Tag: NEVER AGAIN

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MINORITIES FOR PEACE INITIATIVE PRESENTED AT UNITED NATIONS FORUM ON MINORITY ISSUES

Geneva, Switzerland – Natalia Sineaeva-Pankowska, a representative of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association and OHCHR Minority Fellow, was among the speakers at the 17th session of the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues, held in Geneva on 28-29 November. During the session, she presented the ‘Minorities for Peace: Enabling Dialogue through Positive Peace and Mediation for Indigenous and Minority Communities in Eastern Europe’ initiative. The project is supported by Rotary International through the Rotary-Institute for Economics and Peace Partnership and is being carried out by ‘NEVER AGAIN’ in cooperation with Exult! Solutions, Rotary Positive Peace Activators, and other partners.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is the leading UN entity on human rights. It has a unique mandate provided by the UN General Assembly to promote and protect all human rights for all people.

The Forum, held at the prestigious Palais des Nations, brought together representatives from minority communities around the world, alongside delegations from member states and international organizations. The Minorities for Peace project was met with enthusiastic support from participants, underscoring its timely and significant contribution to peacebuilding efforts in Eastern Europe.

The Minorities for Peace initiative aims to foster a culture of peace by empowering leaders from minority and indigenous communities in Eastern Europe – focusing specifically on refugees from war-torn Ukraine and exiles from Russia – as agents of peace and dialogue. The region, with its complex history of both peaceful coexistence and violent conflict, continues to suffer the devastating consequences of war, particularly affecting its minority populations.

Integrating the frameworks of Dealing with the Past and Positive Peace, the initiative focuses on developing skills in mediation and dialogue. The project includes online trainings, in-person seminars in Poland and Moldova, publications, and recommendations designed to promote the pillars of Positive Peace as a foundation for preventing the recurrence of atrocities.

– ‘We believe that through education, we can equip minorities with the tools to become effective mediators, fostering peace and dialogue across entrenched divisions. With their multiple identities and intercultural competencies, they are uniquely positioned to serve as powerful messengers of peace, even in deeply divided societies, in ways that others cannot. Mediation, as a learned skill, is essential for preventing violence, promoting accountability, and fostering reconciliation. It addresses historical injustices, rebuilds trust, and promotes lasting peace, with the pillars of minority rights ensuring the dignity and rights of minorities are safeguarded throughout the process. The pillars of Positive Peace are deeply interconnected with the pillars of minority rights. We urge the international community to support initiatives that empower minorities as agents of peace,’ said Natalia Sineaeva-Pankowska in her speech at the Forum.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent civil society organization founded in Warsaw in 1996. It has campaigned against racism, antisemitism, and xenophobia, for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights across the world. It has actively participated in civil society networks, including the Global Alliance Against Digital Hate and Extremism (GAADHE), the International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH) and the Alliance Against Genocide. It takes part in international projects to counter hate speech, Get The Trolls Out and SafeNet: Monitoring and Reporting for Safer Online Environments.

Natalia Sineaeva-Pankowska on ‘Minorities for Peace’ project of the NEVER AGAIN Association, the 17th session of the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues, Geneva, 28.11.2024:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPqvzZqEpa0

More information:

www.NeverAgainAssociation.org
www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity
www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ
www.linkedin.com/company/never-again-association
https://neveragainnw.bsky.socials

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THE AGGRESSOR WEARS A BROWN SHIRT. A NEW REPORT BY ‘NEVER AGAIN’ ASSOCIATION

The so-called civic patrols against migrants, brutal assaults on an Azerbaijani student and several Indians at a worker hostel, are just a few examples of racism and xenophobia in Poland from recent weeks. The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has published the new ‘Brown Book’, which documents some of the attacks on minorities that happened in 2023 and 2024.

Dr. Anna Tatar, who co-authored the report, explains, ‘This escalation of violence comes as no surprise. We have warned countless times that when politicians instigate fear or hostility towards migrants and refugees, street violence will always follow’.

‘NEVER AGAIN’s ‘Brown Book’ lists racist and xenophobic physical assaults, acts of discrimination, and desecrations of cemeteries or monuments to the Holocaust. It includes racist incidents committed by football hooligans, too. In addition, the report documents hate speech in the Polish public debate, especially on social media.

Rafal Pankowski, co-founder of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, Professor at Warsaw-based Collegium Civitas, and Rotary Peace Fellow at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, says, ‘Hatred towards minorities is a global issue. This is why solidarity with all the victims of discrimination and violence is so important’.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association was founded in 1996 as an independent anti-racist organisation, which runs the ‘Brown Book’: ongoing documentation of events with xenophobic and antisemitic context in Poland. Its initiator was the long-time leader of ‘NEVER AGAIN’, Marcin Kornak (born 1968, died 2014).

