Description
The project addresses the cultural diversity of Gdańsk. Students of 9 local secondary schools (in groups of 3 - 5) will take part in several sessions to discuss selected national minorities present in the local community: Germans, Russians, Kashubians, Jews, Ukrainian, Belarusians, Roma, Tartars and the Karaim. The project covers anti-discrimination workshops addressing national stereotypes, film workshops, visits to cultural heritage sites and a panel discussion with representatives of local minorities accompanied by an exhibition of photographs taken by project participants. Participants will produce videos on the subject of selected minorities and will develop education resources, including class scenarios themed around cultural diversity. These resources will be posted on the project website and distributed to local schools.
Summary of project results
"The history of Tricity is made of the history of various national and religious groups living together. This is also true for today, particularly in Gdańsk, where representatives of various national minorities live. It would seem then that the inhabitants are now accustomed to foreigners, they had the opportunity to get to know them and learned how to live together. However, during recent years, a number of alarming events concerning national minorities have increased: there have been evictions of Roma; in some restaurants and clubs, there appeared notices “We do not serve the Russians""; a campaign “Don't buy a kebab from an Arab"" gained popularity, particularly among young people; there have been cases of racist behaviour during football matches of the biggest local clubs Lech and Arka. The Foundation cooperates with various schools attended by foreigners and it helps develop openness and understanding. There appear, however, acts of intolerance and even racism of anti-Semitism among young people, which are openly demonstrated during classes and in breaks. The aim of the project was to minimize intolerant behaviour among the students of the Tricity schools and to counteract discrimination of national minorities through reminding of multinational history of Tricity. During the project implementation, students of 8 secondary schools in Tricity undertake educational activities so that their peers will have the opportunity to get better acquainted with national minorities. The activities include also combating hate speech. The project participants produced documentary videos on nine national minorities connected with the Gdańsk history. The videos were used to work out lesson scenarios, which are now used during educational activities in the Pomorskie voivodships schools. They are also available online. Young people took part in anti-discrimination workshops, urban games, educational walks and in a debate. In each participating school, there were activities prepared by students to address issues related to national minorities. The project beneficiaries were secondary schools student from the Pomorskie voivodships."
Summary of bilateral results