Thanks for Saying YES to Tolerance and Human Rights
From 28-30 May, the closing conference of the Different People. One Europe! campaign brought together over 100 people and 40 different organizations from throughout Europe. Campaigning methods and materials were shown at the Diversity Marketplace and hand prints for tolerance and human rights actions were organized throughout the weekend.
Here are a few photos of our action at the Germany – Hungary friendly football match:
Thanks to all supporters and participating organizations:
Participating Organizations
Bulgaria – AlDoRa Association, Chitalishte Aprilov-Palauzov, ELIT Association, Eurointegration Association, Keeping the Bulgarian Spirit School Club, Regional Youth Council Initiative, School Board of Trustees “Nayden Gerov”, Talents Association, Youth and Civic Initiatives in the Rose Valley, Youth Network for Development, Youth Tolerance Association
Denmark – Avedøre Gymnasium, CIYO – Copenhagen International Youth Organization, Crossing Borders, Fokus-A: Association of Kurdish Students and Academicians in Denmark, International Youth Exchange Community
Hungary – Add a Kezed Közhasznú Egyesület, Autonomia Alapítvány, Dél-Somogyi Cigányok Közhasznú Szervezete, Khetanipe a Romák Összefogásáért Egyesület, Mahatma Gandhi Emberi Jogi Egyesület, Phralipe Független Cigány Szervezete, Romano Teatro Kulturális Egyesület, Romaversitas Alapítvány, Romédia Alapítvány, Szubjektív Értékek Alapítvány
Germany – Amaro Drom e.V., Karola e.V., Internationaler Bauorden, MeDIA-RrOMA, RAA-Berlin, Zentralrat Deutscher Sinti und Roma
Macedonia – RROMA
European- European Roma Grassroots Organization, Pakiv European Network, Roma Education Fund
Supporters of the campaign include: the European Commission, the Open Society Institute, under the auspices of the Decade of Roma Inclusion, Creating Effective Grassroots Alternatives (Bu), and Royal Danish Embassy – Budapest, the German Embassy – Budapest, the Embassy of the United States of America in Budapest, the Hungarian Football Association, Gödör Klub.
Give a Hand! Let’s gather at least 1000 hand prints!
GIVE A HAND! 
Say No to racism and yes to tolerance and human rights in Europe
Let’s gather at least 1000 hand prints!
Between 28-30 May a symbolic action is being organized in a number of Budapest locations:
Gödör klub, Puskás Ferenc Stadium and Hotel Benczúr.
The arriving audience of the friendly Hungary – Germany football match can symbolically support tolerance toward minorities with a ’hand print’ on a large, colorful banner. The captains of each team will put a final hand print before the start of the match. Young people from different countries are coming to carry out a visible action in support of tolerance and human rights.
Event background: From 2009-2010 civic organizations and youth in a number of European countries (Bulgaria, Denmark, Hungary, Germany) have been carrying out actions in their communities, in support of the values of tolerance, human rights and diversity. The program, which relates especially to the Roma, will hold its closing conference in Budapest, May 28-29. As part of the conference program, participants will organize a number of events, in which their message will be brought to the attention of a broader audience.
Times and locations:
May 28, Friday,
14:30 – 18:30 – Different People. One Europe! Diversity Marketplace, Hotel Benczúr, 1068 Budapest, Benczúr u. 35.
19:30 – 21:30 – Európa Kiadó – civil programs, Gödör Klub, Budapest, Erzsébet tér
May 29, Saturday,
16:00 – 20:00 – Európa Kiadó – civil programs, Gödör Klub, Budapest, Erzsébet tér
18:00 – 19:30 – Tolerance action prior to the Hungarian-German friendly match, Puskás Ferenc Stadion
May 30, Sunday,
16:00 – 20:00 – Európa Kiadó – civil programs, Gödör Klub, Budapest, Erzsébet tér
Diversity Marketplace in Budapest, Friday, May 28th
JOIN US!
