Dear friends,

I'm writing to ask for your help and advice. Survival has launched a
campaign, targeted mainly but not exclusively at the UK so far, to
get the media to stop using terms like 'stone age' and 'primitive' to
describe tribal peoples. Please have a look at the campaign webpage
http://www.survival-international.org/stampitout.php for details of
our postcard campaign. There is also a page where people can post
comments:
http://www.survival-international.org/stampitoutuserforum.php

I want to ask for your help in getting this message across to the Indian media.

Terms like 'stone age' and 'primitive' are widely understood by
ordinary people to mean 'inferior' and 'backward', though they may
mean different things to academics. We believe such language causes
great harm to tribal peoples by reinforcing the idea that they are
'stuck in the past' and must be forcibly 'developed' for their own
good. For example, this is what the President of Botswana says about
the Kalahari Bushmen, whom his government has forced to leave their
ancestral land against their will:

'How can you 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.'

Survival is particularly struck by the prevalence of such terms - and
others, like 'savages' - whenever the international media reports on
the tribes of the Andaman Islands, most recently on the killing of
two men by the Sentinelese, but also following the December 2004
tsunami.

The campaign has the support of BBC World Affairs Editor John
Simpson, and journalists John Pilger, the BBC's Caroline Hawley,
George Monbiot, Sandy Gall and Christopher Booker. These journalists
wrote a letter which was published in the Financial Times a couple of
weeks ago. The issue has also been discussed in the Independent and
the Guardian newspapers in the UK.

I would be very grateful for any suggestions of high-profile Indian
journalists who could be approached to add their names to the
campaign. I would also like to hear any other suggestions as to how
this issue might be raised in the Indian media, or any comments on
the campaign. Please also let me know if you would like to receive
some of the campaign postcards.

Thanks and best wishes,
Miriam
--

We help tribal peoples defend their lives, protect their lands and
determine their own futures.

Survival International
6 Charterhouse Buildings
London EC1M 7ET
UK

Tel: (+44) (0)20 7687 8700
Fax: (+44) (0)20 7687 8701
www.survival-international.org