All in the Same Boat - Booklet of Good Practices by Nika Bakhsoliani

ALL IN THE SAME BOAT becoming activist against hate

Erasmus+

booklet of good practices

ALL IN THE SAME BOAT becoming activist against hate

Preface

No Hate Speech Movement

Broadcast dedicated to World Refugee Day

A Citizen Initiative

Write Something...

Marhaba

Projectify it!

Open Your Heart - Say no to Hate Speech

Play for Inclusion

The Dutchies

Let’s hear the Kids

Andr e Contemporary practices against hate speech are important to be discussed.

NL ia

We created the “All in the Same Boat” project as a response to the increasing “hate speech” against migrants and minorities, and its harmful consequences in our communities. Our aim was to empower youth to become activists against hate and any form of discrimination. We learned about the theme and developed many local actions. This booklet concerns the most recent. Here you can read a summary of the different local actions that happened in 8 different countries in Europe during the summer of 2017. We hope to inspire you and to give you motivation to join our group of “activists”. Then, you can start a local Training Course in Porto action yourself. The more we are, the greater the impact will be. From the list you can find easier to more comYouth Exchange in Bansko plicated activities. If you want more information about any of them, Intermediate Phase contact me and I will put you in contact with the ones responsible for the action. Seminar in Rotterdam So, join us in the journey! In the end, we are all in the same boat…

Table of Contents:

Andreia BESSA Project coordinator Stichting CAAT Projects a.m.m.n.s.bessa@gmail.com

Design by Nika BAKHSOLIANI

About the movement Internet offers us the possibility to create, publish, distribute and consume media content fostering therefore a space of full participation, engagement and self-expression. With the development of social networks we all can participate in cyberspace in a variety of ways ranging from keeping in touch with your friends and developing new contacts to sharing content and exploring your self-expression. This online space gives us new opportunities: engaging with others for causes that we care for. But we may equally be victim and agent of abuse and human rights violations, among them, hate speech in various forms and cyberbullying. The online world is not without values either. Hate speech* as such is not a new issue on the Internet, nor in the human rights debate. Its online dimension and the potential damage on democratic processes gives us all new reasons to act. "Hate speech, as defined by the Council of Europe, covers all forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify racial hatred, xenophobia, anti-Semitism or other forms of hatred based on intolerance, including: intolerance expressed by aggressive nationalism and ethnocentrism, discrimination and hostility against minorities, migrants and people of immigrant origin."

The No Hate Speech Movement is composed of national campaigns in over 40 countries which together with European partners and online activists work to implement the campaign objectives and priorities for 2016 and 2017. The project is based on youth participation and co-management. It was initiated by the youth representatives in the Joint Council on Youth, the committee which brings together youth leaders from the Advisory Council on Youth and the governmental youth representatives of the European Steering Committee on Youth. The project is therefore being carried out by young people with the support of governmental youth institutions. The campaign mainly operates on the online platform www.nohatespeechmovement.org where anyone can join and share resources and experiences. It also hosts the Hate Speech Watch, an online tool for reporting, monitoring and education on hate speech. It also provides information on national reporting mechanisms. The campaign’s main target groups are the public at large and Internet users, with specific attention given to young users. “Victims” and “haters” are also considered through specific measures and throughout the wider project.

The Campaign is part of the project Young People Combating Hate Speech Online running between 2012 and 2018. The project stands for equality, dignity, human rights and diversity. It is a project against hate speech, racism and discrimination in their online expression.

Throughout the campaign two educational manuals have been created - “Bookmarks - A Manual for Combating Hate Speech Online Through Human Rights Education" and ”We CAN! - Taking Action against Hate Speech through Counter and Alternative Narratives"

The working methods are awareness raising, advocacy, and it also seeks for creative solutions. It is a project for action and intervention. The project equips young people and youth organisations with the competences necessary to recognize and act against such human rights violations.

