlon video diary, the budding athletes practice their wetsuit quick-change routine, and go looking for new bikes.

Training’s going well, but they are still a bit of a way from their £3,000 fundraising target. Visit their Justgiving page to read the back story of their triathlon efforts, and give them the support they deserve!

I have been supporting Survival International for over 20 years. In fact my first job after school was working for Survival, and I went on many trips to visit tribal peoples including Peru, Guyana and Namibia.

Most recently I have been advising them in their successful campaign against De Beers and the Botswana government in support of the Bushmen who were evicted from their lands in the Kalahari to make way for diamond mining – which has resulted in the Bushmen winning the right to return to their lands.

I am now getting on my sparkly new bike and doing a sponsored bike ride from home in Ampthill, Bedfordshire to Cowley Manor in Gloucestershire on Sunday 19 August 2007 in aid of Survival (just under 100 miles and then I can relax at super spa Cowley Manor!).

It is now over 10 years since I have raised any money for Survival so please dig deep and sponsor me!

You can check on Ghislain’s fundraising progress (and sponsor him!) at his JustGiving page: www.justgiving.com/ghislain

On Sunday August 5th 2007, Survival supporters Barney and Mike will swim, cycle and run in the London Triathlon, Olympic Distance, to raise money for Survival. Neither of them has competed in a triathlon before, and this video diary will record the highs and lows of training for and taking part in such a challenging event. Visit Barney & Mike’s JustGiving page to support them.

Mike Henson, 23
Sports researcher

Why are you doing the triathlon for Survival?
Survival looks after groups who really don’t have many other people sticking up for them in the world. It seems that, after all the wrongs that have been done to indigenous societies during the past, we still allow such a basic, clear justice to be steamrollered. It makes me really angry.

What are you most looking forward to?
Eating a load of high-calorie food in front of the telly the evening after the event, safe in the knowledge that I have earned it and we have raised a bit of cash of a good cause.

What is your biggest fear?
What lurks deep in the depths of the Thames. And the fact that it might include my lifeless body unless the swimming improves.

What’s the first thing you’ll do when it’s over?
Wander around aimlessly feeling a bit sick I imagine.

Why are you doing the triathlon for Survival?
Survival is a fantastic charity that needs our support. I first heard of Survival through a friend, but following the Bushmen case really cemented my interest. The Bushmen’s legal victory, in which the Botswana Supreme Court ruled that their eviction from ancestral lands by the government was ‘unlawful and unconstitutional’. This victory shows that the work of Survival can have a real and significant impact on tribal people’s lives.

What are you most looking forward to?
Relaxing in an armchair having (hopefully) completed the race, with a legitimate reason to be pampered for the rest of the day. Also it will be cool to be able to say that I’ve swum in the Thames.

What is your biggest fear?
Having said that, the swim is my biggest fear. The idea of dodging rusting shopping trolleys, whilst getting kicked in the face by hundreds of testosterone fuelled triathletes isn’t too appealing, but as long as I don’t cramp up and sink all should be fine…

What’s the first thing you’ll do when it’s over?
Pose for the cameras; I look good in the all-in-one, skin tight lycra tri-suit.