Diversity Marketplace in Budapest, 28 May
Saying NO to Racism and YES to tolerance and human rights in Europe
Budapest to Host European Diversity Marketplace on 28th May 2010
In the context of the Different People One Europe! campaign, a public Diversity Marketplace will take place on 28 May 2010. Civic organizations and young people from all over Europe have been conducting campaign actions in their communities to promote the values of tolerance, human rights and diversity, especially with regards to the Roma community. The marketplace offers over 25 campaigning experiences to improve intercultural understanding and combat harmful stereotypes of Roma and other minorities.
When: Friday, 28 May, Press briefing – 13,30 Marketplace – 14,30-18,30
Where: Hotel Benczúr, 1068 Budapest, Benczúr utca. 35 – Budapest Conference Room
Program:
13:30 – Press briefing
Diversity Marketplace
14:30 -Diversity Marketplace Opening:
- H.E. Ambassador Janetzke–Wenzel, Embassy of Germany
- Agnes Daroczi, Phralipe Independent Roma Association
- Romani Rose, Zentralrat Deutscher Sinti und Roma
15:00 – Highlighted campaigning videos
- Different People. One Europe!
- Typical Roma?
- Mundi Romani
- Music Against Racism in Hungary (ZARE)
- US Embassy Tolerance Campaign
15:30 – Free time to visit campaign tables and leave a handprint for tolerance and human rights
16:30 – Interactive discussion on Kicking Racism out of Football Stadiums, with speaker, Mr. Gibril Dean, Mahatma Gandhi Human Rights Organisation, FARE representative in Hungary, Hungarian Football Association Minority Commission
17:30 – Performances from Different People. One Europe! Campaign – songs and theater (Romano Teatro, Crossing Borders and partners, RAA-Berlin and partners)
Check back for regular updates!
Different People. One Europe! in the eyes of children from Pécs
In April 2010, Khetanipe finalised their One Europe! campaigning activity with an event at the Heroes Square school in Pécs, where the majority of students come from the neighbouring Roma settlement, on the edge of the city. In an after-school activity led by staff of Khetanipe Roma organization, in cooperation with the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service, young Roma and non-Roma children from the school have been learning about the European Union and how to express the meaning of variuos concepts through art. They discussed and painted visualizations of values such as friendship, diversity and acceptance of each other. After much pratice, they worked together to paint two large wall hangings, which for them, represent the meaning of ‘Different People. One Europe!’
So… What has Avedøre Gymnasium been up to?
by Arslan Ismail
The project work for the ‘Different People – One Europe’ has been going on for a while and in Avedøre Gymnasium we have taken the project seriously. We have held meetings weekly and discussed and concluded a lot of things. For example: should we act in the movies we want to make? How can we make this project seem interesting? Where do we want to hang up posters? Yes, a lot of things have been discussed and everyone has had a piece of the cake. We knew it was really important to structure our plan – and so we did! We made some deadlines and that made us work even harder! Everyone had something to give. We’ve been hanging up posters in our school and everywhere else in Avedøre. We’ve made a film too, which was so much fun! And yet we stayed professional. Postcards have been given to tons of people and the response was very overwhelming! Everyone had a face expression saying: “I-want-to-know-more-about-this-project”. Some stayed for 10 minutes chatting with us!
Oh yeah, and there was this old lady accepting taking the postcard and looking at our posters. She stared at it for a second, smiled and calmly said: How lovely is it to see young guys like you trying to make a difference! And there we were admiring ourselves… – A nice experience.
We’re all really excited for the upcoming event at our school. It will be held on 7th of April! We can’t wait to show the rest of the school why we’ve been so busy lately, he he. But we have to keep working on the project because everything isn’t fully done yet. We need to make another video – or two – maybe three. We also have to take more pictures! I mean, who gets tired of taking pictures?
Everything seems under control. So far it has been a pleasure being a part of this project! As a teacher said: “We need more of these projects! You guys works your but* off!”. What can I say? Everyone seems happy!
Upcoming Youth Conference for One Europe!