The source: www.nohatespeechmovement.org

ALL IN THE SAME BOAT becoming activist against hate Title: Broadcast dedicated to World Refugee Day Complexity: ★★★★☆ Duration: 15 days Organisations: Be International and Radio R Place: Radio R in the Faculty of Social Studies of Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic Resources: Technical environment suitable for broadcasting (you can approach your town’s youth/community radio or a bigger broadcasting station), graphics for a communication strategy, sound editing software for recordings, and a clouding service to upload the recordings.

great and inspiring the community of Syrians living in Brno could be. Anas Arb and Ondřej Klus, members of the project, talked about how it influenced its participants and about what comes from cultural “mixture”. The third part was dedicated to fake news and current media trends, and was hosted by Jakub Macek, an expert on new media. In the fourth part, we presented the No Hate Speech Movement and ways in which people can participate.

Format: Live radio broadcast, and podcasts provided afterwards, used as a new form of information and propagation against hate speech, and as a tool to raise awareness about the No Hate Speech Movement and to get people engaged in Radio R’s work and learning mobility projects.

Result: Because of this broadcast, we gained a new pack of information which has an interesting audio format. You can find the broadcast here: https://www.mixcloud.com/Radio_R/playlists/world-refugee-day/. Feel free to use it and share it.

Objectives: • To lead a debate about refugees and their situation in Czech Republic with youth workers and experts in academic areas; • To build and share know-how for youth to participate into the No Hate Speech Movement, involving them in activities against hate speech. • To provide information about media approaches towards refugees and to understand mechanisms used in the media, detecting stigmatization and fake news.

Step-by-step: 1. Reach out to hosts and inform them about your broadcast idea. 2. Combine guests, topics and methods and mix formats. 3. Create some great graphics to promote your event. 4. Find a good strategy to advert your broadcast online and offline. 5. Record! 6. Make the podcasts available to the widest public possible thanks to diverse media.

Dan y

Description: The radio broadcast consisted of 4 blocs, which were filled with discussions about the topics of migration, media representations of refugees, aid to those fleeing emergencies, and the media’s approach to this issue. Our first host was Jan Motal, an expert on media ethics. His segment focused on how media can contribute to the stigmatization and dehumanization of refugees, and which approaches should be used. The second part was dedicated to the project Syreczech, which is showing how

Challenges: • Finding interesting hosts with good presentation skills. • Time management – it is important to start planning the event early.

Making the podcasts available online and in English language helps to disseminate it easily!

Tips & tricks • Prepare the Facebook event in advance and promote the hosts – it will help you to reach out to more people • Do the interviews in English – it will help you to spread them to a wider audience • Upload recordings of the interviews as soon as possible www.beinternational.cz contact@beinternational.cz

ALL IN THE SAME BOAT becoming activist against hate Title: A Citizen Initiative - A proposal for policy makers to change/remove/reformulate a law Complexity: ★★★★★ Duration: 1-2 years Place: An initiative can take place anywhere in the world, as long as it relates to citizens’ rights, and is based on providing a critical mass of signatures showing support for change. Depending on the proposal, it can be done on a municipal, state or regional (such as EU) level. The timespan and the rules of an initiative differ from country to country, so you’ll need to check the legislation of your country. Resources: To formulate an initiative, you’ll need to think it through very carefully. That is why the most important thing you’ll need is time. It is also very advisable to consult professionals that know the law (for example you can ask your friends, acquaintances or contacts who study (or have studied) law). After creating the initiative, you’ll need to advertise your initiative, for example in order to collect enough signatures in a given timespan. Use social media, face-to-face street marketing and if you have resources, create a website for your initiative where you’ll explain what your initiative is about and its background. You might need help of somebody with marketing skills to receive enough social and media attention for your initiative.

