Our members from France – MRJC – and Germany – KLJB -decided to organize the local round table together, taking advantage of the annual joint meeting of the French-German Inter-Commission. So, on 25th November 2017, in Becanson-France, they joined forces and brought 45 people working in different commissions in their movements for a nice official dinner to present the results of the seminar and discuss about the current political situation and about what comes to their mind when they think about extremism, discrimination and hate. The organizing team started by explaining why MIJARC decided to deal with the subject of extremism and continued with the presentation of what happened during the study visit and the seminar. Next, they explained the most important points of the position paper “Extremism in Europe”.

As a result of the round table, the participants realized how extremism, hate and discrimination affect our daily life. They are some of the main topics in our newspapers and the reason for terrorism, wars and the #metoo-debate. They concluded that extremist attitudes have increased since a lot of refugees came to Europe. A very important point of the position paper as highlighted by the participants was that we should continue to give young people a sense of democracy by following democratic rules in our events and supporting them in developing citizenship.

Another important point was to support the idea of a shared European project, built on cooperation. The discussion were also very deep and personal and the participants discovered that everyone had been affected more or less by extremism, racism or discrimination. The members of KLJB and MRJC felt strengthened in their planning of the peace-festival “RENDEZVOUS!” in 2018. One hundred years after the end of the First World War, they want to leave a mark for peace and justice and a common European vision.

The round tables are the third and final phase of our work plan “Radically against extremism”. The work plan is supported by the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe, a unique foundation supporting activities developed with, for and by young people.

Our member organization from Romania, Assistance and Programmes for Sustainable Development – Agenda 21 (APSD-Agenda 21) managed to bring to their round table 18 participants representing 15 public institutions and local authorities from all over the country: Bucharest School Inspectorate, Giurgiu County School Inspectorate, National Agency for People with Disabilities, Bucharest 4th district City Hall, National Authority for the Protection of Child Rights and Adoption, Prefecture Institution Giurgiu, Cornu City Hall, National Agency of Civil Servants, General Directorate for Social Assistance and Child Protection 6th district Bucharest, General Directorate for Social Assistance and Child Protection 1st district Bucharest, County Council Prahova , Ploiesti City Hall, Calvini Region City Hall, Ramnicu Sarat City Hall, Teachers Training House Buzau. It was an impressively diverse group of civil servants, local elected decision-makers, teachers, schools inspector, social workers and young people. The young participants who had attended the seminar used a Power Point presentation to present the Position Paper and started a moderated discussion on the points raise.

Agenda 21 (3)One of the main conclusions of the meeting was the importance of education, in formal and non-formal contexts, for both victims and authors of extremist acts. The representatives of the school inspectorates who were present at the meetings suggested that the topic could be approached by the Master teachers during the counselling classes. Another conclusion was that it would be very important if there were funds dedicated to organizing proper information/awareness-raising sessions or workshops/seminars with students of all ages.

The representatives of public institutions underlined that in public administration there were a series of documents and codes that comprise the principles of the Position Paper, but nevertheless these codes are not always respected by the letter. So, it would be good to find push-factors that could help in creating a non-discrimination and hate free environment at the level of civil servants.

All participants agreed that social media is a very powerful influencing factor that can easily shape opinions and behaviours, especially of young people. Young people need to learn how to critically analyze a text/post and how to recognize hate speech and discrimination.

The round tables are the third and final phase of our work plan “Radically against extremism”. The work plan is supported by the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe, a unique foundation supporting activities developed with, for and by young people.

On 18th October 2017, our member organization System&Generation from Turkey held two round tables with students and staff of the T.C. Gazi University and with members of their own organisation.

S&G (4)The round tables started with a presentation of MIJARC Europe and the projects it had developed with S&G and it continued with a session in which those attended had the chance to reflect on their own knowledge, attitude and general feelings towards extremism and radicalization. Next, the attendees were involved in a discussion with a professor for Gazi University, trying to find an answer to the question “What can be done in order to prevent or reduce the frequency of these acts?”. The SWOT analysis method was used for the suggested solutions. The entire event enabled the participants to enrich their knowledge on the topic of extremism and to use it in order to bring about a change in attitude in their communities.

The round tables are the third and final phase of our work plan “Radically against extremism”. The work plan is supported by the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe, a unique foundation supporting activities developed with, for and by young people.

The final stage of our annual work plan, the local round tables with local NGOs and public authorities  started in September and gave the participants to our international activities the chance to present the result of their work: the Position Paper.  With the help of their members movements, the participants contacted public authorities and local NGOs and set a round table, based on the follow-up plan they drafted and assessed together at the end of the seminar. The participants presented the tools developed during the Study Visit and the International Seminar and initiated a discussion from the points raised in the Position Paper. The aim of these round tables is to raise awareness at the local level and to start a discussion on the manner of addressing the issues of radicalisation, extremism and inclusion. Federation of Youth Clubs – Armenia (FYCA), System&Generation – Turkey (S&G) and Assistance and Programmes for Sustainable Development-Agenda 21 – Romania (APSD-Agenda 21) held their round tables and drew interesting conclusion on youth involvement and extremism. More round tables will be held in November and December. Read about them in the “News” category.

The round tables are the third and final phase of our work plan “Radically against extremism”. The work plan is supported by the European Youth Foundation of the Council of Europe, a unique foundation supporting activities developed with, for and by young people.