Between 1 September 2023 and 15 October 2024, the ‘Brown Book’ monitoring was supported by the Henryk Wujec Civic Fund.

In September 2024, the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association was awarded the prestigious Ronald Eissens and Suzette Bronkhorst Award for ‘exceptional work in combatting online hate and promoting human rights’.

The incidents described in the new ‘Brown Book’ by ‘NEVER AGAIN’ include:

  • LODZ. On the night of 25/26 March 2023, a group of a dozen or so people, men and women, attacked two Ukrainians. The aggressors shouted at them, ‘We hate you, you are from Ukraine, out back home!’ and four thugs brutally beat them: they punched them, knocked them to the ground and kicked them. The Ukrainians were taken to the hospital, one of them had a broken jaw and rib, the other bruised kidneys and a damaged tooth.
  • WROCLAW. On 30 June 2023, a teacher from the Philippines was attacked by an unknown woman. The attacker insulted her and threatened her with violence and death. She shouted, ‘I f*cking hate you! Because you are all cruel and evil. You transmit various diseases’.
  • RACIBORZ. On 15 August 2023, a dark-skinned teenager who had left a kebab shop was insulted and threatened by a passer-by. The man shouted to him, ‘You fcking Pki, get the fck out of here, I’ll fck you up’.
  • PIEKOSZOW. On 21 October 2023, one of the locals, 36-year-old Szczepan B., brutally beat a twelve-year-old boy from Ukraine. ‘The perpetrator insulted but also beat, punched, kicked the boy’s head and entire body with his legs, causing the child to lose consciousness’.
  • WARSAW. On 11 November 2023, the participants of the so-called March of Independence burned flags of the European Union. They also chanted slogans that were racist and xenophobic, ‘White honour, white pride’, ‘White power is and was’, ‘Poland for Poles’, ‘There will be a stick for the leftie snout’. Moreover, the demonstrators displayed banners with the Celtic cross, a flag in the colours of the Third Reich, and banner with the slogan ‘Stop the Ukrainisation of Poland’.
  • GDANSK. On 2 January 2024, on Owsiana Street, ‘unknown perpetrators’ destroyed a plaque commemorating the ghetto where Jews from Gdansk and other areas occupied by the Third Reich were held during the World War II.
  • WARSAW. On the night of 30 April/1 May 2024, a juvenile perpetrator tried to set fire to the Nozyk Synagogue on Twarda Street. He threw a Molotov cocktail which crashed against the façade near one of the ground floor windows.
  • WARSAW. On the night of 24/25 August 2024, a student from Azerbaijan was beaten because of his skin colour. In one of the shops a group of men and a woman flung racist insults at him. The victim reported, ‘They said «Poland for Poles», and they called me a «fcking ngger». […] I got hit on the head with something hard […]. I fell to the ground, and I think I lost consciousness right away. They started hitting me with their hands and kicking me’.
  • NOWY SACZ. On 8 September 2024, at the Jewish cemetery on Rybacka Street, several attackers assaulted a group of Jewish tourists who intended to visit the necropolis. The perpetrators hurled antisemitic slurs and threats at them.
  • ZYRARDOW. On 21 September 2024, the town witnessed a far-right march, self-described as a ‘civic patrol’. The protesters chanted, ‘This is Poland!’ ‘This is Zyrardow, this is where we’re walking! We are doing what everybody should!’ Moreover, members of the ‘patrol’ brutally assaulted migrants residing at a local worker hostel. Ukrainians, Azerbaijanis, and Georgians defended themselves with fire extinguishers. As a result, 70 migrants resigned from their work in Zyrardow.
  • SZCZECIN. On 7 October 2024, a Ukrainian taxi driver was assaulted due to his nationality by his passenger. The man started to insult the driver, punched him in the face and head, and shouted, ‘Ukrainian tw*t!’

‘Brown Book 2023-2024’ (full version of the report – PDF)

More information:
www.NeverAgainAssociation.org
www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity
www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ
www.linkedin.com/company/never-again-association

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PRESTIGIOUS AWARD FOR ‘NEVER AGAIN’ AT ANTI-CYBER HATE SUMMIT

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has been awarded the prestigious Ronald Eissens and Suzette Bronkhorst Award for ‘exceptional work in combating online hate and promoting human rights’.

The award commemorates Ronald Eissens and Suzette Bronkhorst who were pioneers in the struggle against online hate speech, founders of the Magenta Foundation, the Dutch complaints bureau for discrimination on Internet (MDI), and the International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH) in 2002. The first award went to Jean-Hubert Bondo and his organization Africa Sans Haine (Africa Without Hate) from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2021.

