TAKE ACTION! GUIDE
This guide aims to help you take action on 22 July 2013 in the framework of the European Action Day to organise either a public action to remember and show solidarity with victims and targets of hate crime, either to organise an educational activity. Who can organise a public action/educational activity? Everyone. You might be a national camapign coordinator or a national camapign committee, you can be a youth organisation or a member of a youth group or a concerned individual. Everyone can and should do it.
How big had the event to be? The aim is to raise awareness in our communities, so the size of the group taking part in the event is not that important as long as we make them visible. It can be anything from a couple of individuals to hundreds of them. It is important that we do public actions and educational activities to remember those who fallen victims, to show solidarity with those who are targeted. The more actions happening, the more people will find out in more communities that hate crime exists, about its causes and consequences on our society. How and what can I do as public action? A public action is anything from a march, a demonstration, sit in to a flashmob, public commemoration to raise awareness over an issue in society. We are recommending to organise something similar to a flashmob for 22nd July due to the shortness of time and the need to involve young people. What is a flashmob? A flashmob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then quickly disperse. Upon departure, participants could give more information through flyers on what is the flashmob about. Flash mobs are short, and they do catch the attention of the public. Special attention We are talking about people who have died, who have been attacked, so we have to bear that in mind when organising the flashmob. We recommend that the way the flashmob is organised reflects the seriousness and real danger of hate crime.
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The actions in the flashmob should make people raise awareness about hate crime, make people think about its causes and express show solidarity with the victims. Some ideas: 1. gather in a public square and release baloons in the shape of heart while reading out short versions of hate crime cases (i.e. attacked on 12 March 2012 for nothing else but being Roma). Make sure you research cases online and with the help of organisations that work on these issues in your community. Do not disclose names of victims/targets unless you have permission. 2. you can develop together with young people slogans against racism and discrimination, about hate crime, write them on big pieces of paper and walk togther with them in a public area/square. Other people have chosen laying down with a slogan written in silence to show the effects it has on victims.
Some tips for organising a flashmob
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Remember always in the planning our goal: to raise awareness about the causes and consequences of hate crime in our communities, to remember and show solidarity with the victims. Determine your flashmob action - When? Where? How? Who? Make sure to plan together with young people the action. Get organized: ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦
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Use phone, email, text to send short quick instructions about Why? Where? How? Who? If there will be a performance it is very important for participants to have a chance to practise moves; If there is need of bannersor or other material it is very important that those are prepared well in advance; Participants must know what to do and where to go, once the flashmob action is finished;
Flashmobs are most effective when they’re done quickly, in less than 10 minutes. When planning make sure that whatever you do is clear and understandable in the time you have foreseen.
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Keep it simple - Make sure you don’t overshoot expectations; Keep it a secret - The key to an effective flashmob is the element of surprise;
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Due to the purpose of the action, you might need to consider either printing small flyers, either pointing out people to an online space where they could read more about the topic. You can also point them out to reading and signing the petition;
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Record the event, take photos - The amazing part of flashmobs is the global popularity driven by social media.
Organise an educational activity You might need to explain to young people what is hate crime, what is the link with hate speech and what happened on 22nd July in preparing the public action. You might also not be in a position to organise a public action on 22nd July, therefore it might be worthwhile to organise an educational activity with young people you work with. Here are some ideas of what you can do in a couple of hours. Prepare yourself Make sure you read background information on hate crime and that you are able to explain the links between hate crime and hate speech. Do a research in your community/country and see what are the statistics in relation to the topic, which are the most vulnerable groups and who is working on the topic. Be aware that some of the young people might have themselves experienced hate based violence and hate speech. Cooperate Invite specialised organisations to support you with materials and information, perhaps also with experts. Plan well the activity Be aware of the time you have with the young people, make sure you reserve enough time to discuss with them how they can further take action. Some suggestions for non-formal education activities: 4
You can adapt to the topic several activities from Compass. A Manual on Human Rights Education with Young People. We suggest you to have a look at: 3 things, Dosta, Memory tags, Timelines. INFORM AND REPORT ABOUT THE ACTIVITIES YOU DO It is important that we ensure as much visibility as possible for the actions we do on 22nd July. In order to keep track of what is happening all over Europe, please make sure to: 1. Register on our Facebook event and write a short information about what you are planning to do. Here the link: https://www.facebook.com/events/485012948250858/ 2. Make sure that you take photos and videos during the event that you organise and upload them on the Facebook page or send us this information to action@nohatespeechmovement.org. SUPPORT If you need any support in organising these events please do not hesitate to contact us at action@nohatespeechmovement.org. We will answer you promptly.
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