Dear Colleagues,
December is here, and another year is almost over. With successes for populists all over Europe, multiple reports of rising levels of hate crime, and shrinking space for civil society groups, 2016 has shown that the work of the European antiracist movement is now more important and challenging than ever.
For UNITED, 2016 has been an active year full of activities and campaigns. The year began with our annual European Action Week Against Racism campaign. Under the slogan Strength in Diversity, hundreds of activities were organised all over Europe, while a number of city administrations also joined the campaign. We also organised a special poster competition, with budding artists from all over Europe submitting designs.
This was followed in April by the conference ‘Moving Stories: Narratives of migration crossing Europe‘, which took place near Torino, Italy. Participants from all over Europe gathered to deconstruct the various narratives surrounding migration in Europe, and come up with new strategies to challenge anti-migrant rhetoric. As a follow-up to the Torino conference, we coordinated the #LifeSeekers campaign to challenge populist narratives on migrants and refugees in Europe.
Our second conference of the year took place in October near Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia. Entitled ‘Living Together: Transform a divided past into our common future‘, the Macedonia conference provided a platform to discuss the topics of national reconciliation and nation-building. This was shortly followed by our 9 November International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism campaign. This year’s 9 November campaign had the theme of Human Rights Superheroes, celebrating individuals who made great sacrifices to defend the rights of others.
We are already preparing for our action-packed 2017 programme! We will soon send out the call for nominations for our spring conference in Prague, as well as details of the 2017 European Action Week Against Racism campaign. In the meantime, we would like to wish you all the best for the festive period, and a very happy new year.
Best greetings and stay UNITED!
2016 Highlights
Some of the best content published on the UNITED Website over the last year
Greece, Aegean Sea: Notes from a refugee camp on the threshold of Europe
Fenced Off: A case study on Hungary’s “transit zone procedure”
“The first step is to know the ‘other’.” Interview with Carta di Roma’s Martina Chichi
“Our biggest challenge is silent segregation.” Interview with CID co-founder Boshko Stankovski
News from UNITED
UNITED Campaign Launch – Human Rights Superheroes – 9 November 2016
Press Release: Living Together – UNITED Conference in Republic of Macedonia
News from the Network
Civil society recommendations receive prominent attention in Hamburg
FRA publishes data on hate crime against migrants and refugees in the EU
