DISCRIMINATION / A RAINBOW WITHOUT COLORS

ERASMUS+ TRAINING COURSE Berlin, Germany 24.02.2018 - 03.03.2018

DAY 1 Everybody hates Mondays! What about you?

How did it feel to wake up this morning?

Let’s look at Monday as if it was "discrimination"...

HOW I UNDERSTAND DISCRIMINATION All our properties are created with the future in mind. We make sure to incorporate renewable sources of energy in our infrastructure and various building processes and steps.

No need to worry about our properties damaging the Earth- it is a big part of our mission to limit that.

Now how do we act to prevent it?

WE UNDERSTAND "DISCRIMINATION" AS... ... an action provoked by prejudice of culture, gender, skin color, other physical features, nationality, educational and social backgrounds, as well as everything unknown about a person or community.

ADVICE You can't change the fact that Monday exists.

You can only change your behaviour towards it.

Regardless if you accept that or not.

Think about Monday again - do you see it as a horrible, annoying creature, waiting to catch you?

Or do you continue with your daily activities?

Do you see it as a day to start your diet, go to fitness or seize the week?

It's in human nature to discriminate. We grow up with the idea that certain people, habits or days (like Monday) are undesirable. Usually it's created from our personal insecurities, fears, or low selfesteem, and it's increased by the expectations from our families and society.

We dislike Monday because it's taking us from our weekend paradise and it puts us back to our weekly routine. When Monday comes around, we fear going back to work and facing our responsibilities, the same way we fear people with different backgrounds, physical features, views and beliefs.

To get through Monday, we require huge amounts of caffeine... To work through discriminatory behaviour, grab a full cup of understanding, openmindness, and top it off with your stereotype-free donut.

DAY 2 Do we discriminate as people and also as youth workers?

ARE WE AWARE OF THIS? The sketches we performed today, allowed us to be in the shoes of the "discriminator" and in those of the "discriminated".

ADVICE Try to show directly the young people you work with all the situations in which a person can discriminate and try to put them in the opposite role.

DO WE DISCRIMINATE? Before the beginning of the training course, many of us thought that generally the people in our societies are discriminating others but we didn't ask ourselves if we also discriminate others unconsciously.

We found out that it's very easy to start discriminating without realising it, for example by just saying: -"Today I am dressed up as a homeless!". Indeed, we are not better than those groups, we are just like them, influenced by backgrounds, stereotypes, goals and "rumours".

How many times have we been in a rush and an old person was perhaps obstructing our paths and we just preferred to "push" him/her away to make way? We are just human beings and as such, we are influenced by our urges.

After many activities we've done together, we came to understand that we are also discriminating other people like the rest of the society is doing. We realised that sometimes, we feel both ways.

Discrimination is not something we can blame on the rest of the society, but a phenomenon that we ourselves should notice and reflect on in every new situation we'll face.

DAY 3 Is online discrimination bigger than the offline one?

ONLINE DISCRIMINATION There's no doubt that the Internet facilitates communication in many respects.

When the nature of the information being sheared on the internet contains hate or discrimination, directly or indirectly it affects the people.

ARE WE AWARE OF THIS? The strongest thing is that people don't really realise how their thoughts, when expressed, can effect others.

We strongly believe that both discrimination types- online and offline have big impact on the society, but we think that online discrimination has a stronger and bigger impact nowadays.

Everyday we are facing this problem, because when we search through the social media, we see different examples of discrimination.

Sometimes using hate speech online causes a bigger effect in the offline world.

ADVICE "Speak with caution.

Even if someone forgives harsh words you've spoken, they may be too hurt to ever forget them.

Don't leave a legacy of pain and regret of things you never should have said."

However, at the end, we know that both forms of hate speech have been excluded from the ECHR / Article 17, which forbids abuse of the right of freedom of speech.

DAY 4 The question is: Do you have what it takes to be a creator of Loesje posters?

- Of course you do!

LOESJE CREATIVE TEXT WRITING The warm-up exercises were effective to get the creativity of the group flowing.

The process was a colourful mixture of individual thoughts coming together in a critical, yet funny way. Our brainstorming process of collecting associations was an example of combining team work for a creative outcome.

HOW TO DO IT? Technically, it is very simple.

Working individually can be challenging, that’s why in order to create a Loesje poster, you need your squad of faithful turtles with you.

It's team work...

ADVICE If it’s still not working – khalas!

(Arabic word that translates to “Enough now! Forget it.”)

There are many ways of using the Loesje creative text writing method, which is unconventional, interactive and ideal for team building.

For more info, go to: www.loesje.org Thanks to the method, we came up with amazing ideas that can transfer to the creation of new posters.

There is something meaningful in experiencing how a simple word transforms into a powerful message for people to recognise, think about, and raise awareness regarding ‘hot topics’.

Can’t wait to see your creativity!

DAY 5 Unbelievable... or not at all...

All energy, power, smiles, as well as tools, skills, methods we got in frozen Berlin, we promised to share and spread around the world, a world without borders and inequality.

FEELINGS / AFTERMATH New ideas and projects are growing in our heads, almost ready.

Our hearts are full of friendship and force of acting together.

INTERNET / US VS FAKE NEWS Thanks to the Internet, today we are able to know what's happening far away from the place we live in, by easily accessing the information from our smartphone or laptop.