– ‘Your long-standing efforts to fight antisemitism, racism, and xenophobia through education and advocacy have been truly remarkable. The NEVER AGAIN Association’s impact in Poland and globally, especially through initiatives promoting tolerance and peace, has made a significant difference in the fight for human dignity’ – wrote Brieuc-Yves Mellouki Cadat-Lampe, the chair of the Magenta Foundation and chair of the Award Jury, in his letter to the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association.

The award ceremony took place during the INACH’s Anti-Cyber Hate Summit on Artificial Intelligence and the Changing Legal Climate held in Budapest, Hungary on 27 September 2024. The award was presented by Panayote Dimitras, the 2023 laureate, a veteran human rights activist and founder of the Greek Helsinki Monitor. This year’s award was shared by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association and Fighting Online Antisemitism (FOA), an organization dedicated to combating rising online antisemitism.

-‘It is a real honour for us to be awarded the prize named after Ronald and Suzette. For more than two decades, their commitment and passion in the struggle against hate speech has had a major impact on the activity of the NEVER AGAIN Association’ – said Rafal Pankowski, ‘NEVER AGAIN’s cofounder, during the ceremony.

In September 2024, ‘NEVER AGAIN’ published its most recent report ‘The Twitter Standards of Hate’ about the prevalence of hate speech on Elon Musk’s platform. In the same month, the activities and experiences of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association were presented by Rafal Pankowski during the International Workshop on Right-Wing Extremism organized by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Project on Countering the Far Right and Nueva Sociedad in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent civil society organization founded in Warsaw in 1996. It has campaigned against discrimination, racism and xenophobia both in Poland and internationally. It has actively participated in civil society networks, including the Global Alliance Against Digital Hate and Extremism (GAADHE), the International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH) and the Alliance Against Genocide. It takes part in international projects to counter hate speech, Get The Trolls Out and SafeNet: Monitoring and Reporting for Safer Online Environments.

For more information:

www.neveragainassociation.org

www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity

www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

www.linkedin.com/company/never-again-association

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PRESTIŻOWA NAGRODA DLA ‘NIGDY WIĘCEJ’ ZA PRZECIWDZIAŁANIE NIENAWIŚCI

Stowarzyszenie ‘NIGDY WIĘCEJ’ zostało laureatem prestiżowej Nagrody im. Ronalda Eissensa i Suzette Bronkhorst za ‘wyjątkowe osiągnięcia w przeciwdziałaniu mowie nienawiści i propagowaniu praw człowieka’.

Nagroda upamiętnia Ronalda Eissensa i Suzette Bronkhorts, którzy zapoczątkowali walkę z mową nienawiści w internecie jako założyciele Stichting Magenta, holenderskiego biura do walki z dyskryminacją (MDI), a także Międzynarodowej Sieci Przeciw Cybernienawiści – International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH) w 2002 r. Po raz pierwszy nagroda została przyznana w 2021 r., otrzymał ją wówczas Jean-Hubert Bondo i jego organizacja Africa Sans Haine (Afryka Bez Nienawiści) z Demokratycznej Republiki Konga.

– ‘Wasze długotrwałe wysiłki w walce z antysemityzmem, rasizmem i ksenofobią poprzez edukowanie i kampanie społeczne są naprawdę niezwykłe. Osiągnięcia Stowarzyszenia NIGDY WIĘCEJ w ramach inicjatyw promujących tolerancję i pokój w Polsce i na całym świecie mają wielkie znaczenie dla walki o ludzką godność’ – napisał w liście do Stowarzyszenia ‘NIGDY WIĘCEJ’ Yves Mellouki Cadat-Lampe, prezes Stichting Magenta i przewodniczący jury nagrody.

Uroczystość wręczenia nagrody miała miejsce podczas konferencji sieci INACH pt. ‘Anti-Cyber Hate Summit: Sztuczna Inteligencja a Zmiany w Prawie’, zorganizowanej w Budapeszcie 27 września 2024 r. Laudację wygłosił Panayote Dimitras, laureat nagrody z 2023 r., weteran działalności na rzecz praw człowieka i założyciel organizacji Greek Helsinki Monitor. Tegoroczna nagroda została przyznana Stowarzyszeniu ‘NIGDY WIĘCEJ’ oraz organizacji Fighting Online Antisemitism (FOA), walczącej z antysemityzmem w internecie.

– ‘Być laureatem nagrody imienia Ronalda i Suzette to dla nas prawdziwy zaszczyt. Przez ponad dwie dekady ich zaangażowanie i nieustępliwość w walce z mową nienawiści miały wielki wpływ na działania Stowarzyszenia NIGDY WIĘCEJ’ – powiedział w trakcie ceremonii dr hab. Rafał Pankowski, współzałożyciel Stowarzyszenia, profesor Collegium Civitas.

