Tolerance

В Екатеринбурге 18-20 ноября  совместно с Ассоциацией молодежных этнокультурных объединений Уральского Государственного Горного Университета провел тренинг «Профилактика экстремизма в молодежной среде». Участниками тренинга стали 34 студента местных университетов.

 

 

 

 

В Тюменском Государственном Университете 21 ноября Центр межнационального сотрудничества организовал встречу студентов-активистов, занимающихся организацией межкультурных проектов, c советником Посольства Швейцарии в Москве Лео Траблейем. Через день в пансионате «Алые паруса» Центр межнационального сотрудничества при поддержке Комитета по делам национальностей администрации Тюменской области провел двухдневный тренинг «Опыт регионов России в профилактике межнациональных конфликтов». В работе тренинга приняли участие 36 представителей органов власти, полиции и неправительственных организаций Тюменской, Свердловской, Оренбургской, Ярославской областей и Пермского края.

 

 

 

В Самаре 24 ноября в Доме дружбы народов директор Центра межнационального сотрудничества Ашот Айрапетян в рамках межрегиональной конференции «Формирование гражданского мира и согласия в регионах России» провел Круглый стол «Региональные модели государственной национальной политики». В работе Круглого стола приняли участие 42 представителя органов власти и неправительственных организаций из 16 регионов России.

In the guest house "Sunny Glade" from 24th - 25th October 2009 in the framework of the project "Utilizing the Network of Ethnic Associations in Russia to provide support for youth organizations in Russia" an educational seminar with the title "Using the potential of student youth for prophylaxis of extremism among youth" was carried out. A distinctive feature of this activity whose theme repeatedly covers other trainings of the Center for Interethnic Cooperation in different regions of our country was the target audience. For the first time official representatives of the students were invited to participate in this seminar. Assistant Vice-Chancellors on educational work, heads of active students associations of twenty leading universities in Moscow gathered for the first time to exchange opinions about the reasons for the increasingly alarming situation with the strengthening extremist ideology in the youth's minds.

Representatives of the General Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs responsible for countering youth extremism and extreme forms of manifestation of ethnic intolerance took part in the discussion. In addition representatives of the Federal Agency on Youth Affairs participated in the seminar and described the activities aimed at building tolerance in the Year of the Youth in Russia. The educational seminar was attended by students from the universities of Moscow, St. Petersburg and Nizhniy Novgorod, which happens often on our trainings, and also by Valence Maniragena, Deputy Dean on the work with foreign students of State Electro-Technical University of St. Petersburg, an international expert on questions of tolerance building. In total, 39 people took part in the training.

The process began with brainstorming which aim it was to answer the question how and why in a country that defeated fascism manifestations of extreme hostility against people of other nationalities appear. After creating an extended list and procedures of rating, the following answers remained:

The main reasons for youth extremism:

Propaganda of xenophobia in the mass-media Insufficient information on other cultures Lack of a precise policy of the State Cultural differences Problems in the family and poverty Loss of the system of values and ideals

It is obvious that each item on this list can be leveled with special social projects.

Then, according to the tradition, were created social portraits of the people who play a special role in the life of a youth, one of them was the student.

The typical student

Typical motives:

Hungry Wants to sleep and to drink Lazy (before the session) Very active (unwilling to serve in the army) Weak will, lack of strong interests Good work (money, relations, prestige) Ostentatious patriotism

Typical occupation

Doesn't study Games and social networks Tries to pass sessions Active leisure activities Search for freebie Side jobs

Such a poor-sympathetic image of the best representatives of our youth what should in principle be a student does not inspire with optimism. Nevertheless, the representatives of these students rated the portrait nearly with 4 on a five-point scale, where 1 is the lowest and 5 the highest point. That is, the portrait practically corresponds to the actual situation. It has to be said that the portraits of the young people, the teacher and the skinhead we received were even sadder.

Therefore, the emotional discussion extended then about how - having this social environment, the feeding of the youth with extremism and that typical student who can easily take a fancy in such ideas - to develop an active system of resistance against extremism within the youth. The ideas were as follows:

Concrete actions to build tolerance among youths:

Trainings on tolerance Informal meetings with representatives of the State - Ministry of Internal Affairs, Prosecutor's Office, Justice Weeks of ethnicities at the universities Hidden public service advertising (PSA) Parades and processions Flash-mobs

As a whole, understandable and expected suggestions. The impression is that behind all these items stands one: the call "Let's do something!"

