Praise for the Including Diversity Conference

After the conference over the weekend, participants representing more than 20 countries throughout the world had fresh ideas about how to work against discrimination and promote diversity in their international youth groups. Here’s some insight about what went on in some of the workshops at Gothenburg’s Museum of World Culture, and how people responded to the conference.

Hanna Simberg, a human rights attorney and representative for the Swedish group All Different, All Equal, led a workshop entitled “Equal Rights in a Global Context” where students were given all the clauses of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and were then asked, in groups, to choose the one most important of all the human rights. Students found it was difficult to choose just one, and that students’ preferences varied because of their backgrounds and origins. “Human rights is a heavy yet important subject,” said Simberg. It became clear that not one group could immediately agree on the most important human right, and this was discussed in the groups.

In this workshop, students also role-played in an activity where they were given slip of paper that defined an identity, and each student was different. Identities ranged from a minority super model to a 17-year-old uneducated Roma girl to a white male company owner, among others. Students lined up and took a step forward for each time they could respond “yes,” and questions included “I can practise my religion freely,” “I feel safe,” “I don’t fear for my children’s future,” and “I have the right to love and marry the person of my choice.” After all questions had been asked, only a few had progressed to the front of the line. They were asked to turn around and observe all the people that had been “left behind.” In fact, two people took no steps forward. Students discussed the implications in a global context, and why some in society are, in fact, left behind when it comes to human rights.

Samendra Baratha Tennakoon, Director of Finance for Sri Lanka National Youth Organization Network (NYON) of Colombo, Sri Lanka was impressed with the weekend’s activities. “The human rights program offered a lot of information and ideas. It was perfect,” he said.

“It was an interesting conference,” said Chiv You Meng, President of the Khmer Youth Association in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He and his colleague, Koet Sovendy from Youth Council of Cambodia, have organised a student exchange program between Cambodia and Sweden since 2002 through LSU, CIU and SIDA. Through their organization, 14 Cambodian students are currently studying and living in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Linköping. “We usually have different topics at workshops in Cambodia. We wanted to learn about new issues and topics from other countries.”

In another workshop entitled “Combating Discrimination in a Country of War,” Ms. Fenek Latif of Kurdistan’s Student Council led a discussion regarding human rights in Kirkuk, Iraq. Students learned about the atrocities done to the Kurdish people, saw photographs of destruction due to bombings, watched a brief documentary about three students living in Kirkuk, and heard their perspectives about discrimination towards both Kurds and Iraqis in the city of Kirkuk. On a positive note, Latif also demonstrated photographs to illustrate the work done by NGOs in the area to build communities and increase tolerance despite the Iraqi/Kurdish division.

Lena Bartholdson, who represented the group Society and Defence in Stockholm, helped to organise the conference. “I think that the workshops are very valuable; they provide the opportunity to go deeper into a specific subject and encourage an active participation. The discussions deal with what has come up at another level, trying to illustrate similar characteristics throughout the different workshop themes.”

Although human rights was a strong theme throughout the weekend, young human rights activists were not the only people present.

Christoffer Fogelström and Anneli Henriksson, representing Sverok, a Swedish youth gaming society, were in attendance for the weekend. Their organization has existed since 1989 and promotes games as a social activity among youth in Sweden. “Our membership is 89% males, with very few non-whites,” said Fogelström. “We’re working to rid our organization of whatever obstacles that keep those other people from getting into gaming”. Fogelström added that Sverok’s goal with gaming is “helping people organize themselves democratically, and giving them something meaningful to do in their spare time”. Their objective is to create a force from below, with gamers themselves organizing other gamers and hosting events. By playing games and starting local sections, the gamers learn social skills as well as issues such as democracy.

Sara Svensson, the International Secretary of Fältbiologerna (Nature and Youth Sweden), felt that the workshops were unique because they offered insight to methodology within the organisations.

“I’ve been to lots of events before, but nothing like this. Just to be here and meet people from organizations here – a lot of sharing and topics discussed are interesting and important, especially to consider internal working methods,” she said, even though she is involved with a group that works for environmental protection. “The issue doesn’t matter,” added Svensson. “We are working for sustainable development. It’s important to achieve change.”

Anne Arnold                                                                            anne.arnold06@globalverkstan.net

Combating Islamophobia 101

On Saturday and Sunday, May 26 and 27, people from youth organizations throughout the world had the opportunity to come together to discuss ideas about diversity and youth at Gothenburg’s Museum of World Culture. The Conference, “Including Diversity: Youth Perspectives on Security, Peace and Democracy,” was a success. One of the most highly attended workshops dealt specifically with misconceptions of Islam.

Shaista Khan, a six-year member and representative for Sweden Young Muslims, led the workshop “Dealing with Misconceptions of Islam and the West.” Born and raised in Sweden, Khan told me before the workshop that she understood discrimination because her Islamic values are visible through her dress. She noted that she “could relate to how [discrimination] would feel as a black person” because “it is based on exterior /visible factors,” although racial and religious discrimination also differ.

Khan, reflecting the participants’ enthusiasm, had high expectations and appeared confident just before she initiated one of the weekend’s first workshops. “I expect people to be a bit more understanding here, because they come from different experiences and are already working in civil society. It’s not such a homogeneous group,” she said.

During the workshop, students took part in a “hot seat” exercise where they got up and moved to another seat to illustrate they understood the basic points of Communism, Christianity, Islam, and Feminism. It became evident that out of a group of about 30, most people understood the basic points of communism, but only four people could explain the basic points of Islam. This fact led to a discussion.

In a perfect American accent, Khan explained to the group that there are over 1.5 billion Muslims in the world today, or roughly 25% of the world’s population. Despite the presence of Islam in the world, information does not get through to those in the West. A survey done in Sweden in 2004 illustrated just that: two thirds of the Swedes polled from across the country felt that “Islamic values were not compatible with Western values.” In the same study, it was found that “40% of Swedes did not want mosques built in Sweden, and 53% were against women wearing headscarves.”

Ironically, she noted, the same study found that more than 60% of the Swedish population “had little or no knowledge about Islam.” This blend of high fear with little knowledge creates a new phenomenon called “Islamophobia,” or the irrational fear and prejudice towards Islam and Muslims. “Is there any wonder,” Khan asked students, “why Islamophobia exists in Sweden today?”

In the discussion that followed, one student noted that while many countries currently remove laws that discriminate against some groups, some laws have recently become blatantly discriminatory towards Muslim people. Decisions made by people and the leaders of nations are based on fear and strongly affect Muslims’ rights, whether while travelling or at home: even in Sweden.

French schools, for example, do not allow Muslim girls to wear headscarves but have allowed exceptions for people of other faiths. One student in the workshop gave an example of being stopped at the airport because “they saw my Muslim name in my passport.” Additionally, discrimination against Muslims is clear because mosques throughout Sweden and Europe are regularly monitored.

Where discrimination exists, the problem is most likely simple: “People do not know what it is to be Muslim, and they do not understand the Muslim lifestyle,” said Khan. Lack of knowledge only feeds ignorance; it’s through understanding and tolerance that diversity is achieved. At the conclusion of the workshop, Khan encouraged students to go out and learn more about Islam if they knew little, and encourage their friends and family to do the same.

To read more about Sweden Young Muslims, go to www.ungamuslimer.nu .

Anne Arnold                                                                            anne.arnold06@globalverkstan.net