On 27th -30th of May a final youth conference will take place in Hungary in the framework of the project Different People – One Europe co-financed by the European Commission and the Open Society Institute, under the auspices of the Decade of Roma Inclusion. Over 50 participants from NGOs in 20 localities in Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark and Hungary will come together to reflect on their experiences, showcase their campaigning actions in a Diversity Marketplace and organize a public hand painting event for human rights, tolerance and diversity in the City Center.
The objectives of the conference are to:
- Build capacities amongst youth from Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany and Hungary for strengthening intercultural understanding in their societies through cross border learning, sharing and reflection.
- Improve intercultural understanding amongst youth participating in the workshop, coming from different countries, backgrounds and experiences.
- Articulate concrete methods for improving minority-majority relations, disproving stereotypes and combating discrimination at local levels.
- Generate positive media coverage of local groups organizing for tolerance, human rights and intercultural understanding in Europe.
Yes, Shumen Can!
The title of our previous post was either given by the national coordinator or the administrator of the blog. This was due to the fact that we were so focused on coming up with the title for our movie that we forgot to propose the title for the previous post. However, today we won’t forget! So, here it is: Yes, Shumen can!
Yes! We did it. Our movie is a fact. We finished it on Saturday. Frankly speaking, it exceeded our expectations. And why not, after going through so much trouble! There was swine flu and vacations. We won’t forget the cold and missing our outdoor shooting. We were banned from shooting families in their homes. Interestingly, some of the youth participating in the movie had a low education level, having been dropped out as punishment for their low marks in school. But let’s look at this as philosophical …
Many interesting things happened to us. We learnt for example that in Shumen, there is an Armenian Church. We also realized that the Jewish in our town are just one family. Surprisingly, we didn’t know that when one enters a mosque, one has to take off shoes…Very unexpected was a proposal towards our reporter Slavka – to be a young bride in the Roma neighborhood! Indeed we had a lot of unexpected things happen to us. For example while we were thinking about the script of our movie, we thought of publishing a book with anecdotes. We learnt a lot of anecdotes! Differences and similarities; stereotypes… Here is one of them:
“A man was walking in the desert, almost dying of thirst. In the end he saw an oasis. When he came closer to it, he saw a scary dragon sitting beside it. Scared or not, he had no choice but to confront it. He had a huge fight with the dragon. At some point the dragon stopped and asked him:
– What are you doing man?
– I am fighting.
– Why are you fighting?
– I want to drink water.
– If you want – just drink…
Surely, the work with camera and microphone was not so easy. For the footage, we have no words. But finally here it is! Our movie! 27 precious minutes of curiosity, worries, self showcase arguments, new horizons, new friendships… The title of the movie is trivial: “Different, but Together” (but it has to be focused on the theme).
More real is the other – the one, which was hidden in the sparkling eyes, in the soul – Try for a flight”
No, no wasn’t a try – it was a “Fly”!
Positive Things Can Happen in Our Town….
On 12th February, the Youth and Civil Initiatives in the Rose Valley Association concluded the campaigns in Kindergartens of Karlovo. Through lots of paintings, pictures and interactive games, we touched even the hearts of the youngest. The children were very emotional and natural when they were hugging and kissing to show us their love for one another no matter how different they were. To motivate the kids to play and create together, we gave each group educational games, materials for painting, and mini encyclopedias titled “Why the people are different”. We believe that the administrators of the kindergartens will continue the education on Tolerance using the materials provided.
Despite the cold, unpleasant weather, we staged a final event by organizing a thematic exhibition and a competition at the Youth Information Centre. Many kids and youth from Karlovo and Sopot with different ethnic backgrounds, as well as students from the Daily Centre with different level of handicap took part in the competition. All of them expressed what it means to be tolerant and how to accept others by painting on a white sheet that we had provided. Children from the three kindergartens especially impressed us with their paintings, because they understood the theme very well. Therefore, we awarded them the first prize.
The exhibition is still open for visitors and is being enjoyed by the locals who express their support and the fact that positive things can also happen in our town.
More pictures from our last actions can be seen here: http://mgird.youthbg.net/node/425.
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