Our request to formulate recommendations to the state authorities after some initial bewilderment ("Is somebody up there interested in my opinion??!!") caused much enthusiasm. And the participants of the seminar created a list of recommendations to all who are involved in the process of tolerance building within the state institutions.

Recommendations to the law enforcement bodies

Be a model: trainings for employees of the militia on migration problems and work with the youth - regularly Lessons on the legal culture and civic consciousness for pupils - building of a good reputation Informal meetings with representatives of student organizations Create a positive image of the workers of the law enforcement bodies Round tables for the discussion of actual problems in the universities Establish on all levels of the structures of the law enforcement bodies public councils on question of tolerance involving real social leaders and not only well-known media personalities Strengthen the control over the mass-media!!!

Recommendations to the rectors of universities

Abolish bureaucracy Facilitate feedback Give the go-ahead for support - and don't interfere Speak in front of the students about the significance of the problem Spend work with the academic council and teaching structures Work with schools Conduct a course on intercultural communication and ethno pedagogy Include in the budget of the university the work on prevention of extremism and tolerance augmentation Increase the popularity and significance of the topic - discussion in the academic council, on the meetings of the departments and in post-graduate courses Assign a responsible from the leadership of the universities Be the leader in your university!!! Meetings with students and the publicity

Recommendations to the Federal Agency on Youth Affairs of Russia

Give broadened information about your organization Establish relations with all universities and youth organizations Work constantly on the reputation of the organization Create a forum for the introduction of suggestions and the conducting of a discussion Work out and distribute university regulations and an activity plan of the Agency for the years 2009-2010

Recommendations to the government of Moscow

Announce the Year of Tolerance Create a permanent, effective council on problems of tolerance Create help points - consultation and adaptation Qualitative PSAs Development of a common tolerance policy with the aid of EXPERTS! Meetings with idols - models of tolerance Creation of a general program on prevention of extremism in the schools of Moscow Supervision of the Moscow City Council Meeting of representatives of the government with the youth Work with representatives of the mass-media (media culture)

The Center for Interethnic Cooperation sent these recommendations to the Government, the General Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Agency on Youth Affairs of the RF and also the Government of Moscow and the rectors of the universities from which representatives took part in the seminar.

In conclusion, I want to give the data of a survey we conducted during this seminar. As a rule, on our educational seminars we ask the participants to rate the level of tolerance in the given region. Moscow always receives the lowest rates, regardless of the interrogated social group, the topic of the training and the composition of the participants. This time, according to the results of all votes, Moscow was awarded only 2.5 points out of 5. It seems that this is a very alarming result for the capital of our multinational country. But there is reason for optimism. Without exception all participants answered on the question "Do you further want to work on topics of tolerance?" with "YES". And especially pleasing for the Center for Interethnic Cooperation is that we received this answer also on the question "Do you want this seminar to be held at your university?"

There is no need to stretch the truth; the main task of the ideologists who invented the Day of National Unity was the wish to distract the citizens of the 7th of November, anniversary of the October Revolution. Not because current rulers of Russia consider the Soviet Union a criminal regime. They are just tired of supporting the holiday which the Communist Party used to replenish its lines. On the other hand the people is already accustomed that at the beginning of October all of us have a reason to drink and to be merry. Having cancelled the old holiday and established the Day of National Unity, the authorities decided that the deed is done and allowed the citizens to decide themselves how they are going to celebrate this day. The majority of them correctly understood the significance of the new holiday and celebrated it with their families and friends. But not only did the holy place not happen to be empty. The home guard of Minin and Pozharsky in November 1612 forced the Polish invaders out of Moscow. And who in our times tries to take our remarkable capital? Those who come in larger numbers from Caucasus and Central Asia! “We return the city to Muscovites”, said the slogan of the Liberal Democratic Party before the elections to Moscow City Duma.

 

Этнолайф.Лайф сомнительный, этносов нет.

