European Campaigning from UNITED Point of View

The author is a campaign coordinator, UNITED Against Racism, Amsterdam.

UNITED for Intercultural Action is a pan-European network against nationalism, fascism and racism and in support of migrants and refugees. The UNITED network consists of more than 560 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from 46 European countries co-operating on a voluntary basis. Due to the large number of organisations participating, UNITED’s policy has always been to bring NGOs from various working fields using different (political) approaches together to fight common problems. UNITED represents a wide range of organisations active within the European movement against discrimination: anti-fascist organisations such as the Polish Never Again Association, NGOs which directly support refugees, for example the Association of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Ireland, and also the Centrum Documentation and Information on Israel (CIDI) and the Budapest-based European Roma Rights Center. All those organisations are different, but there are many common aims and areas where they can agree on common action.

Every year, UNITED co-ordinates three European-wide campaigns: 21 March, European-wide Action Week Against Racism, 20 June, International Refugee Day and 9 November, International Day Against Fascism and Anti-Semitism.

The campaigns do not just happen by themselves. UNITED conferences are designed to enable the network organisations to make concrete plans and discuss common strategies. The Amsterdam-based secretariat is in constant contact with the network organisations, ensuring that information and proposals for action are transmitted rapidly. Information on campaigns and other activities is received regularly from more than 2,000 organisations, and mailings are sent to some 2,200 groups all over Europe. This large flow of information and inspiration must be collected and disseminated effectively by the workers in the secretariat.

A European-wide campaign has to be prepared very carefully – and this takes time. The preparation of a campaign starts more than six month before it actually takes place. One of the main principles within the UNITED network is that everyone is an expert in his or her working field and can learn from each other. Consequently, at the UNITED conferences all opinions and ideas are discussed openly in special Campaign Working Groups. The goal is to find a common slogan and to share and discuss ideas for common action. Back in the secretariat, the UNITED staff uses the ideas developed during the conference to prepare a campaign poster that includes background information. As soon as the campaign posters are printed, communication is needed: e-mails and phone-calls to hundreds of NGOs to stimulate their response, and to learn how they plan to join the campaign, while the NGOs order posters and present their plans for activities.

To give an overview on what is planned throughout Europe, UNITED publishes a List of Activities on its website www.unitedagainstracism.org (under ‘campaigns’). Many NGOs take inspiration from this list, and can find partners to co-operate on a higher level. More than 30,000 posters are distributed to hundreds of organisations all over the continent. Furthermore, UNITED produces a media release and sends it to important European press agencies and media. By joining the campaign, even the smallest NGO can profit from being part of a European network since the media’s reaction to the press release are directed to local organisations nearest to the journalist.

In the week of action itself, organisations all over Europe are active in very different events all part of one common campaign. After the crucial week, the UNITED secretariat collects all the information on all the activities from all the NGOs from all the different countries. For that reason the UNITED secretariat asks the organisations participating in the campaign to provide UNITED with flyers, pictures and press-clippings about their activities during the campaign. After all the information has finally found its way to Amsterdam, a European Campaign Report is produced and sent out to thousands of organisations throughout Europe. This report is often used by NGOs to raise funds or to do media work.

An example: the European-wide Action Week Against Racism 2004

There is a common date and every year a theme emerges that gets special attention. This year the network shares the slogan “Racism: Spot it and Stop it!” such as “Look Deeper – Fundamentally We’re all the Same” in 2003 or “Think! Free Your Mind from Prejudice” in 2002. Given the immense breadth of fields in which the UNITED network and its organisations are working, it is very important that as many organisations as possible are able to use the common slogans for their work against racism. Therefore, UNITED chooses slogans that easy to understand in non-English speaking societies, although some organisations take the effort to translate the UNITED slogans into the language spoken in their working area.