We wrześniu 2024 r. ‘NIGDY WIĘCEJ’ opublikowało swój najnowszy raport ‘O standardach nienawiści na Twitterze’ na temat niebezpiecznych treści obecnych na platformie Elona Muska. W tym samym miesiącu działania i doświadczenia Stowarzyszenia zostały zaprezentowane przez Rafała Pankowskiego podczas międzynarodowego warsztatu nt. prawicowego ekstremizmu, zorganizowanego przez Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung oraz Nueva Sociedad w Buenos Aires.

Stowarzyszenie ‘NIGDY WIĘCEJ’ jest powstałą w 1996 roku niezależną organizacją antyrasistowską, która prowadzi ‘Brunatną Księgę’ – dokumentację zdarzeń na tle ksenofobicznym i antysemickim. Jako pierwsza organizacja pozarządowa w Polsce zainicjowała kampanię przeciwko mowie nienawiści w internecie ‘R@cism-Delete’, uczestniczy w projektach Get The Trolls Out i Safenet. Jest częścią międzynarodowych sieci społeczeństwa obywatelskiego, m.in. International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH), Global Alliance Against Digital Hate and Extremism (GADHE) oraz Alliance Against Genocide.

Dodatkowe informacje:

www.nigdywiecej.org

www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity

www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

www.linkedin.com/company/never-again-association

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THE TWITTER STANDARDS OF HATE

Elon Musk’s publicized visit to Auschwitz earlier this year did next to nothing to improve the implementation of hate speech standards on Twitter/X, according to a new REPORT by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association.

The report describes hundreds of shocking samples of extreme hate speech reported by ‘NEVER AGAIN’ to X in the last 12 months. X has refused to remove them or ignored reports.

The report includes a lengthy list of written posts, images and videos inciting hatred against minorities such as Jews, Africans, Muslims, Ukrainian refugees, and LGBT people. The contents include dehumanization, glorification of the Holocaust, calls to violence – for example shooting refugee children – as well as calls to mass murder of whole groups.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, Poland’s leading anti-racist organization, documented and informed X of 343 examples of extreme hate speech addressed to a Polish audience on the platform since August 2023. The removal rate has been a mere 10 percent, which means that 90 percent of the reported cases have remained on the platform.

The contents were monitored daily and reported through a regular user interface, with a removal rate of 8 percent. Then 295 out of the pending cases were reported again on behalf of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, which has had a Trusted Flagger status with the main social media platforms since 2020, with a removal rate of 11 percent.

– ‘The inadequate reaction of the platform to reported cases of hatred is striking’ – said Dr Anna Tatar who is a co-author of the report. – ‘Apparently, there is little or no sense of a global responsibility on the level of the company. We hope our report will contribute to a big change, which is necessary’.

The documentation was prepared by ‘NEVER AGAIN’ in the frames of the SafeNet (Monitoring and Reporting for Safer Online Environments) project, an initiative of 21 organisations from different European countries, members of the International Network Against Cyber ​​Hate (INACH), supported by the European Commission.

The report comes in the wake of a statement by the Commission which in July 2024 informed X of its preliminary view that it is in breach of the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) in areas linked to dark patterns, advertising transparency and data access for researchers. The DSA is widely expected to curb the spread of hate speech in the EU.

Twitter’s owner Elon Musk visited the site of the former Nazi camp at Auschwitz before the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 27 January 2024. During his visit to Poland, he condemned antisemitism and said: – ‘It was incredibly moving and deeply sad and tragic that humans could do this to other humans.’

The ‘X’s policy on hateful conduct’, available on the company’s website, states among other things: ‘We are committed to combating abuse motivated by hatred, prejudice or intolerance, particularly abuse that seeks to silence the voices of those who have been historically marginalized. For this reason, we prohibit behavior that targets individuals or groups with abuse based on their perceived membership in a protected category.’

Examples of tweets reported by ‘NEVER AGAIN’ and not removed by X:

‘I will repeat my post from a few months ago, gas the Jews!’

(X did not react to reports)

‘The only answer I agree with is […] shooting everything that enters the zone as a rule. If a couple of ciapatych [darkies – an abusive term for brown-skinned people] children die because of it, all the better’

(X responded: ‘the content does not breach our standards’)

‘During Le Pen’s [rule] I hope they’ll start shooting n…rs with live ammo, and if not, get them out to Africa to their shit houses’

(X did not react to reports)

‘Fuck gender. Fuck the perverted whores. Fuck transvestites. Load these whores into the furnace!!!!!!’

(X did not react to reports)

‘Putin’s security services would not allow such an oversight. Why? Because there [i.e. in Russia] are no lesbians, faggots and invalids. And that’s how it should be’

(a tweet by Sebastian Ross, a leader of the UK branch of the Polish far-right group Confederation in reaction to an attempted assassination of Donald Trump, X responded: ‘the content does not breach our standards’)

‘Ukry [an abusive term for Ukrainians]!!! Get out to Ukraine!!! That’s where you belong!!! Stay away from Poland!!!’

