Colour Your Picture

Europe is experiencing a growing discrimination especially towards migrant and minority groups. Governments have the responsibility to build anti-discrimination measures and protect equal rights of people. Instead we have poor reactions of state institutions, political parties and media that even put the blame on discriminated groups themselves. Innocent people continue to be victims of racism.

Violence, killings, hate crimes, beatings are a few examples of manifestations of racial discrimination that are regularly reported all over Europe. The alarming growth of racial motivated attacks is a clear sign that we need to work out together a strong strategy. Only in Russia, there were no less than 270 racially motivated attacks documented, affecting a total of 472 people including 53 deaths, in the period of January 1 to October 31, 2007 (source: SOVA Center, Russia)

Promote solidarity, Colour your diversity!

It is important that we all inform people in our communities about the social effect of racism.

Today we can travel, work and live in other countries in Europe, but we experience a clash of differences on social level and we are confronted with social exclusion, which endangers daily life of migrant groups in Europe.

Look Deeper - See the colours, don’t see black and white!

Non-governmental organisations, media, governments, we should work together to promote solidarity and the benefits of diversity, as an important strategy to make Europe a space where everybody can equally participate.

At the UNITED conference in Azerbaijan in October 2007, representatives of active groups from 32 European countries discussed strategies for the European-wide Action Week Against Racism 2008 and exchanged experiences: It is important that we work united because our message will be stronger.

21 March

21 March was declared International Day for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimnation by the General Assembly of the United Nations as a reaction to the murder of 69 anti-apartheid demonstrators in Sharpeville, South Africa, in 1960. During the annual European-wide Action Week, which centres around 21 March, thousands of people actively engage themselves for tolerance, equal rights and celebrate the diversity of Europe. This year once again hundreds of activities will take place all around Europe, organised by a wide variety of organisations. Activities range from intercultural youth festivals to cleaning the walls of racist slogans, or multicultural football matches.

What does 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.

From: 'The Danger of Words: Definitions of concepts most used in anti-racist work', UNITED Information Leaflet No. 13.

Why cooperate in campaigns?

>Colour your picture! - Kick racism out of it!<
Racism is not a local issue and the 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 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 other's experience and views, generate more publicity because of the scope and size of the activity, etc. If you would like to take part in this campaign, keep in mind that it is the variety and creativity of many different activities all over Europe that make the UNITED campaigns unique.

What you can do!

All organisations, large and small, can contribute in their own way to the Action Week. In fact it is not important for an effective action to have lots of financial resources: it’s more the creativity and originality that counts. The European campaign aims to raise awareness in all relevant sectors of society. Three main targets are the media, youth and the general public:

Media is essential in the campaign action with the purpose of raising awareness in the public opinion and it may be inclined to work with you to produce special issues, TV programs and radio shows. Especially local media often get in contact with local organisations to produce special programs.
Youth organisations and teachers' unions frequently take up the occasion of this week to organise special lessons, campus meetings, petitions and workshops. In fact it's very important to involve youngsters into actions. In that way they take a role in decision-making processes and they have possibilities to develop more self-confidence and self-assessment.
Public debates, round tables and conferences provide space for reflection and brainstorming. By organising them during the Action Week you give both the Week and the activity more weight and more publicity. You can take up the occasion of the Week to write petitions to politicians or publish media releases. Many organisations publish their annual report during the Action Week. Removing graffiti and other visible actions can alert the public to the message of the Week.

Join the campaign

Do you believe in the active struggle against racism? Join the campaign and order more copies of this poster for free. Send or fax or e-mail information about your activities (title, date, theme, place) to UNITED and the name, address
and contact person of your organisation.

Planning a campaign activity

Keep in mind:

The aim should always include protection and empowerment of victims of racism.
There is no 'neutrality' in relation to racism.
Getting the issue of racism in your school or in your workplace out in the open is not ruining the atmosphere: If there was racism, it was already bad.

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 your purpose 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?

Try to have a planning group that includes the people most targeted by racism, the people living in the area where you work, youth groups, minority groups...
Choose the most appropriate method: Direct action (non-violent protest actions), political lobbying, public demonstration, intercultural party, educational projects in schools and youth clubs, press action, media...
Delegate responsibilities.
Make a timetable for the campaign and check it regularly.

How UNITED can help

You can order campaign material, up to 100 posters for free. But if you need more for special purposes, don't hesitate to contact UNITED.
We will produce a special List of Activities, documenting all the different activities during the campaign and the strength of the anti-racist movement throughout Europe. The list can help you to make contacts and exchange ideas with other groups. You could even link activities through the internet, or by sending messages of solidarity to other organisations active in the Action Week. It will be updated several time 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 activities.
A media release will be sent out to all the 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.
UNITED will produce a European report after the Action Week, including asmany 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.

Do you need more information?

You can order a copy of the European Address Book Against Racism to find like-minded 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.
If you need to find more anti-racism news, Internet is a wonderful medium.

How you can help UNITED

Help us to make the media release exciting! Announce your activities to us! Send us your ideas, invitations, leaflets and posters before the activities take place. Help us make the post-campaign report complete and affecting. Make sure your activity is included! Send us reports, newspaper articles, photographs, etc. after the event for the European report. The material does not have to be in English. And last but not least: Just let us know what you need.

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 migration and asylum policies, these issues have a European dimension. It is important to fight intolerance on all levels. Linked through UNITED, more than 560 organisations and youth organisations from a wide variety of backgrounds, from all European countries, work together on a voluntary basis. They base their cooperation on common actions, shared activities and on 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 and campaigns are planned and discussed at UNITED conferences. Like-minded organisations meet each other at 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 2000 organisations and mailings go out to about 2500 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 to receive information. And add UNITED to your mailing list!

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