An empathic look to fight against discrimination in Europe

The project “Through the Lens of The other” encourages positive attitudes, ending prejudice and fostering the integration of less favoured persons.

“Through the Lens of The other” is a long-term project (2019-2020) that was launched last January and that aims to introduce and explore new ways of understanding and dealing with the discrimination faced by many groups in Europe, including cross-cutting concepts and the system of oppression and privileges.

It is about acquiring new knowledge on discriminatory situations on the continent to encourage positive attitudes and promote the social inclusion of groups suffering from discrimination. The initiative also strives to end prejudice and embrace diversity and empathy.

More concretely, the project is organized around several international meetings and also working on a local level. “Through the Lens of The other” was launched in January, in Berlin, and in April there was a training session in Romania. Meetings will continue in September, with an exchange among youths in Malta, with another session to follow in April 2020 in Hungary. The project will conclude in September 2020 with a final evaluation meeting in Turkey.

Working group in Barcelona

Running in parallel to the international meetings, one part of the work is done at a local level. In Barcelona, the Fundació Catalunya Voluntària needs volunteers to set up a local group of youths who, from 10 June to 31 July can do research and record a documentary on discrimination in the city. The documentary will then be shown at a film festival to be held in Athens, in February 2020.

Participants will search for first-hand information on social inequalities in the capital of Catalonia and on the groups that are most affected to fight against such inequalities. At a later stage, a documentary will be recorded with real testimonials and the voices of experts.

Out of the 8 people in the working group, 4 will have the opportunity to participate in a youth exchange next September in Malta.

Anyone aged between 18 and 30 who is interested in participating in this experience can fill in the registration form and send it to the email address comunicacio@catalunyavoluntaria.cat.