#EDYS2016 Conclusions

Opening session

• People need protection not only in real life, but also in online.
• Transparent discussions lead to ideas and ideas are the way of finding a balance between any conflict situations. Speak freely, but don't forget that your liberty ends where the liberty of others starts.
• Be aware of what is happening around you, observe, think, find a solution, put it into practice and make a change.
• SIGEMBER documentary is a proof of the fact that people, despite their differences, share similar problems, can overcome them and moreover, they can work together on this.
• When you see a situation injustice, don't stay aside and be quiet. Don't ignore it. Report it, argument why and make it visible.
• How do you destroy a monster without becoming one?
• Act, interact and react. Share your story in order to prevent it.If you don't speak, hate wins.
• We are in the middle of democracy. Let's build a sustainable one, without hate.

Workshop on Youth participation

• The young people represent the future of a country and therefore should be promoters of change. Based on this idea, we explored ways in which youth could participate in community life. The result of this exercise was remarkable: we have formulated together a lot of proposals, such as: asking a fiscal receipt, voter turnout, expressing opinions, communicating and relating to others, taking advantage of youth opportunities, filtering and critical thinking in regards to the information, overcoming barriers, eliminating stereotypes, developing civic activism, discussing with public authorities, planting trees, curiosity towards discovering new things and fighting to achieve your personal aims, purchasing local transport tickets etc.;
• Next, we discussed what is a politician. We made a little game, in which 10 young people had to say the first word that they think when they hear the term "politician". 9 of the 10 words were negative and so we understood that it is very difficult for a politician to prove that he is not as everyone thinks.
• In the last part of the workshop we have done a simulation of decision-making on online voting. We had a judge and two teams, with 3 members each one, who were "pro" or "against" towards the implementation of online voting. After the debates, the final democratic decision was that online voting should not be implemented.
• Personal note: Since we talked a lot on the voter turnout of young people, I want to recommend to everyone to get involved in voting, because, in this way, you decide the future of your country. A single vote counts and I will prove this with a case study done by the Centre for Environmental Research and Impact Studies, University of Bucharest: "In 1645, with one-vote difference, Oliver Cromwell took control of England. In 1776 with one vote difference, the official language in America became English instead of German. In 1868, with one-vote difference, Rutherford Hayes became the president of the United States. In 1876, with one-vote difference, France passed from Monarchy to Republic. In 1923, with one-vote difference, Adolf Hitler Nazi Party took control and changed the course of history. " Your vote counts! Do not let others decide for you!”

Workshop on No Hate Speech

• Human mind often creates a world of “us vs. them”. Why are we wall-builders instead of bridge-creators? With this question in mind, we explored the uncomfortable truth of using stereotypes to give or take opportunities from people, as if it would be labels that count when it comes to Human Rights. “Take a step forward” exercise helped us get into different characters’ skin and reflect twice on our impulse to find enemies and judge people whose story we do not know.
• We brought into attention the Counter-narrative, understood as a message that offers a positive alternative to extremist propaganda, or alternatively aims to deconstruct or delegitimise extremist narratives.
• Working in mixed teams, we had six different study cases (Operation Unmanifest by Anonymus, Extreme dialogue by Institute for Strategic Dialogue, Radical Middle Way, Not another brother by Quilliam Foundation, Global Survivors Network, and The English Disco Lovers) to reflect upon various approaches and challenges in counter-narrative campaigns such as using formers or survivors, humour, or expressing deep emotional aspects in a visual manner. We have also analysed the way these campaigns were built and the digital tools used for their implementation.
• In the end, we expressed, through the images of a Dixit card at our choice, our objectives regarding getting more involved in no hate speech movement.

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