CAMPAIGN INFORMATION

CONTENTS

21 MARCH

Why cooperate in European campaigns?

What is prejudice?

Education against prejudice

Voices without Frontiers: Make yourself heard on the radio!

Planning a campaign activity

What can you do?

How UNITED can help

Do you need more information?

Internet

How you can help UNITED

What does the term racism mean?

What is UNITED?

21 March
March 21st was declared International Day for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination by the General Assembly of the United Nations as a reaction to the murder of 69 demonstrators in Sharpeville, South-Africa, in 1960. During the annual European-wide Action Week, which centers around 21 March, thousands of people actively engage themselves for tolerance and equal rights. This year once again hundreds of activities will take place all around Europe, organised by a wide variety of organisations. Activities range from special TV
programs to cleaning the walls of racist slogans.

Why cooperate in European campaigns?
Think globally, act locally
Racism is not a local issue. European campaigns can help set the agenda on all levels. We have to campaign on local, regional and European level to get our point across. By linking local and national actions, we can generate European-wide publicity. We can show that there is an enormous amount of people that believe in an intercultural open society. It gives all participants a new energy to go on with their everyday struggle against racism and intolerance.
You will get motivated and inspired by the ideas and enthusiasm of other people, learn from each others experience and views, generate more publicity because of the scope and size of the activity, mobilise more people as you reach a combined audience, etc.
This year AMARC, the European branch of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, has agreed to work closely with anti-racism activists. Because of that, we have an even bigger possibility of making some good headlines!
If you would like to take part in this campaign, keep in mind that it is the variety and creativity of many different simultaneous activities all over Europe that make the UNITED campaigns unique. There is a common date, and every year a theme emerges that gets special attention. We share a slogan, such as 'Equal Rights: Access for All' in 2001, 'See the Person, Not the Colour' in 2000, 'Raise Your Voice Against Racism' in 1999, 'One Race - Human Race' in 1998 or 'Open Borders - Open Minds' in 1995.
In 2002 we ask everyone to THINK! Free your mind from prejudice!
So: get organised! Find like-minded groups and start planning now!.


What is prejudice?
When you form an opinion about a person, without knowing him, on the basis of assumed characteristics of the group you think he belongs to, then you are prejudiced. Prejudices are complex ideas that are preformed and presumed without being proven right. When they take on a permanent form they are called stereotypes. When someone is prejudiced, he will be inclined to see only those things that confirm his ideas and thus strengthen his prejudice, and the stereotypes he believes in.

Education against prejudice
At the UNITED conferences in Göteborg (S) and St Petersburg (RUS) participants have discussed the European Action Week Against Racism, 16-24 March 2002. They agreed that any Action Week should include activities around education. In fact they suggested that organisers consider introducing a special day of 'Education against Prejudice'.
Education against prejudice includes the concepts of intercultural learning, anti-racism education and education without racism. These concepts are all a little different.
- Anti-racism education is concerned with directly discussing racism and anti-racism. Often teachers and non-governmental organisations work together on shorter term projects to prepare special classes or lessons. An excellent example is the Homebeats CD-rom made by the Institute of Race Relations in Britain. More information:
www.irr.org.uk/publications/index.htm
- Education without racism is a long-term project, that should analyse the methods of education that are being used. Teachers, parents, students and anti-racist activists can go over the material that is being used to teach history, or geography. But a truly non-racist education does not only include non-racist teaching materials, it is also about providing possibilities to students and teachers to complain about racism by students or teachers to a trusted person. Teachers, parents and even students can draft and sign a 'code of good practice' in which the school's policies against racism (or discrimination in general) are set out. You can find a lot of resource material on the site of the governmental Commission for Racial Equality in the UK: www.cre.gov.uk/publs/cat_educ.html
- Intercultural learning includes many methods of learning about the differences between people. Even in a class where students have similar backgrounds, this can open their minds. There is a lot of information on intercultural education available as a result of the 1995 European Youth Campaign "All Different, All Equal". You can find it on the website of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), click on 'publications and educational resources': www.ecri.coe.int


Voices without Frontiers: Make yourself heard on the radio!
Since several years AMARC, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, organises a special event during the Action Week. It involves broadcasting through the Internet, exchanging programmes from one radio to another and making a lot of documentaries and other shows around activities organised by activists in the framework of the Action Week Against Racism. This special event is called 'Voices Without Frontiers'. It is the perfect opportunity to work together with your local community radio broadcaster to let your voice be heard. And by making a lot of publicity around this co-operation, you might make it into the mainstream media too! The first step is to find out what local radios may be interested in working with you. You can contact AMARC or browse their website. Contact: europe@amarc.org, www.amarc.org/europe
If you are unsure about how to approach the media, check out the UNITED information leaflet number 18 about this. It is available on paper and through the internet site www.unitedagainstracism.org (click on 'publications' and 'information leaflets').
It includes information on press releases, on chosing your target and it includes some important contact addresses.


Planning a campaign activity
Keep in mind:
- That the aim should always include protection and empowerment of victims of racism.
- That there is no such thing as 'neutrality' and no such thing as non-political action against racism.
- That getting the issue of racism in your school or in your business out in the open is not ruining the atmosphere. If there was racism, it was already messed up.

Consider the following points:
- What does the campaign aim to achieve? What does your activity aim to achieve?
- What change do you want (short AND long term)?
- Do you really want this activity or would another activity serve just as well?
- Who is the target of the action? Who needs to change, and how?
- What do you need? Who do you need on your side? What partnerships will help you?
- What publicity do you need?
- Try to have a planning group that includes the people most targeted by racism, the people living in the area you work in, the group you want to involve.
- Choose the most appropriate method:
Direct action (non-violent protest actions), political lobbying, public demonstrations, festivals, manifestations, education projects, press action, media.
- Delegate responsibilities.
- Make a time table for the campaign and check it regularly.