The Internet facilitates our lives, gives us the opportunity to connect with people and facts belonging to the other side of the world.

The Internet means a lot for us in many sense, but among these highlights, there are several lowlights to it...

ADVICE

The web is crammed with information that, no matter if real or fake, is there to be clicked by anyone who wants to go deeper into topics.

Fake news are part of the info we get daily and it is very easy to fall in "traps".

In front of a web page, each one who uses the Internet should ask him or herself a question: whether that page can be considered reliable and from which source the author took the information to write the article.

Together, arm in arm, soul to soul, each of us, back in our local societies.

Like a tree, planted this week in Berlin by a single seed, which will sprout numerous branches, and even more and more leaves.

This is the most important starting point to make sure that the communication and sharing of information can proceed in the right way, avoiding the spreading of useless information which can hurt societies.

And we are ready to create new values, new qualities and new ways of life in this "maaad world" ;)

Good luck and keep your inspiration :)

PROJECT FACTORY Project Proposal 1 Training course on breaking stereotypes about foreigners Problem: Every country has its own discrimination problems about foreigners.

The way the locals see them, treat them, speak to them, and behave towards them; Reasons: It’s something that existed for years and it's still visible; Need: To create awareness, respect, acceptance and to be more open-minded; Uniqueness: It’s a multicultural problem and it can be implemented all around the world; Who? Partner countries: Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Palestine, Poland, Albania; When? 2019; How long? 7 days (1 free day); Activities: workshops and lectures; Methods: designing posters, sharing personal experience, hot chairs, role play; Steps to reach goal: Games, Video/Photo content, bus photos (letters, posters, secret camera, photos in public transportation), visits; Visibility: Social media, film making/ summing up, presentation/campaign in the participants' own countries.

Project Proposal 2 Training course on tackling discrimination and hate-speech in the Western world Why? Because of the wave of rhetorics against immigrants in the Western world; Uniqueness: international project that will involve people both from Europe and outside of Europe/ Analysis of the background of the problem will be done by going deeper on why this issue is so spread and the realities involved will be compared; Who? A group of 6 trainers, travelling between countries, coming from Italy, Cyprus, Greece, France, Germany, USA / Trainers will go to primary schools and will facilitate workshops for children in the respective countries; Purpose: to tackle the issue among children from young age; Help: Local/ international NGO’s, ministries of education, USAID, Erasmus +, CoE, Anna Lindh Foundation, UNICEF, crowdfunding; When? 12 months of which: 2 months in each country: 1 month “active”, 1 month “passive”to observe and check what can be implemented/ The rest of the months: to write down the results and disseminate, 2 workshops each week (2 days each 6 hours), Cultural weekends, Loesje’s kid brother workshop; How? Sports/ multimedia/ gamification; Methods: Fishbowl, Living library for children, minefield simulation, involvement of teachers in the schools and training them to continue the activities, disseminating pictures and videos created with children to raise awareness through exhibitions and social media.

Project Proposal 3

Project proposal 4

Campaign against the preconceptions of employment among the young population

Workshops against bullying in schools

Reason/Problem: Increasing unemployment rates among young people, decreasing of the benefits at work, worsening of labor conditions; The need: Raising awareness in society, improvement of labor conditions and benefits, decreasing of age discrimination; What makes the idea unique?: It’s still a current problem and we haven’t seen a campaign tackling this problem; Who? As many countries as possible; Help: European Commission; Participants: Young activists, youth workers associated with the target group and society; When: 3 months, two times a week; How: Workshops, online/campaign, posters, planning; Program: Training course, workshops, conference, evaluation; Methods: NFE, video campaign; Steps to reach the goals: spreading the message about the current employment situation and raise awareness about its consequences; Visibility: social media, posters on the streets, networking with youth organizations, daily newspapers and magazines; Sustainability: Keep a record of the results, constant evaluation.

Needs: Raising awareness, decreasing the violence, to be kinder, more friendly, openminded; Reason/Problem: Violence at home, lack of love and affection, lack of communication, online games consisting violence; What makes the idea unique?: using NFE methods, learning new skills, trust-building activities, learning how to solve problem without violence, gaining effective communication skills; Target group: Children between 13 and 16 years old; Location: in youth centers/ NGO offices; When? 2 days per week (Wednesday and Saturday), during 4 weeks = 8 workshops / One workshop will last for 2 hours; How? Wednesday: NFE and theoretical part, Saturday: practical workshops; Activities: - Getting to know each other/ ICE Breakers; - Going into the topic – group work on mapping out the problem in our local community; - Getting acquainted with Hate Speech; - Visiting the schools and interviewing the classmates; -Watching a movie about bullying: “Wonder”, “13 Reasons why” etc. and discussing about it; -Organising local campaign for raising awareness; -Setting a local campaign day; Visibility: In school newspaper/ Local media; Sustainability: it can take place once per semester.

THE POSTERS The following posters were created during the training course.

Find them on these links, and spread them: www.loesje.org/posterarchive/ advanced https://www.facebook.com/pg/LoesjeBerl in/photos/? tab=album&album_id=1847401498605032

DISCLAIMER

"The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein."

Cover art by: Corina Chirila