Description: A group of people makes a request to the policy makers. Citizens’ initiatives cannot be run by organisations. However, organisations can support or promote initiatives provided that they do so with full transparency. An initiative must collect a certain amount of signatures in a given timespan to be taken into consideration. For example in Finland you need 50 000 signatures in 6 months and in the EU you’ll need one million in 12 months. The procedure differs from place to place, so check the legislation first.

Result: A change or a removal of a law or creating a new law. Step-by-step: 1. Think what you want to change and on which level of legislation. Is it something on a local level or on EU-level? Research the existing legislation. Make a strategic plan. 2. Form a working group. Make a timeframe for writing the initiative. In the process of writing, remember to ask all members of the working group to read through the initiative. It is also important to consult a professional in law. Correct the initiative if needed before publishing it. 3. Make a strategy plan for marketing your initiative and prepare the networks that you have decided to use to spread the information about the initiative. And remember also to think with whom you could co-operate and contact them. 4. Publish your initiative. Start collecting signatures for your initiative. Advertise it. Motivate your team. Send a press-releases. Be creative in order to attract media attention. Be positive and ambitious. Miia Remember that making an F initiative needs a lot of work Making an initiative to affect a law so remember to rest once in a needs a lot of work and dedication, while. however... ...We Can! 5. Hand over your initiative for the policy makers. If it goes through, it will be a huge thing and a step towards a better world. Thumbs up.

Objectives: • To affect legislation by reformulating or removing an existing law or making a new one; • To generate debates and conversations on political level; • To make citizens aware of a need/mistake/inequality in legislation.

Challenges: The process of writing the initiative can be challenging. After you publish the initiative it can’t be changed at all. It is very advisable to consult someone who knows the law very well to make sure that your initiative can make a difference and that it doesn’t overlap with the existing legislation.

ALL IN THE SAME BOAT becoming activist against hate Title: Write something... Complexity: ★★☆☆☆ Duration: 2/60 days Organisations: individual Place: local park, Kocaeli, Turkey Resources: Printed photos, social media, wire and pegs. Theme/format: Open-air action aiming to turn online activism offline to put every social group in touch with the No Hate Speech Movement and to raise awareness about violence and Human Rights through visual communication. Objectives: • To tackle xenophobia in public opinion, and raise awareness of the issue; • To incentivize youth to be involved in activism through online media; • To reach out to an older public who are not online, exposing them to digital material transposed into real life.

Tips & tricks: • This project can be implemented also by single individuals • If it risks raining, have an indoor place as back up; • Find out what you need to draw people’s attention to your place - or think twice about the place before choosing it; • Taking digital material to symbolic meeting points of your city can take the attention of people who do not have access to Internet and can access only Belka selected media. Online campaign can reach out to wider public quite easily on the social media.

Challenges: • To engage participants and reach an high number of people; • The project took place in a difficult context where not all citizens initiatives are welcomed.

Step-by-step: 1. Plan and activate an online campaign using (audio)visual material and your network. 2. Compile selfies by offering contact details and #hashtags. 3. Select a space(s) and request the necessary authorizations to use it. 4. Prepare the exhibition space(s). 5. Put up and tighten wires, and hang the photos with pegs. 6. Host the exhibition and be proactive during the event by providing the guests with information about the No Hate Speech Movement. 7. Survey the opinions of the guests and ask them to write down their own statements.

Description: The project had its origin in the Facebook suggestion “Write something…”, which we decided to take offline in three phases: Firstly, the photo campaign, that can be summarised as taking selfies holding a post-it with a statement or a desire and the hashtag of the campaign (#nohatespeechmovement #allinthesameboat #sameboat #nohate #noh8). The second stage involved exhibiting the photos in a public, outdoor place. The third part was about running a survey of exhibition attendees.

Impact/result: In the two days the project took place in, more than 50 people reacted to the campaign with their participation. Over 40 people then attended the exhibition during its two hour duration.