What can you do?
All organisations, large and small, can contribute in their own way to the Action Week. Student organisations and teacher-unions frequently take up the occasion of this week to organise special lessons, campus meetings, petitions, etc. Media may be inclined to work with you to produce special issues, TV-programs and radio shows. Public debates, round tables and conferences provide places for reflection and brainstorming. By organising them during the Action Week you give both the week and the activity more weight and more publicity. Many organisations publish their annual report during the Action Week. Last year thousands of people demonstrated against the laws and attitudes that threaten the building of an open intercultural society. We can take this week to show our anger. Street theatre, removing graffiti and other visible actions can alert the public to the existence of the Action Week.


How UNITED can help
You can order copies of this poster, up to 100 are for free. If you need more for special purposes, discuss it with the UNITED office. We will produce a special list of activities taking place all around Europe, which can help you to make contacts and exchange speakers with other groups. You could even link activities through the internet, or by sending faxes of solidarity to other organisations active in the Action Week. The list will be updated several times and will be published on our website www.unitedagainstracism.org. Call UNITED if you cannot find a partner for your activities. We might know of other NGOs in your country who are planning something. A media release will be sent out to all important European press agencies, newspapers, etc. If you feel that we should include a specific media contact from your country in our list, let us know. Journalists who want to know about specific activities will be informed about events in their country and are referred to the organisations involved. The community radio broadcasters, united in the AMARC network, have agreed to work with non-governmental organisations that will organise activities in the Action Week. Their contact addresses are available through the UNITED secretariat and through the internet sites of UNITED and AMARC. UNITED will produce a European report after the Action Week, including as many of the activities that took place as possible. The report is spread throughout Europe to support NGOs in reporting to their sponsors and to inspire action for next year. You can order copies of last year's report for inspiration and motivation. Just let us know what you need. We can only do this with your help!!
If your organisations wants to join the campaign, you can order extra posters and/or postcards. Send/fax/e-mail us your planned activities (title, date, theme, place) and the name, address and contact person of your organisation. Maximum 100 posters for free. If you need more for special purposes, contact us.


Do you need more information?
UNITED can provide you with a wealth of information. You can order a copy of the European Address Book Against Racism to find similar organisations in other countries, or in your own country. You can phone or e-mail the secretariat to find out who else is organising something. You can check the UNITED website to order the campaign poster, or other campaign material to use in your own way.
A full list of anti-racism magazines can also be found in the European Address Book Against Racism and on the UNITED website.


Internet
If you need to find information, internet is a wonderful medium. Good places to start your search for anti-racism news are the following websites:
- UNITED's home in cyberspace: www.unitedagainstracism.org
- Largest collection of anti-racism links on Internet: www.magenta.nl/crosspoint
- The Internet Centre Anti-Racism Europe: www.icare.to
- AMARC, World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (European branch): www.amarc.org/europe or www.amarc.org/vsf-europe


How you can help UNITED
Help us make the media release exciting! Announce your activities to us! Send us your announcements, invitations, leaflets and posters before the activities take place.
Help us make the report complete. Make sure your activity is included! Send us reports, newspaper articles, flyers, photographs, posters etc. after the event for the European report. The material does not have to be in English.


What does the term racism mean?
Racism is the belief that some people are superior because they belong to a particular 'race'. Racists define a 'race' as a group of people with common ancestry. They distinguish different races from one another by physical characteristics, such as skin colour and hair texture. In fact, there are no clear differences, and especially no significant differences that matter. Recent research shows that 'race' is an imagined entity. 'Race' has no biological basis.
The word 'racism' is used to describe abusive or aggressive behaviour towards members of a so-called 'inferior race'. Racism takes different forms in different countries, according to history, culture and other social factors. A relatively new form of racism, sometimes called 'ethnic or cultural differentiation', says that all races or cultures are equal but they should not mix together to keep their originality.
There is no scientific proof of the existence of different races. Biology has only determined one race: the human race.

What is UNITED?
UNITED for Intercultural Action is the European network against nationalism, racism, fascism and in support of migrants and refugees.
Racism, nationalism, fascism, discrimination, restrictive asylum policies These issues have a European dimension. It is important to fight intolerance on all levels. Linked through UNITED, more than 550 organisations from a wide variety of backgrounds, from all European countries, work together on a voluntary basis. They base their cooperation on common actions and shared activities on a mutual respect. UNITED is and will remain independent from all political parties, organisations and states, but seeks an active co-operation with other anti-racist initiatives in Europe.
Through the UNITED network organisations meet each other, work on common actions and share information. European-wide action weeks, campaigns and such are planned and discussed on UNITED conferences. Like-minded organisations find each other on such conferences and work together on specific projects and on specific topics. The workers in the secretariat are in constant contact with the network organisations, ensuring that information and proposals for action are transmitted rapidly. Information is received from more than 1900 organisations and mailings go out to over 2000 groups in Europe.
If you want to get involved Discuss the ideas and aims of the UNITED network within your organisation. Let us know that your organisation would like to join or receive information. And add us to your mailing list!!

Up

UNITED for Intercultural Action
European network against nationalism, racism, fascism
and in support of migrants and refugees
Postbus 413, NL-1000 AK Amsterdam, Netherlands
phone +31-20-6834778, fax +31-20-6834582
info@unitedagainstracism.org, www.unitedagainstracism.org