В минувшие выходные Центр межнационального сотрудничества совместно с немецкой и еврейской молодежными объединениями Москвы организовал поход в подмосковную Яхрому. Идея летнего молодежного похода созрела давно. От Центра межнационального сотрудничества в походе принимали участие Ашот Айрапетян, Себастьян Хепфнер - волонтер из Германии, Даниэла Фишман и Хелен Хаггинс - волонтеры из США. Во время последнего собрания организаторов выяснилось, что многие из членов московских молодежных организаций находятся в отпуске. Тогда было принято решение не отменять поход, а совместить приятное с полезным - посетить праздник на природе - фестиваль «Этнолайф». Понять заранее по Интернету, что это за праздник и кто его организаторы, нам так и не удалось. Первые неожиданности нас ждали на железнодорожной станции «Яхрома». В первый автобус мы не попали, он уехал переполненный, второй пришел только через час. Когда мы были уже на месте, выяснилось,  что организаторы и участники «Этнолайфа» не учли дождливую погоду. Все подступы к поляне, где проходили основные действия, были залиты жидкой грязью. Нам пришлось поставить лагерь за километр от большой сцены. Вечером мы все навестили фестиваль. Зрелище было не для слабонервных. Огромная поляна грязной жижи и множество странных людей босиком, в кроссовках или сапогах гуляют по этой грязи. В этой же грязи мы увидели большое количество палаток, рядом с которыми сидят, лежат странные по виду и по поведению молодые люди. При этом они что-то курят, что-то пьют, играют на барабанах и поют. Все это проходило под оглушительный грохот всяких других барабанов, тамтамов и т.п. Каких-то реальных представителей других государств и этносов мы так и не видели. Их просто не было! Зато были поклонники всяких нетрадиционных развлечений - идолопоклонники, огнепоклонники, любители медитации, транса и т.д. И все они - просто москвичи, которым, скорее всего не хватало острых ощущении в жизни, и которые приехали в лес близ Яхромы, чтобы либо подражать кому-либо из далекой Индии или Бангладеша, либо глазеть на всю эту пошлость. Может быть, мы простили бы организаторам отсутствие вкуса и организаторских способностей, но, как оказалось, за все это надо было еще и платить каждому участнику по 300 рублей. Увиденное нами просто является подтверждением того, что наши московские молодежные организации ни черта не умеют делать. В итоге, тысяча молодых людей вынуждены воспользоваться тем, что имеется. А жаль, особенно жаль названия «Этнолайф». Тому, что мы видели, больше подошло бы название «Московский экстрим». Хорошо, что мы поставили свой лагерь подальше от «Этнолайфа». Вот у нас, действительно, был этнолайф - немцы, евреи, американцы, армяне, русские. И нам без тамтамов и без идолов было замечательно. Так что, мы будем снова организовывать поход молодежных организаций, и надеемся, что во второй раз нас будет значительно больше.

«КОММУНА» ОБЪЕДИНИЛА НАС В ОДНУ БОЛЬШУЮ СЕМЬЮ В субботу 27 марта во Дворце культуры «Коммуна» под эгидой Московского «Центра Межнационального сотрудничества» ( interethnic.org ) прошел первый Международный Вечер Дружбы народов «Мы с тобой -- одной крови». С подробностями -- специальный корреспондент " ИНТЕРЕТНИК", Эвхан ВАСИЛЬЧЕНКО. Вообще, ДК «Коммуна», что на Большой Тульской, 44 известен как место проведения татарских молодежных дискотек. Это так, к слову. А теперь, собственно, о том, что происходило в «Коммуне» на протяжении всего субботнего дня... Притом, что официальное начало было назначено на 17.30, первые национальные коллективы прибыли в ДК еще до полудня. И сразу же начали репетировать! Примерно к четырем часам дня желающих репетировать скопилось столько, что выстроилась огромная очередь, последовательность в которой строго фиксировалась, причем некоторые даже ухитрялись занимать очередь по несколько раз! К назначенному времени все выступающие были в полной боеготовности, гостей на нашем «Вечере дружбы» собралось около четырех сотен, атмосфера стала очень даже приветливой и дружелюбной.

