16-05-2011

21-05-2011

Slovakia, Bratislava

Posted by: aytul-bilen

Category: Conference/Symposium

Field: Cultural Management

Source bratislava@unitedagainstracism.org

Dear colleagues and friends,

Please find below the information and nomination form for our next UNITED Conference,
'From Theory to Practice: Creative Action Towards Social Change'
16-21 May 2011, in Bratislava (SK)

Conference prepared by:
* Enough (SK)
* People Against Racism (SK)
* Austrian Students Union Klagenfurt (A)
* Finnish Youth Cooperation Allianssi (FIN)
* Folkesagen - Worthy Life for Asylum Seekers (DK)
* Young Mountaineers - Mladi Planinari (MK)
* UNITED for Intercultural Action

With the financial support of:
* European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe
* Open Society Foundation - Slovakia
* Minority Rights Group Europe

All information and the e-nomination form can be found below, and on our website.

If your organisation is interested to nominate a representative, please return the expression of interest form (below) as soon as possible (deadline 10 April 2011), preferably by email to bratislava@unitedagainstracism.org

- Please fill in the form below completely providing all data as requested. If you invest more effort in the application it has more chance to be successful!
- Each organisation can nominate only ONE representative (living in Europe).
- Priority will be given to nominations from young delegates (under 30 years old) with a minority background
- Sending this form to UNITED does not guarantee that you will be selected for the conference - we receive many nominations.
- Only selected candidates will be informed about the result of their selection via e-mail in April 2011.
Date and place
The conference will take place near Bratislava and will start on Monday afternoon 16 May 2011. Departure is foreseen for Saturday 21 May 2011. If you wish to arrive earlier or stay longer (on your own costs), we can help you to arrange your stay.

Further information
Please, note that sending the expression of interest form does not guarantee your participation in the conference.

Only those candidates selected for participation will receive further information e.g. visa invitation, explanation 'how to get there', a final program, list of participants, etc.

Selected will be will be informed about the result of their selection via e-mail around beginning of April.

Application procedure
Organisations interested in nominating a delegate should send their nomination (Expression of Interest form below) by email before the deadline:
10 April 2011 - 24:00 to bratislava@unitedagainstracism.org

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
'Theory to Practice: Creative Action Towards Social Change'
16-21 May 2011, in Bratislava (SK)

Description and aims
Looking at the European political situation and its transformation in the past few years, one thing can be seen clearly. The years of the global financial crisis have been very helpful for nationalist, racist and far-right parties, groups and movements.
Far-right parties have been extremely successful in elections around Europe, in Sweden the ultra-nationalist Sweden Democrats won 20 seats (5,7%), in Hungary the far-right party Jobbik, with its radical anti-Roma rhetoric and strong inclinations to fascism, managed to get 16,6% of the votes in 2010 - a 14% increase from 2006, as well as securing three seats in the European Parliament. The British National Party holds two MEPs as well as seats in local governments.
Moreover, apart from the success of neo-fascist, nationalist and racist parties, it seems that their rhetoric, agenda and event actions are more and more acceptable for mainstream political parties. This was seen in France, where the government of Nicolas Sarkozy ordered a systematic deportation of Roma communities, an action very common in medieval times. News from the Czech Republic report very dehumanising procedures towards homosexual asylum seekers and the 2010 Belgrade Pride saw thousands of far-right radicals take to the street in an attempt to wreck the event.

The situation in Slovakia
The 2010 general elections were preceded by a mass mobilisation from the neo-fascist People's Party - Our Slovakia which was carried in an extremely anti-Roma spirit. Yet the elections themselves proved to be a disappointment for the neo-fascists, simply because an anti-Roma rhetoric is now mainstream within Slovak politics. Of all the parliamentary parties, only two managed to steer clear of a directly discriminatory program towards the Roma and the new neo-liberal/conservative government has started implementing repressive and discriminatory measures, such as increasing the police presence in Roma communities, or implementing special welfare e-cards.
The local elections on the other hand brought a limited level of success to the neo-fascists who finally managed to capture only a couple of seats in local governments.

But the main issue still remains - strong anti-Roma attitudes rooted in the majority of society. The Roma who make up of approx. 10% of the population are the main targets of racism in Slovak society. A considerable portion lives in extreme poverty on the outskirts of towns and society in general, unemployed, without, or with minimum access to health care, education and work opportunities, while facing discrimination and demonisation from the majority of mainstream society. Now more then ever radical anti-Roma ideas are increasingly being accepted at all levels of society, taking racism in Slovak society to a whole new level.

Creative Actions towards Social Change
On the background of these examples, and many others, UNITED is organising the upcoming international conference - From Theory to Practice: Creative Actions towards Social change, to be held in Bratislava (SK).
The aim of the conference is to form a platform for new ideas and strategies for the European antidiscrimination movement. In a time when far-right groups are more and more successful in recruiting new members and addressing a large part of the population, fresh strategies and ideas are needed.

The conference will, through working groups, plenary sessions and workshops, look at specific issues, such as the role of antifascism, methods and good practices of monitoring right-wing extremism, the policies of Fortress Europe, the work of Youth NGOs, the segregation of minority communities in civil society, sub-cultures and the relationship between activists' generations. Utilising the diversity of the international UNITED Network, its supporters and experts in the field across Europe, the conference will use the sharing of good practices to develop important tools and methods to address these relevant issues and build a stronger and more effective civil society.

Through the working groups below, issues like the ones mentioned earlier will be discussed. Your contribution will be valuable....
* (Anti)Fascism, Do we Need It?
This working group will focus on the present and future outcomes of the antifascist movement in Europe.

* Know your Fascists: Data Collection
Collecting, evaluating, sharing and publishing data on far-right groups.

* Let's Get Started: Basics for NGO Work
How to professionally manage your yearly planning and to use platforms to empower yourself.

* Once Upon a Time in Fortress Europe
The fences around EU's borders are getting increasingly higher and the asylum policy increasingly excluding. How and why is this and what can we do about it?

* Minority Voices - Minority Rights
The role of prejudices and stereotypes about minority groups in social segregation and discriminative political discourse.

* Working with Youth: Methods and Practices
It is hard to attract young people to volunteer, but even harder to make them interested afterward to stay active. The answer lies in all the organisations, we just need to share it.

UNITED is the largest pan-European anti-racist network of more than 560 organisations. With its conferences antiracist and human rights activists from all parts of Europe meet and discuss effective ways of combating racism and discrimination. At a recent UNITED conference held in November 2010 in Russia (RUS) 81 delegates representing organisations from 25 European countries look at specific issues, such as promotion of active youth participation and equal rights, tackle the growth of racism, hate crime and xenophobia in Russia, the role of civil society in preventing and responding to hate crimes, and capacity building for ethnic organisations in Russia.

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