(X responded: ‘the content does not breach our standards’)

‘N…rs are subhumans’

(X responded: ‘the content does not breach our standards’)

‘Fuck the jews and the n…rs, eradicate that disease!’

(accompanied by an image of a Nazi death camp, X did not react to report).

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent anti-racist organization founded in Warsaw in 1996. It has campaigned against antisemitism and xenophobia both in Poland and internationally. It has actively participated in civil society networks, including the Global Alliance Against Digital Hate and Extremism (GAADHE), the International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH) and the Alliance Against Genocide. It takes part in international projects to counter hate speech, Get The Trolls Out and SafeNet.

‘The Twitter Standards of Hate’ (full version of the report: https://www.nigdywiecej.org//docstation/com_docstation/172/the_twitter_standards_of_hate.pdf ).

For more information:

https://help.x.com/en/rules-and-policies/hateful-conduct-policy

www.neveragainassociation.org

www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity

www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

www.linkedin.com/company/never-again-association

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AFRICAN BEATS MEANS SOLIDARITY

African Beats Festival is one of the major events in Europe showcasing African music and culture. It is also one of the largest world music events in Poland. The festival has been organized in partnership with the ‘Music Against Racism’ campaign of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association.

African Beats Festival takes place at Kaweczyn near Warsaw on 9-11 August 2024.

The festival’s stars include Vieux Farka Touré from Mali, a pioneer of the ‘Desert Blues’ genre. The line-up features also Sona Jobarteh, a musician and composer as well as founder of The Gambia Academy, an educational institution promoting African culture, history and traditions. Among the scheduled performers there are also Bombino, a guitarist and vocalist from Niger, known for his virtuoso style of guitar playing and deep connection with the Tuareg tradition, the Tasuta N-Imal band from Morocco, the Kabusa Oriental Choir from Nigeria, Madou Konte from Senegal, the Polish-Tanzanian project Sinaubi Zawose & Pamoja Zanzibar, the Senegalese Badji Band, the Warsaw Afro-Beat band Faso Tamala, and Moribaya – an international group of artists from Poland, Australia, Burkina Faso and Ukraine, united by their passion for West African traditional music.

The programme of the event includes numerous educational workshops such as African dance, drumming and singing, film screenings, discussions as well as sports activities.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association’s co-founder Rafal Pankowski emphasizes that the partnership between the ‘Music Against Racism’ campaign and African Beats Festival has a special meaning in 2024: – ‘It is an expression of solidarity with the African diaspora in Poland and other countries in the face of adversity, discrimination and xenophobia’.

‘NEVER AGAIN’ is an independent anti-racist organization founded in Warsaw in 1996. It has campaigned for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights both in Poland and internationally.

The ‘Music Against Racism’ campaign was launched by the founder of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association Marcin Kornak (born 1968, died 2014). From the age of fifteen, due to an accident, Marcin lived with a physical disability. He was a poet and songwriter who cooperated with independent rock bands. The campaign was followed by ‘Music Against War’, announced after the invasion against Ukraine, and joined by musicians who want to express their solidarity with refugees and to protest against violence in the world.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association invites musicians, record labels and promoters who are interested in releasing music or videos as well as organising shows with the promotional support of ‘Music Against Racism’ / ‘Music Against War’ to get in touch via email: info@neveragainassociation.org .

More information:

www.africanbeats.pl

www.NeverAgainAssociation.org

www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity

www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

www.linkedin.com/company/never-again-association

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AGNOSTIC FRONT: A UNITED MUSIC FRONT AGAINST RACISM

Agnostic Front will be the headliner of the InterTony Festival organised in support of the ‘Music Against Racism’ campaign run by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association.

The legendary New York band is one of the most famous hardcore music groups in the world. InterTony – Festival of Twin Towns in Chojnice, Poland, will take place on 15 June.

Agnostic Front was established in 1980, and is known for their socially aware songs, standing up for those oppressed and deprived of their own voice in the public space. The Festival will also host many other independent metal, punk, hardcore, and rock bands: Massive Assault (from the Netherlands), Peter Ullrich and Tortured Spirit (both from Germany), Praïm Faya (France), as well as Polish bands like Narbo Dacal, Super Potwor and Tyran.

‘Music Against Racism is a campaign which brings together diverse music genres. Its core message fits perfectly with the main idea behind InterTony which is to establish friendships between people from different countries’, Lukasz Jakubowski of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association explains.

InterTony is a project based on collaboration of international youth associations which operate in twin towns in Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Poland. The organisers say, ‘We try to show the benefits of international cooperation based on mutual involvement, openness, and willingness to share good practices among democratic societies’.

