TASKS AFTER TALK ON WESTERN SAHARA/VISIT BY ASRIA MOHAMMED

Profit over peace in Western Sahara: How commercial interests undermine self-determination in the last colony in Africa by Erik Hagen and Mario Pfeiffer
https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/04/1008532
http://www.3stolencameras.com/the-film/
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/morocco/western-sahara

Choose one of the tasks below and work in pairs or small groups. Present your product on Monday, September 10 (Ingunn’s class) and on Tuesday, September 11th (Hanna’s class).

1. A new book about Western Sahara is called «Profit over Peace». Take a look at the book and reviews of it on the internet and find examples of how international companies and the EU are profiting from the natural resources of Western Sahara. Make a video where you discuss this. Who profits, and from what? How is the hunt for profit hindering peace in Western Sahara?

2. Violation of human rights – what violations of human rights are committed in Western Sahara? Create a multimedia presentation where you explain, give examples and use pictures to illustrate these violations.

3. The media coverage of the conflict – search for news articles and comments on the conflict in Western Sahara in English-speaking media (BBC, CNN, Al-Jazeera..). Does it seem to be a high profile conflict? Why/why not? Asria mentioned the lack of investigative journalism in her speech. Prepare an oral presentation where you show how investigative journalism and media coverage in general is lacking when it comes to this conflict.

4. The role of the UN in the conflict – The United Nothing?
Describe the role of the UN in Western Sahara and try to find out why they have failed in carrying out the referendum on independence for Western Sahara. Use the UN’s own pages (un.org) to find out about this, but also include some other sources that may be more critical of the role the UN has played (or failed to play..). Make a document about this that can be shared with the rest of the class, including history and current situation, facts and figures.

Ingunn and Hanna