Our final goal is to spread our project and results. To do that, we´ll elaborate a press article to show our opinion and our proposal.
The press article have to:
- Explain our project (what we have reflected this 5 weeks).
- Analize the racism in our environment (specific facts).
- Express our opinion about racism, human being, human values...
- Ponder the political proposals about this item.
- Offer our proposition to improve in our high schools and cities.
Advertising Spots:
Team 02
Spanish interview on 7 TV - La Rioja
(Waiting for your press articles)
RACISM AND DISCRIMIATIONS ARE NOT OPINIONS
One of the biggest problems that afflict the present-day society is the continuous reference to the racial discrimination, based on pseudo-scientific theories, that proclaim the superiority of white people. Since long time ago the Old Continent, thanks to the colonisation, imposed its supremacy, pretending to be better. Those prejudices, that for so long has fueled the nationalist spirit of the greatest european States, haven’t disappeared yet. One of the main causes is precisely politics, which in order to get agreements, leverages stereotypes . Especially here, in Italy, albeit barely present, the neo-fascist ideology is late to die. Too many times, phrases like “they come here just to steal our job” spread very quickly. The skin color should not be a barrier, it has to be considered as a bond or a way to be linked to others; it does not influence (or at least, it should not) the level of importance that we assume in our social context, because dignity is a natural principle which is common to EVERYONE and it must not be neglected in any way. Discrimination against whoever is different from us is not simply an opinion, it’s more than that: it’s a hate crime towards human beings. These thoughts were already pre-exiting in our own minds, but thanks to this amazing project, we consolidated them. Unfortunately, in addition to raising awareness and informing, we do not believe that a new way of doing politics can be achieved at the moment…
It is totally right to condemn all those political factions that increase hatred, but , on a realistic point of view, it is not possible to completely eliminate them right now , because of the great amount of consents they got. But there is something that we can do. The key is educating, fighting for the rights of those who do not own them yet, trying to change the public opinion, so that one day these major racist parties, will not be influential anymore. The UN is one of the most important organisations that should commit itself to resolving this issue. In the eyes of many people, the UN has gradually lost its prestige, so more space should be given to it and more campaigns against ANY kind of discrimination should be sponsored, especially in schools: this is the place where the conscience of the future ruling class is formed, we have the duty to change the future of the world, by critically analyzing history and by studying the current situation in order to come up with valid solutions to defeat racism and teach more respect.
TEAM 3: Gaia Luceri, Giulia Pia Giovinazzo
What can we do to incite change?
Racism is definitely one of the most prominent modern-day problems of our society, and this project taught us a lot about what really is racism, and what behaviors contributed to the rising or the solving of the issue. And this new awareness of our society has helped us analyze better the kind of environment we live in — an environment in which racism unfortunately thrives. Police brutality against marginalized groups, active discrimination by some governments and turning a blind eye on the blatant issue are all behaviors of a privileged part of society, and really reflect the sad reality of our world: we are still very far from equality, and human rights still aren't granted to everyone the same way.
Just by analyzing the way some people of color talk to white people — being either distrustful, resentful and angry at them, or submissive, dismissive of their own community in favor of white people to gain a privilege — we can see how much inequality plagues the world we live in.
In our opinion, being not only not-racist, but mostly importantly anti-racist is the key to change. Being anti-racist means actively fighting against oppression, discrimination, all kinds of racial aggression and bad stereotypes. As white people, it is imperative that we first recognize our privilege in society, and then work actively towards cancelling it, to lift up minorities towards a future in which inequality will just be history.
But what exactly can we do to incite change?
Well, first of all, we could start supporting political proposals in favor of equality, anti-racism and against all kinds of discrimination: these proposals come mostly from left-wing parties, and some of them include protecting immigrants and make it easier for them to migrate legally and safely, offer hosting to war refugees from all over the world, and actively punish any form of discrimination and hate crime; one of these proposals was the DDL ZAN, a law that is in the process of passing in the Italian parliament that declares as a crime any kind of aggression towards minorities.