In June of 2009 the Russian Federal Agency for Youth Affairs invited the Center for Interethnic Cooperation to take part in the pan-Russian forum 'Seliger 2009'. The youth forum's organizers planned to bring together around 4000 students from various regions all over Russian Federation. To that end, a special website was created so that young people could post information about their projects. Those who posted the most interesting projects were promised a place at the forum. It is important to note that this year's Seliger forum was the first ever to have tolerance as one of its main themes.

For several years now the Center for Interethnic Cooperation has been conducting trainings and seminars throughout Russia that are devoted to tolerance amongst the country's youth. Yet it is clear to us that without state support it will be impossible to change young people's mentality. Therefore, the Center has repeatedly requested that the state create a special program to support tolerance among young people. We hoped that having a forum on tolerance would be the first step towards developing a government-sustained program. So we decided to gather a great team together and tell the forum's young participants about the projects we conducted in the past as well as encouraging them to think about creating this kind of event on an even bigger scale. 

The Ural State Economic University from 13th to 14th May 2009 held an international youth business game "The SCO Summit 2039". Goal of the game was to simulate life on Earth in the middle of the XXI century, when those who are now over 20 will be the rulers over the world. Within the framework of the international youth business game a number of interesting events have passed like the meeting of Heads of State of the SCO-2039 or the Discussion Club "Global Economic Space 2039: risks, trends and prospects of development". In the work of the discussion club participated the team of the Center for Interethnic Cooperation. Six different teams presented their project ideas to the court of more than two hundred students gathered in the spacious auditorium of the university. The team of the Center for Interethnic Cooperation presented their idea of an organization of United Nations with a headquarter in Yekaterinburg whose main task is to really unite the peoples in equality regardless of their geographical location, religion or race. The aim is to establish an effective system to prevent wars and armed conflicts.The meeting of Heads of State of the SCO-2039 passed in the Government of Sverdlovsk region and was attended by the Chairman of the Government of Sverdlovsk region Viktor Kashkarev, as well as other senior representatives of regional authorities. Ashot Ayrapetyan, director of the Center for Interethnic Cooperation, attended at a meeting as an expert.

В популярном московском диско-клубе «НЕО» Центр межнационального сотрудничества совместно с молодежным крылом Союза армян России, Еврейской молодежной организацией «Маром», Немецкой молодежной организацией «Югендбрюке» и Татарской молодежной организацией «Ак Барс» 19 марта, в воскресенье вечером провел молодежный вечер «Вместе мы сильнее». Вечер прошел в рамках европейской недели противостоянию расизму и ксенофобии. Ураганный ветер и мокрый снег не помешали примерно двуустам молодым юношам и девушкам разных национальностей собраться в диско-клубе «НЕО».

 

The conference “Youth in Support of the Idea of Tolerance” took place in Petrozavodsk, Karelia from November 29th-December 1st. It was organized by the Center for Interethnic Cooperation, the Ministry of National Policy Affairs in liaison with Religious Organizations of the Republic of Karelia and the international non-governmental organization UNITED (http://www.unitedagainstracism.org). The conference took place in the framework of the inter-regional information session “On the Way to Perfection: A Culture of Peace and Accord”. Approximately a hundred people from Karelia and regions of Russia took part in the session: representatives of the authorities and leaders of youth public organizations from Astrakhan, Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Krasnodar, Moscow, Nizhniy Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Perm’, St. Petersburg, Pyatigorsk, Rostov-on-the-Don, Samara, Smolensk and Yaroslavl. Representatives of Holland, the Czech Republic, Norway and Belgium took part in the work of the conference, as well as volunteers from the Center for Interethnic cooperation from Canada, Ireland and Austria. The majority of people were seeing Karelian birch trees for the first time. Someone who attended the conference set about to look for Petrozavodsk on the map and was shocked by the distance which had to covered…

In May 1-3 in Kondopoga the Cultural Youth Centre of Kondopoga (Karelia) and The Center for Interethnic Cooperation in the framework of a partnership project of the CIC and UNITED "Utilizing the Network of Ethnic Associations in Russia to provide support for youth organizations in Russia" organized youth festival "The City of The Young". Around 80 high school students from Kondopoga, Petrozavodsk and other Karelian cities took part in this festival.

The most remarkable thing of this festival was that all the organizational work and the conduction of it was done by the young members of The Cultural Youth Centre -Lena, Pasha, Misha, etc.