ALL IN THE SAME BOAT becoming activist against hate Title: Marhaba Complexity: ★★★★☆ Duration: 2-4 weeks Organisations: Esplora, Municipality of Itri and local SPRAR project Place: Giovanni Ialongo park, Itri (Latina), Italy Resources: Financial resources (through grants, fundraising or organizations supporting you), Human Resources, ingredients for the food (prepared by volunteers), live music (local or topic-related bands) and logistical organization. This innitiative was financially supported by the Municipality of Itri. Format: One-night Festival in the public park of Itri, -Italy. The festival gathered together the population of the town and newcomers, hosted in the SPRAR system and two other centers hosting asylum seekers.

Jo se

Objectives: • Offer a space for dialogue between the population and the public institution; • Open a space for interaction between the population and the people hosted in shelters for refugees and asylum seekers; • Facilitate the involvement of the new citizens in the local community; • Discus with the population possible issues, challenges and new inclusion strategies regarding refugees and asylum seekers; • Creation of an IT h informal space p where people can Food, dance and music is the best for interact and get to connecting people. Don’t forget to know each other; use at leas one of these ingredients. • Offer the possibility to the population of Itri to get to know more about the cultural traditions of the guests; • Gather people together through music, dance and food. Description: The event was divided into three phases: • Introduction of the event, presentation of

the No Hate Speech campaign and the All In The Same Boat project; • 30 minute concert by a choir created within one of the hosting centers for asylum seekers; • Conference “The inclusion process in our town”. One- hour open dialogue between the population and the Mayor of Itri, the Municipal Councilor for Social welfare, the social workers representative of SPRAR system, the president of Esplora organization to present the inclusion activities developed during the last 3 years and discus new inclusion strategies. • Open dinner for everyone. With the help of the refugees involved in SPRAR system a multicultural dinner has been offered to the population. The menu was decided and prepared by a group of refugees to share their native Country’s most famous dishes. • 2 hours concert by an Italian folk group “Sancto Janne”. The group is involved in social awareness campaign. Challenges: • Coordinating all the involved actors; • Fundraising; • Manage the rumors; • Maintaining positive communication with the local hosting community; • Timing. Results: The event was implemented on July 8th, 2017 with the involvement of more than 200 people. Being held in a public park gave a lot of visibility, and facilitated the participation of citizens. The promotion campaign was implemented through posters around the town in the majors pubs and bars, as well as online. The event had a strong impact on the refugees themselves, who at the beginning were very shy but got the opportunity to break the ice with the community, enjoying the same music together. After this event our association started a partnership with the SPRAR project (System of protection for asylum seekers and refugees) Tips and tricks: • An event like this should be planned at least three months in advance, because it needs long preparation with involvement of different actors; • Networking is a keyword for a better implementation and a wider dissemination; • Food, dance and music is the best way for connecting people. Don’t forget to use at least one of these ingredients.

ALL IN THE SAME BOAT becoming activist against hate Title: Projectify It! Complexity: ★★★☆☆ Duration: 1 day; Organisations: Youthnet Hellas Place: Larissa, Greece Resources: Printed photos, social media, wire and pegs. Theme/format: an offline activity/open event. Objectives: • to inform the local community about your project and about the campaign you are supporting, (ex. No Hate Speech Movement - NHSM) • to bring participants from different countries closer to each other and motivate them • to interact with and inform the locals.

Challenges: • language barriers • it was harder to reach out to older people who were interested on our project but there were some exceptions. Impact/result: Participants told us that it helped them to understand more deeply the messages of the NHSM campaign because they had to discuss the message with the locals. Although the locals had various reactions to our open event, younger people and parents with young children were more engaged in a discussion with our participants.

Tips & tricks: • If you have older participants in your project, encourage them to approach older people. • In case of language barriers, ask your local participants to help with the translation • Don’t push anybody! Some participants might feel comfortable approaching and talking to strangers while others might not. Encourage your participants to get out of their comfort zone but don’t overdo it. Everybody can help in various ways for example gathering and distributing the material etc. • Take pictures! It will increase the visibility of your project and also you can use them to advertise your future actions.