The organisers of InterTony were inspired by DettenRockt, a festival against racism and discrimination in Emsdetten (Germany), supported many times by the Polish volunteers from Chojnice.

The ‘Music Against Racism’ campaign was launched in 1996 by the founder of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association Marcin Kornak (born 1968, died 2014). From the age of fifteen, due to an accident, Marcin lived with a physical disability. He was a poet and songwriter who cooperated with independent rock bands. The campaign was followed by ‘Music Against War’, announced on the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, and joined by musicians who want to express their solidarity with the refugees and to protest against violence in the world.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association invites musicians, record labels and promoters who are interested in releasing music tracks or videos as well as organising concerts with the promotional support of ‘Music Against Racism’ / ‘Music Against War’ to get in touch via email: info@neveragainassociation.org .

The ‘Music Against Racism’ album was first released in 1997, and on the 20th anniversary of that fact it was also uploaded on YouTube:

In 2021, the double album ‘One Race – Human Race. Music Against Racism, part 2’, got its first LP edition, with the original CD release back in 1998. You can listen to it on YouTube, too:

‘NEVER AGAIN’ is an independent anti-racist organization founded in Warsaw in 1996. It has campaigned for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights both in Poland and internationally.

More information:

www.NeverAgainAssociation.org
www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity
www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ
www.linkedin.com/company/never-again-association

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THE MESSAGE OF PEACE RINGS LOUD FOR 2024

Members of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association have taken part in several important events promoting peace and justice across the world in the last months of 2023. In 2024, the Association invites international volunteers to join the global struggle against racism and intolerance.

‘NEVER AGAIN’s representative Anna Tatar participated in a two-day seminar on ‘Current Forms of Antisemitism’ organized in Berlin by the European Network for Countering Antisemitism through Education (ENCATE) and the Center for Research on Antisemitism (ZfA) on 9-11 October 2023. It aimed to provide participants with a comprehensive understanding of contemporary debates surrounding antisemitism and the skills necessary to identify different forms of this phenomenon.

On 20-22 October 2023, Natalia Sineaeva, a ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association activist, attended the Rotary Positive Peace Activator Leadership Summit in Nagarkot, Nepal, together with 42 peace-builders from 25 countries and all continents. The Summit included academic sessions, strategic planning working groups, resilience conversations, and reflective practices. The participants shared and planned actions to build peace in their communities.

On 30-31 October, members of ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Rafal Pankowski and Natalia Sineaeva visited Lumbini in Nepal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the birthplace of Sakyamuni Buddha, as guests of the Theravada Buddhist Community of Nepal. The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres visited Lumbini on the same day. During meetings with monks and lay members of diverse faith communities, the representatives of ‘NEVER AGAIN’ emphasized the importance of inter-faith dialogue for world peace.

On 5 November, Natalia Sineaeva and Rafal Pankowski were invited as speakers at the public discussion organized by the Forum for Secular Bangladesh (Nirmul Committee) at the Supreme Court Auditorium in Dhaka on the occasion of the Bangladesh Constitution Day. They shared the experiences of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association in the field of dealing with the past and, in particular, its successful campaign to include a ban on racist and fascist activities in the Polish Constitution. The Speaker of Bangladeshi Parliament Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury and other prominent discussants welcomed the contribution of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ members to the event.

On 9-11 November, ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association representatives participated in the international conference on ‘The Politics of Genocide Denial: Global Struggle towards Truth, Recognition and Justice’ at the Liberation War Museum in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Drawing from the research conducted under the aegis of ‘NEVER AGAIN’, Rafal Pankowski presented a paper on ‘The Phenomenon of Multideniers: Denying the Holocaust and Cambodian Genocide’, Natalia Sineaeva spoke on ‘Holocaust Denial and Distortion and its Interconnectedness with National Identity: The Case Study of Moldova in Eastern Europe’. Other speakers at the conference included, among others, the friends of ‘NEVER AGAIN’: Dr Gregory H. Stanton (Founding President, Genocide Watch), Dr Elisa von Joeden-Forgey (Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention) and Dr Navras Jaat Aafreedi (Presidency University, Kolkata).

Between 15 and 20 November, members of ‘NEVER AGAIN’ met and discussed future cooperation in the area of peace-building with universities and Rotary clubs in Dhaka and Chattogram (Bangladesh). The meetings were hosted by Professor of Buddhist Studies Biman Barua, Professor Mamun-Al-Mahtab and Rotarian Ranjan Barua.

On 15-17 November, Rafal Maszkowski participated on behalf of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association in the international conference ‘Holocaust Distortion and Counter Strategies’ in Berlin, organized by the Kreuzberg Initiative Against Antisemitism and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in cooperation with the Topography of Terror (Germany).