Other than relying on the government, there are changes we could make in our communities to make them safer spaces for all kinds of people: starting most importantly with education, especially in schools, where there could be programs that teach children about diversity, solidarity and equality, and push for the inclusion of more diverse kids in the classrooms for a little representation of reality; in our homes, or in our cities, or communities in general, educating is crucial to the development of a better society, and teaching the young and old about how racism affects our society, how we can change and why we should change is the best way of ensuring that one day, the future generations will only know racism by studying it in history class.
TEAM 05: Giorgia Marzano, Alberto Deleo.
Acts of racism, xenophobia and intolerance have not disappeared from our own societies
The project "Am I racist? Human Race First" has been an opportunity for us students to work alongside people from many different nationalities, and a huge potential for the exchange of ideas (culturally and socially) regarding such an important topic as racism. Unfortunately, acts of racism, xenophobia and intolerance have not disappeared from our own societies: that's why it's considered fundamentals to educate people though these initiative, such as the human race first project, by which we had the possibility to raise awareness, discuss and socialize with other students through the etwinning platform. Not only we got to see other people's points of view and racism in other countries, but we also learned many different forms of racisms that are prevalent in our own country, Italy. By doing our researchs, we understood that we're able to spot acts of racism in our everyday lives and even those who should "direct us towards the right way " (especially public figures and politicians) seem to be the most discriminating. Just think about episodes of religious intolerance that lead, in many cases, to Islamophobia and to the misconception of middle eastners (who are often considered terrorists). It's also important to understand how Issues relating to immigration and, especially, the right to asylum are particularly sensitive and many political parties, while trying to express their opinions, ended up instigating acts of racism against minorites.
Racism, as already mentioned, is something that has always existed and which, unfortunately, is something difficult to resolve. But that doesn't mean you don't have to face it. For this reason, the politicians should spread the right ideals of equality and mutual respect, but not only of those who are "close" to us but also of those who appear to be "different".The message to be promoted should be: "all human belong to the same gender" and for this reason the discrimination of a skin color, a different custom or a religion is totally useless and superfluous.
So, the best way to spread these teories in order to let them becoming universal it could be only the school, which has the job to educate in the right way the youth: respectful teachers, meetings, stories about who has been discriminated and maybe some specialists who could explain to everyone how we may help in the process of eliminating the racism even if our few possibilities to be heard.
TEAM 04: Elisa Papasergi, Paolo Ferraro.
WE NEED TO ERADICATE RACISM FROM POLITICS
During these weeks, we have been working about racism with other countries. This activity has let us communicate with other teenagers in Europe to have a better knowledge about this topic.
Thanks to this platform, Etwinning, we have been sharing the different activities which we have been doing in order to have a wider perspective of this controversial topic.
With this project, we have concluded that racism is a discriminatory ideology which supports the superiority of some races above others. Besides, we have realised that nowadays the microracist behaviours are present and embraced in our society and suppose the exposure to this ideology.
As we see it, we are living in an increasingly globalised world and so we have started to take part of a huge family where we should all have the same rights and opportunities respecting the legitimate difference, and that is why the discriminatory attitudes are totally obsolete and we must fight for its elimination.
Based on our national political proposals , we could think about the objective of making a synthesis of the most appropriate outcomes.
Starting with the left, we find Unidas Podemos (UP). Of this political party, we would like to stand out the priority of saving lives above any other interest (prioritising the equality and the fact that we all have the same rights). Moreover, as MÁS PAÍS (+País) defends, our impression is that the protection of children due to vulnerability. Finishing with the lefts' assortment, we consider that it is necessary the final proposal of PARTIDO SOCIALISTA (PSOE), the integration and equality of opportunities as the main base of an equitation society.
On the other hand, the proposal of C's (Ciudadanos) might sound shocking, nevertheless, after the consideration, we made the conclusion that the point card may be a good idea in order to fight against the social Darwinism. In addition, it is obvious that a worthy job is the key to have a good quality of life. So that, PP (Partido Popular) defends the link between work and immigration. At long last, the fight against Mediterranean mafias is a suggestion of VOX which has a positive part since it helps to improve the immigrant's conditions who arrive Spain. However, not all its suggestions are good at all as they try to eliminate the ONG's that work in favour the immigrants and so they help them.
To sum up, we assume that people must be concerned about this sceptical situation because it currently affects tons of people. Consequently, we believe that we should start to change the conditions of our world in order to let all have a better life.
TEAM 01