Nata s There are many opportunities for young people to organise an international educational activities in Europe.

GR a,

Description: This is a step by step guide on how to connect your ongoing international project with the local community through an open event organized and facilitated by your participants. The open event that we organized took place within the project ChaNCe, which was a continuation for the No Hate Campaign with 20 youth workers and youngsters from Norway and Greece. We organized a happening on a busy market square of Larissa in Greece. Participants informed locals about NHSM campaign by discussing with them and distributed material of the campaign.

Step-by-step: 1. Inform the participants about the NHSM campaign and make sure they understand it properly. 2. Gather and prepare promotional material (balloons, pins, stickers, flyers, music) to make your event more visible. Inform the local authorities about the event and ask for the permission if needed. 3. Motivate your participants. 4. Choose a convenient place and time for your action and advertise it 5. Hold the event and remember to have fun 6. Reflect and discuss after the event. Do the debriefing.

ALL IN THE SAME BOAT becoming activist against hate Title: Open your heart - say no to hate speech Complexity: ★★★★☆ Duration: 2 hours; Organisations: Alternativi international Place: Petrich’s Municipal hall and Middle School “BratyaPetar and Ivan Kanazirevi” conference hall in Razlog, Buglaria Resources: human resources, info-booklets and flyers, projector. Theme: School workshop Objective: to involve young people in the no hate speech theme Description: The workshop started off with an explanaition of what the "All in the same boat" project is about; presentation of “Who wants to be a millionaire” type quiz; play "The journey - Istanbul" board game; present a brochure about the 4 types of defence in Bulgaria made by our classmates; debates about the refugee crisis, read award-winning essays related to the refugee crisis; human rights talk presented by main municipality judges; present a video about the destiny of the refugees made through the lenses of Bulgarian photographers; small talks with EVS volunteers about the refugee crisis.

Step-by-step 1. Make a plan of the event; 2. Ask the school authorities about permission and place; 3. Invite speakers who are experts on the topic; 4. Invite guests. Tips and tricks: • To work in both a formal and non-formal way, and secure wider participation of young people with experience in non- formal activities as mentors; • to engage local media more extensively; • to make impactful photos which provoke discussions; • to share personal stories; • to look for support from local youth organisations.

Description: A football tournament for children between 10 and 14 years old, organised by the EVS volunteers of Alternativi International. The tournament was timed to mark World Refugee Day on 20th of June 2017, and aimed to raise awareness of the refugee crisis and promote solidarity. Resources: Playground rent, No-hate speech t-shirts, Cake, football cup and other prize for the participants and Human resources Challenges: • Engaging the people in the event; • Getting permission for using the land; • Popularising the event. Step-by-step 1. Book a playground; 2. Search for players for the teams; 3. Provide a referee; 4. Preparation of no-hate speech merchandising materials; 5. Implementation of the tournament; 6. Final evaluation of the event;

Yank a If organising a football match against xenophobia and racism, ask www.farenet.org for help.

Tips and tricks: - Promote the event in a funny and interesting way to catch youngsters’ attention; - Ask local media for help; - Promote the event in schools in order to gather more participants.

Challenges: lack of trust from the school authorities, difficult communication with the local media (only the headmaster can do it), lack of interest in the topic Impact: increased interest in such activities, new “no hate speech” ambassadors Duration: 2 hours

Title: Play for inclusion Organisation Alternativi international Place: Kucherinovo, Blagoevgrad Theme: Football tournament Duration: 3 hours Objectives: To send a message of understanding, equality and tolerance between youngsters by making them play together and take care of each other

ALL IN THE SAME BOAT becoming activist against hate Title: The Dutchies Complexity: ★★☆☆☆ Duration: 1-2 hours Organisations: CAAT projects Place: Amsterdam DamSquare, The Netherlands Resources: Cartons, printer, glue, scissors, No Hate Speech Movement merchandise like balloons and pins. Format: Street action aiming to put every social group in touch with the No Hate Speech Movement, and to raise awareness about violence and Human Rights through discussions and interviews in the local square. Objective: • To raise awareness and motivate critical thinking.