On 21 November, members of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association Natalia Sineaeva and Rafal Pankowski presented the Association’s activities at a special meeting hosted in Dhaka by Shahriar Kabir, an eminent Bangladeshi writer and filmmaker, the founder of the Forum for Secular Bangladesh and Trial of War Criminals of 1971. The meeting was followed by a screening of a documentary on the Bangladesh genocide.

Nosizo Zondo represented ‘NEVER AGAIN’ at the conference ‘Integration through Sport and Inclusion for Refugees in Europe for Sustainability’, which took place in Berlin on 23-24 November 2023. The conference was organized by the Fare Network in conjunction with partners in Greece, Italy, Germany and Finland. It was aimed at empowering women refugees with the necessary skills and knowledge for engaging in the creation of sports activities, and innovating capacity-building methods that aid civil society organizations collaborating with refugees.

In the near future, on 13-16 February 2024, delegates of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association are going to participate in the 11th International Conference on Peace and Nonviolent Action (ICPNA) to be held in Mumbai, India.

– ‘The range of topics and international events attended by the NEVER AGAIN Association in the recent months points to the global relevance of its message’ – said Rafal Pankowski, co-founder of ‘NEVER AGAIN’, Sociology Professor at Warsaw’s Collegium Civitas and Rotary Global Peace Fellow (Makerere University, Uganda, 2024-25). – ‘In 2024, we invite online volunteers to join our initiatives from all over the world, wherever you are, we welcome all backgrounds and cultures.’

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent civil society organization founded in Warsaw in 1996. It has campaigned against racism, antisemitism, and xenophobia, for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights across the world. It has actively participated in international civil society networks, including the Alliance Against Genocide (AAG), the European Network for Countering Antisemitism through Education (ENCATE), Facing Facts network, Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE), the International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH), the Global Alliance Against Digital Hate and Extremism (GADHE), and the European Network for Solidarity with Ukraine and Against War (ENSU).

‘NEVER AGAIN’ can be contacted at info@neveragainassociation.org .

Additional information:

www.nigdywiecej.org

http://www.holocausteducation-asia.org

Identifying and Countering Holocaust Distortion: Lessons for and from Southeast Asia

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BRAUN’S HATE – A NEW REPORT ON POLISH MP WHO ATTACKED THE HANUKKIAH

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has prepared a special REPORT that documents several dozen examples of hateful actions and statements of Grzegorz Braun, Member of Polish Parliament from the far-right Konfederacja (Confederation) party. The hatred expressed by Braun did not start with the infamous 12 December 2023 attack on the hannukiah in the Parliament, using a fire extinguisher. In fact, the Konfederacja MP has for years promoted conspiracy theories about Jews taking over Poland, mocked the victims of Nazi camps, called for violence against LGBT people, and boasted about tearing down Ukrainian flags.

– ‘We call on social media platforms to remove the hateful content produced by Grzegorz Braun. He has been propagating hatred against minorities with impunity for many years. His videos on YouTube and entries on Facebook and X (Twitter) promote aggression towards Jews, Muslims, refugees and LGBT people,’ says Lukasz Jakubowski from the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association.

The NEVER AGAIN Association has prepared a report that documents hateful actions of Grzegorz Braun

The broad reach of Braun’s hateful propaganda is evidenced by the number of views of his materials online (e.g. some videos featuring him have over one million views) and the huge amounts of money collected in his fundraising campaigns (for example, on 18 December he received 200,000 PLN, which is more than 50,400 USD, through one of Polish fundraising websites). His actions have a direct impact, too: on 14 December, five perpetrators (minors) tried to destroy a Hanukkah menorah in Wroclaw. They also set fire to an Israeli flag they had brought with them and filmed the entire incident. They were detained and their case has been brought to family court.

Thanks to the intervention of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, the Allegro and OLX internet marketplace platforms removed several dozen offers of gadgets expressing support for the antisemitic act of violence committed by Braun in the Parliament. The deleted items included mugs and t-shirts with an image of a fire extinguisher facing a Jewish candelabra.

T-short expressing support for the antisemitic act of violence committed by Braun

Braun’s statements have been repeatedly reported by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association to YouTube, Facebook, and X (Twitter) for promoting hatred. However, these platforms – contrary to their own terms of use – are reluctant to remove this type of content. As a result, Braun can conduct his aggressive campaign without any obstacles.

Examples of statements and incidents documented in the publication of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association entitled ‘Braun’s Hate’:

– On 2 April 2019, in an interview published on the YouTube channel of wRealu24, online TV, Grzegorz Braun demanded penalties for homosexuality. He said, ‘Let’s negotiate not the boundaries of tolerance, but of penalisation. […] If someone comes up with a liberal bill introducing whipping of homosexuals, then we can discuss how to implement it – whether through European Parliament or Warsaw’s Parliament.’

