CAMPAIGN INFOLEAFLET

Why November 9th?
November 9th 1938 was the date of the "Kristallnacht" pogrom in Nazi Germany. Three days earlier, on November 6th, a Jew, Herschel Grynszpan, who was angry at the increasingly repressive measures being adopted in Germany against Jews, took revenge by shooting the diplomat Ernst vom Rath at the German embassy in Paris. The diplomat died two days later and news of his death reached Germany on November 9th. This started a massive nation-wide pogrom, secretly organised by a section of the Nazi party, which left many Jews dead in the streets, and hundreds of Jewish businesses and synagogues burnt, smashed and destroyed. It marked the beginning of the Holocaust, the systematic murder of 6 million Jews, over a million Roma and Sinti, gay people as well as communists, trade unionists and many others.


Never again!
At European level, commemorations of November 9th have taken place since the 50th anniversary in 1988. The commemoration has taken on a new meaning as we remember not only the victims from 1938, but also campaign against the rise of neo-nazism and racism in Europe today, and show support for the recent victims of racist and fascist attacks.
We commemorate how the fascist regime came to power, we commemorate how violence against minorities became commonplace, we commemorate how the borders of the European states were being shut for Jews escaping Germany.
We protest against:
- the extreme-right rising again
- violence against minorities
- the policies that shut refugees out.
Of course we are not saying that in 1998 democratically elected European governments are deliberately pursuing racist and anti-Semitic policies of genocide in the way that the Nazi regime did. Nonetheless, our governments have major responsibilities which, when neglected, can have dangerous and even fatal consequences.


JOIN THE CAMPAIGN!

How YOU can get involved
It is the variety and creativity of many different simultaneous activities all over Europe that make the UNITED campaigns unique. You are completely free to choose your own way of organising, while respecting
- the common themes:
the commemoration of "Kristallnacht"
protest against: rise of the extreme-right, violence against minorities and inhumane refugee policies
- and the common date: on and around 9/11/98

There are several good reasons to cooperate in (European) campaigns:
Together we:
- motivate and inspire each other
- learn from other experiences and ideas
- generate more publicity
- mobilise more people


How UNITED can help
We will produce a special "Calendar" of activities taking place all around Europe, which can help you to make contacts and exchange speakers with other groups.
It 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 that are preparing 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.
At the forthcoming UNITED conference in Dublin (14-18 October) further co-ordination and preparation will take place. The results of this conference will be made available to all interested organisations.


How you can help UNITED
Send us your announcements, invitations, leaflets and posters before the activities take place.
Send us reports, newspaper articles, photographs, etc. after the event for the report.
Help us make the media release exciting. Help us make the report complete. Make sure your activity is included too!


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