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Description
In our project we would like to draw attention to the problems faced by refugee families who were persecuted in their country of origin. In particular, we want to share stories of those who try to enter Poland by crossing the Polish-Belarusian border. The Polish Border Guard does not fulfill its statutory duties and also it violates refugee rights. In recent months, the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border has become a serious problem, which has revealed an urgent need for educational activities on human rights. Many people from abroad who live and work in the Lublin Province are vulnerable to discrimination and exclusion. Our experience in cooperation with refugee centres in the border areas helped us learn more about the scale and importance of the problem which concerns both interpersonal contacts and institutions. That is why our project is addressed mainly to young people with intention of shaping their attitude of openness and raising social awareness. We would like to make the society more sensitive to the situation of people with refugee experience who come to Poland. We also want to make our audience aware of the consequences those people deal with in their lives. In cooperation with the Centre for Culture in Lublin, we will produce an outdoor performance and stage it in the Lublin Province – the region with a number of refugee centres. After each performance there will be a discussion, based on a previously prepared scenario. We will distribute educational leaflets. In our activities we will show refugees and their stories objectively, without judging them. The project is implemented in partnership with the Centre for Culture in Lublin, and we are also supported by people associated with the Legal Intervention Association and the Open House Initiative. A person from Tajikistan who lives in Poland will be involved in the discussion.
Summary of project results
The project aimed to educate on the promotion and protection of freedom and human rights, emphasizing the rights of refugees and migrants, which are repeatedly violated. This is especially true in the context of events on the Polish-Belarusian border that have been taking place since August 2021, as well as in the context of the situation related to Russia''s aggression against Ukraine. Through the production and production of the open-air performance "Dworzec-rezygnacja", addressed especially to the inhabitants of the Lublin Voivodeship (due to the proximity of the border with Belarus and Ukraine), we wanted to draw attention to the problems faced by refugee families persecuted in their home country (including in Iraq). We wanted to bring the viewers closer to real stories and make them sensitive to the fate of those who, while escaping, come into contact with the state machinery and difficulties that reduce their sense of security. We wanted to show that refugees are ordinary people who found themselves in a difficult situation not of their own free will.
Because after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the word "refugee" changed its meaning from pejorative to neutral, the project was intended to emphasize how, despite this change, the treatment of people crossing the border differs. We drew attention to possible reasons, not only the question of the border refugees arriving in Poland are at, but also where they come from, their skin color and culture. We tried to answer the question of what is happening on the two neighboring borders of our country.
At a time when two completely different crises are taking place right next to us, we wanted to show Poles how people in difficult situations are treated by the state, border guards and peers. After the performance, there was a discussion with the participation of Aleksandra Chrzanowska from the Legal Intervention Association, Natalia Gebert associated with the Open House Initiative Foundation and a Tajik with refugee experience living in Poland - Sanjar Hoshimi. The project partner was the Cultural Center in Lublin.
Thanks to the activities carried out, we know that the scale of the problem is greater than we thought, because we encountered resistance in many towns and lack of consent to present the event. Thanks to the implementation of the project, we influenced the awareness of recipients who, we hope, will be more open in their actions towards refugees and migrants.
People directly involved in the implementation of the project - including: actresses and actors, including young people, informed us during the production of the play that participation in the project changed not only their level of knowledge about the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border and the situation of people with refugee experience, but also their view on these issues - these people admitted that they are more open, they understand the situation of these people better, and cooperation with two actors from Belarus deepened this openness. They informed us about their feelings in conversations, and also partly told us about them in the recordings that were published on the project profile. The participants in the conversations after the performance, who were also the audience of the performance, mostly spoke about refugees in a neutral way, at the same time understanding what behaviors could help a person who finds himself in a foreign country by necessity. Although some of them initially referred more to the situation related to Ukraine, as the conversation progressed, it was clear from their statements that they were beginning to understand the difference in the approach to refugees on Poland''s two borders. Although the aggression against Ukraine itself changed the way refugees are perceived, we believe that our project showed viewers that these people encounter different behaviors when looking for help and it does not always look as it is described in the media, especially since while helping one group (people from Ukraine), as a country we are not so willing to help the other group (people crossing the border with Belarus). Just like during the premiere, during subsequent shows the interlocutors themselves proposed potential solutions or behavioral models, which is the answer, among others, to the problems described in the proposal in the subsection regarding the need to take action. Interview participants did not categorize people with refugee experience as "strangers", but rather as "newcomers" who may be different from their surroundings (the "other" category that we have described). The conversation raised awareness of issues related to this issue, presented an example of the situation and feelings of a person with refugee experience, but also referred to experiences that may be closer to the recipients (more everyday ones, helping to empathize with the situation of a refugee/migrant). By implementing the project in partnership with a recognizable institution in Lublin, we had the opportunity to reach a larger number of recipients, both direct and indirect (greater number of mentions in the media). In conversations with the institutions to which we proposed cooperation in the operation, the positive aspect of the implementation in Lublin emerged as a good point of reference for cooperation. Moreover, the partnership made it easier for us to implement the project in terms of logistics and economics (no need to incur costs related to accommodation or renting space for rehearsals).