Description: We organized street interviews in a very busy square in order to take photos and shoot videos involving a public of diverse ages, nationalities, and backgrounds. We photographed people with handmade #nohate frames to give visibility to the project. Catia People led the conversation with their Work in advance to request a famous opinion, while person their participation in the revealing their campaign, that boosts the visibility. humanity through our questions: What do you think about the migrants in your country? Are you aware of hate speech towards migrants? And how is it in your country, from your own perspective? What do you think about cyberbullying? Have you ever witnessedin online bullying? What message would you like people to reflect on?

Challenges: • Resistance to dialogue from local citizens • Dealing with frustration with not being able to break through the lack of understanding and tolerance of some people one encounters. Impact/result: We got many positive answers and attitudes towards migrants. An example: “Migrants are a plus, which is good: migrants bring diversity and that makes our country evolve.” We hope that these attitudes are inspiring others to actively and openly show similar believes. Step-by-step: 1. Gather your group and brainstorm to find the best idea(s) for your street action. 2. Choose a place and time. 3. Check if you need permissions or if there are other obstacles you might face. 4. Collect the necessary materials for your action - recycling is always best and craft frames and other props you eventually need. 5. Prepare your questions and test your script. 6. Just do it: approach people on the spot, take photos, ask a written permission to use them and do it all again; discussions will feed your energies during all the activity. 7. Spread the results online and let the No Hate Speech Movement reach further. Tips & tricks: • Fun Tip: Work in advance to request a famous person their participation, a public statement and/or a video answering the questions; • You need a licence/permission to use many public and private spaces, so inquire beforehand • Be able to get out of your comfort zone and be self-confident and assertive to step out to people

ALL IN THE SAME BOAT becoming activist against hate Title: Let’s hear the kids Complexity: ★★★★☆ Duration: 1-4 months (4 sessions of 1 hour) Organisations: SOS Racism and CREFA Place: Primary school Escola EB1 JI do Sol in Porto Resources: an audio recorder, a camera, a computer, an audio editing program and a video-editing program. Theme: social inclusion with vulnerable communities Objectives: • Educate children about Human Rights; • Understanding of the Discrimination concept; • motivating critical thinking Description: We interviewed children about their friendships and their opinions on discrimination. We filmed and recorded the interviews, which we then edited to produce a short video clip. It was first published on Social media, and then used in a No Hate exhibition open to everyone. Challenges: • Unwillingness to participate from the children • Communication and lack of vocabulary

Step-by-step: 1. Request the necessary permissions to use spaces and prepare the activity. 2. Get to know the kids with some non-formal activities. 3. Reflect on and write down the questions in a line to guide yourself through. 4. Divide the kids into pairs for the interviews. 5. Produce audio-visual material. 6. Edit photos and videos and use them for dissemination. Tips & tricks: • If the children’s answers are too short, ask further questions to help them think more critically; • Try to motivate kids who are not willing to participate, but do not force them, so focus on the more active ones.

www.sosracismo.pt http://www.sosracismo.pt/category/nucleo-do-porto catapulta.e6g@sosracismo.pt

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Interviews as a tool for communication can help to develop an empathy.

Impact/results: After the interviews, the children began to use more empathetic and warm speech towards each other. They became more curious about other countries and other cultures. An international pen-pal movement was started.

EM I SE N

A N S SI

Erasmus+ A

This project was supported by the Dutch National Agency of Erasmus+ www.erasmusplus.nl under the European Commission programme Erasmus+. Council of Europe Youth Department has supported the project with the learning materials. The project was inspired by the No Hate Speech Movement. The project was implemented by the CAAT Projects, which is based in the Netherlands.