At the UNITED conference in Krakow (Poland) in November 2003, the participants discussed the European-wide Action Week Against Racism, 20-28 March 2004. Activists representing 75 NGOs from 33 countries expressed their concerns about recent developments in Europe regarding discrimination and the ongoing process of closing the borders of the enlarged European Union to migrants and refugees. For the UNITED network, the fight against racism not only means criticising racist policies on a local and European level, it also means countering racism and racist stereotypes in our own surroundings and in our own minds. The borders of “Fortress Europe” are becoming more and more dangerous for migrants and refugees. Within Fortress Europe, racism is on the increase, becoming subtler and often based on multiple prejudice. Muslims are often associated with fundamentalists and terror, Roma are seen as connected with crime, asylum seekers are said to abuse “our” welfare state and to deal in drugs. In almost every group within Europe’s population, fear and xenophobia are growing. Right-wing politicians, anti-immigration parties and one-sided media coverage support fear and xenophobic attitudes by speaking about the “threat of migration”, the “flood of illegals” and “dangers of the multicultural society”. If we want to fight against the silent and “hidden” racism, we must identify it and end the passive acceptance of prejudice and stereotypes. Racism is not an opinion but a crime. This year’s slogan for the European-wide Action Week Against Racism is “Racism: Spot it and Stop it”.

Putting theory into practice!

Again in 2004, hundreds of committed NGOs are joining the struggle against racism and intolerance by organising various activities. To name only a few, large nation-wide campaigns are organised in Finland, Germany and France, and educational projects against racism and anti-racist youth work will be launched during the Action Week in Kazakhstan, Italy and Poland.

For the fourth time, the Interkulturelle Rat together with Show Your Face co-ordinates the International Week Against Racism in Germany by organising a nation-wide campaign. All over Germany, politicians, celebrities and people who survived the Nazi regime will visit schools and will hold discussions about racism, discrimination and xenophobia. Activities will also be organised in museums, sports clubs and other organisations that have an impact on young people. Young people in particular should be aware of racism and should commit themselves to tolerance and civil courage. Interkulturelle Rat has produced campaign-poster and a leaflet that explains, in easy-to-understand language, the dangers of racism and exclusion. Prominent people, often TV-personalities and football professionals, will lead discussions with the students and use their positive image as role models to make the young people aware of topics such as multiculturalism, tolerance and civil courage.

Since the 1980's, Ligue Française de l'Enseignement, a confederation of about 33,000 organisations all over France, organises the "Semaine D'Education Contre le Racisme". Schools, youth organisations, and clubs throughout the country participate in this annual Week of Education Against Racism, which coincides with the European Action Week Against Racism. Under the slogan “What if we try to be Brothers?” La Ligue uses its nationwide network to distribute postcards in schools all over France. On those postcards, students can express their visions and opinions on a multicultural society and tolerance. The children can later send the cards to a person to whom they would like to express their friendship and the most exciting ones will be exhibited during the Action Week.

NGO Dialogue, a regional organisation in South Kazakhstan, launched a competition of posters and essays in schools on how to combat racism with the active participation of young people. Dialogue will also organise a series of seminars, round-tables and an anti-racist graffiti festival in the city of Chimkent.

In Italy, anti-racist youth work will be part of this year’s Action Week Against Racism. In particular, one NGO is looking back on a long tradition of work in this field. During previous campaigns, Associazione Rieti Immigrant-Provincia (ARI) learned that working with children and youth in schools has a powerful impact. In a report on the 2003 Action Week in Rieti, Renaud Cachia wrote: "Indeed the dialogue between teachers, kids, Association staff and immigrants has shown the value of diversity. This year, we dedicated the whole week to debate with the various schools of Rieti. Over 600 pupils and students came to visit us, to talk and exchange ideas on the theme ‘the image of immigrants in the Italian society’”. This issue is particularly important since images of “criminal immigrants” are common in the Italian media. "The Action Week in Rieti was a great success. Many teachers and kids asked us to organise more often such kind of manifestation!"

With the commitment and the engagement of the participating organisations, the 2004 European-wide Action Week will mark a powerful step towards a Europe without racism and intolerance. Even if this seems to be quite a long-term project, it is possible to achieve if the European movement interacts and works together. With activities organised in more than 40 countries all over the continent, the name of the network truly stands for its principle: UNITED for Intercultural Action.