14/05/2023
Greece
participants
The goal of the event was to raise awareness in the topic of discrimination, and together with the participants to brainstorm ways to tackle this on-going issue. Issues such as racism,transphobia, ableism, hate speech, etc are an every day reality in Greece. That is why we aimed in providing our participants with necessary knowledge and tools regarding these sensitive topics, for them to be able to identify instances of discrimination and be able to do something about it. As volunteers in an organisation where social inclusion is a pilar and an ideology, we take matters of discrimination very seriously, and we tried to transfer that passion to the people who attended our event. As ESN Ioannina, we also wanted to gain recognition and potential recruitment through this activity.
The event started on Saturday, with a safe space activity. The activity’s aim was to make participants feel comfortable amongst the new people around them. Since, we were going to discuss sensitive topics, we wanted to make sure that nobody would feel excluded.
After that we continued with a small session about the difference of hate speech and freedom of speech. After the coffee break, we had the first 90min workshop on Discrimination in the online sphere, and ways to tackle it. Last session of the day was focused on human rights and included a theatrical game, as a way for the participants to feel closer to the ideas that we were discussing during the day.
On Sunday, the day started with a session on advocacy, where the pax got the opportunity to learn how to approach advocacy in a way that can bring the results they want, especially when it comes to advocating for equality or against discrimination. Then, we proceeded to have a session on how ESN & Mobility can contribute in the elimination of racism and discrimination. During the session, the pax got the opportunity to discuss multicultural ideas, ideas of unity in diversity and the importance of our network in the fight towards equality.
The day ended with the participants creating their own emotional Maslow Pyramid of Needs,and comparing it to victims of discrimination & minorities. Then, they got to discuss ways to help these communities of people have their needs met by society.
We believe that through the sessions that we organised, the pax will be able to tackle online discrimination, spread ideas of unity & equality and become part of the solution when it comes to the eradication of discriminatory behaviours in Europe.
This activity is part of the project:
Developing Youth Voices