Gathering, collaboration and education: Week against Racism with Balkan Hotspot

Last week was the European Action Week Against Racism. The week is organised by UNITED for Intercultural Action. It takes place around the 21st of March, which is the International Day for the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination. The United Nations started the day in 1966. UNITED has been organising an action week since the early 1990s. 

We of Balkan Hotspot support the values of the UNITED for Intercultural Action network. Because we felt it was important to carry out the project on a local level, we organised some activities during the action week. Here is a short review of all activities. We hope it will inspire you to organise similar actions!

Activities and events

We kicked off the week with an anti-racist picnic. Joined by Oikopolis, Refugee Trauma Initative, and ΦΙΞ in art, we brought together people from different backgrounds. It was a wonderful day full of shared food, laughter and joy. Take a look at the pictures here, and watch the video that Irene made about the event below! 

We also hosted a screening of the documentary “I Am Not Your Negro” at Balkan Heart. Afterwards, there was a short discussion. It was an informative evening that gave participants lots of food for thought.

During the week, volunteers also organised workshops at two language schools in Thessaloniki: Babylonia and Galileo Galilei. They joined classes for English, Italian, Spanish and French. Through non-formal methods, they started discussions on racism in the target languages of students.

To conclude the week full of important activities, Balkan Hotspot organised a flashmob against racism: a human chain. In other words: a line of people, united hand in hand, starting from the port and moving towards the White Tower. Because of the great collaboration between Refugee Trauma Initative, Oikopolis, Thessaloniki Checkpoint, Infinity Greece, ESN Thessaloniki, FIX in art, Babylonia, United Societies of Balkans and Balkan Hotspot, the human chain was a huge success. It even caught the attention of a variety of local news agencies. Find the pictures here and see the video below!