One of the messages shared with the 18 young participants of the “Building Together a strong and inclusive society” project is that failure to act when you notice racism is wrong. The aim of the project is to give young people support and strength to act and react if they witness racism or discrimination. RTL’s Monica Camposeo met with the ALDIC organisers and participants to discuss their work.
As a young child, Inês Abrantes Severino experienced instances of discrimination which still live on in her memories, but at the time, she felt unable to act. Ghislaine Doria Nouemsi Kamsu underwent similar experiences, which ultimately drove her to participate in the project. Both young women, now in their late 20s, said they felt stronger and more prepared to stand up for others.
Mohamed Lamine Oumar Bangoura was both a participant in the project and an assistant to the organisers. He said it was important to him to get to know the legal framework and more technical aspects to tackling racism and discrimination. The workshop focused in part on clarifying legal processes to the participants and explaining how to file a legal complaint in Luxembourg.
However, enlightenment alone is not the sole goal, according to ALDIC - instead, the workshop also seeks to empower young participants to help them become more active in dealing with racism.
Abrantes Severino works as a substitute teacher and hopes to use her experiences and learning from the project when dealing with young pupils. She says she has often noticed it is unclear when a limit has been crossed, meaning it is all the more important to be able to draw up boundaries, but also explain why a racist or discriminatory comment can be hurtful.
To conclude the workshop, participants formed action groups in order to pass on their learning to friends and family members. Although this particular workshop focused on young people, project organiser Lindita Redjepi explained that ALDIC’s work goes beyond that demographic. “We’re very enthusiastic about starting similar workshops for adults, aimed at municipal workers with an interest in the topic, or social workers and professionals who work with young people.”
Ghislaine, Inês and Lamine have now completed their training. But the project is entering its second year of workshops, welcoming young people as well as older professionals from various sectors.
