Summer is in full bloom and the United Secretariat is going on a summer break. But before we all go on to our hard-earned holidays, we would like to share with you a short summary of what we have achieved together throughout the year, and what lies ahead after we return to build a United Europe – free from racism and xenophobia.
We can proudly celebrate the great success of our three campaigns that took place in Spring 2019 – the European Action Week Against Racism, our campaign around the EU Elections, and the International Refugee Day.
• With the slogan “Time to Be United”, this year’s European Action Week Against Racism took place between 16-24 March. It was widely marked by activities all around Europe to combat racism and prejudice, bringing people with diverse backgrounds and stories face to face. As every year, the aim of the campaign was to protest against racism and stand for inclusive European societies. You can find out about this successful campaign on the dedicated website: www.weekagainstracism.eu.
• In the run-up to the European Parliamentary Elections (23-26 May 2019), UNITED carried out its #MakeThemSmallAgain social media campaign to call for citizens of the EU to make xenophobic and racist parties small again through informed voting. On that occasion, UNITED launched an online Index of Discriminatory Political Parties to provide an overview of political forces that we, UNITED across Europe, did not want to see in the European Parliament. We have dedicated a special webpage to the European Elections Campaign 2019, where you can find all relevant information.
• On International Refugee Day (20 June) we released our yearly update of the List of Refugee Deaths: 36,570 documented refugee deaths since 1993. It is now more relevant than ever, as Europe fails to protect the lives of thousands of women, men and children who die on the borders of Europe due to its fatal policies. More information on the campaign can be found of the dedicated website: http://unitedagainstrefugeedeaths.eu.
• However, our fight is not over, and hate is not ready to surrender. Racist and fascist forces are still openly spreading intolerance and hate. Our upcoming campaign against fascism and nationalism will aim to raise awareness about the existence and re-emergence of fascism, antisemitism, and nationalism today, and more generally of hate speech and crimes towards minority groups. The UNITED network will come together to organise educational and awareness-raising events and actions. We will share more with you in September.
Until then, we wish you a great summer – with lots of sunshine, solidarity and diversity! We hope you will gather plenty of energy, which we will need to make Europe a truly diverse and united place!