– On 9 April 2020, in an interview for the Panta Rhei channel on YouTube, Braun presented xenophobic conspiracy theories about the origins of COVID-19, ‘Might it be simply an act of biological warfare? […] Who might benefit from it? The Chinese, Americans, Muscovites, Jews, or all of them at once?’

– On 14 December 2021, during a demonstration that was held in front of the Sejm (lower chamber of Polish Parliament) MPs from Konfederacja, including Braun, spoke and posed against the background of a banner with an inscription ‘Vaccination makes you free’ which was designed to resemble the sign above the gate of the former Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp: ‘Arbeit macht frei’ (‘Work makes you free’).

– On 24 February 2022, a few hours after the start of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, Braun posted a comment on Twitter in which he called for Poles not to help those fleeing war-torn Ukraine, ‘The humanitarian imperative: DO NOT leave the territory of the Republic of Poland wide open, do not create demand for the migration of refugees/invaders.’

– On 14 March 2022, referring to xenophobic and antisemitic conspiracy theories, Braun condemned the display of Ukrainian flags as a sign of solidarity with the victims of the war. He posted on Twitter, ‘Do we already have Ukro-Polin here? Who is the host here?’ [Polin means Poland in Hebrew, in this case Braun refered to an antisemitic conspiracy theory according to which ‘Ukro-Polin’, a Jewish-Ukrainian state, would be formed after overtaking Poland]

– On 25 June 2022, during a demonstration in Warsaw, Braun expressed publicly his thanks to extreme-right activists and YouTube broadcasters Wojciech Olszanski and Marcin Osadowski for their ‘very strong voice for Poland. And I repeat it – death to the enemies of the fatherland’. At that time legal proceedings were in progress against Olszanski and Osadowski for issuing death threats to Members of Parliament.

– On 21 November 2022, Braun enthusiastically welcomed the news that a South African court decided to release on parole Janusz Walus – the racist killer who shot Chris Hani, a South African anti-apartheid leader, in 1993. Braun posted on Twitter, ‘LIVE: South Africa’s Constitutional Court takes its decision to RELEASE Mr. Janusz Walus from prison. Thank heavens!’

– On 27 January 2023, in the Regional Court building in Krakow, Braun destroyed a Christmas tree which was displayed by an association of judges. The tree was decorated with baubles with Ukrainian flags, European Union flags, and the letters ‘LGBT’ in rainbow colours.

– On 30 May 2023, at the German Historical Institute in Warsaw, Braun disrupted the lecture of Professor Jan Grabowski about Holocaust memory. He moved towards the lecturer, shouting ‘Enough of this!’, ripped out the microphone from the stand, smashed it against the lectern, and knocked over the loudspeaker.

– On 12 December 2023, in the building of the Sejm Braun disrupted a ceremony on the occasion of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. He burst in with a fire extinguisher and used it to put out the candles burning on the nine-branched candelabra (hanukkiah). One of the ceremony participants, Magdalena Gudzinska-Adamczyk, tried to stop Braun, but she was attacked by him and sprayed with the fire extinguisher.

– On 14 December 2023, on Leszek Szymowski’s YouTube channel Braun encouraged people to repeat the aggressive act he had committed during Hanukkah celebrations, ‘At this time next year, I will be on the lookout for all those who believe that it is necessary to professionally extinguish fires started in public spaces [this is how Braun described his attack]. I applaud all forms of protest and attempts to put an end to such activities.’

In January 2023, the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association published a report on hate speech as well as antisemitic and anti-Ukrainian conspiracy theories propagated on the Media Narodowe (National Media) online TV channel. Upon the publication the channel was removed by YouTube. In August 2022, thanks to cooperation with the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, the YouTube platform removed the far-right channel wRealu24.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent anti-racist organisation founded in Warsaw in 1996. It has campaigned against antisemitism and xenophobia, for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights both in Poland and internationally. It has actively participated in international civil society networks, including the Global Alliance Against Digital Hate and Extremism (GAADHE) and the International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH). It takes part in international projects to counter hate speech, Get The Trolls Out and SafeNet.

‘Braun’s Hate’ (full version of the report):

https://www.nigdywiecej.org//docstation/com_docstation/172/brauns_hate._report.pdf

Additional information:

www.nigdywiecej.org

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‘SHOOT THEM’. REPORT ON HATE SPEECH IN THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN IN POLAND

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has published a report entitled ‘«Shoot them.» Hate speech in the election campaign in Poland.’ It documents examples of racist and xenophobic statements about minorities, disseminated for political propaganda purposes.

The report records manifestations of hate speech used by politicians, activists, media, and supporters of particular parties during the election campaign, i.e. from July to October. The publication collects examples of entries on social media platforms, video materials and images, interviews and speeches at rallies, taking aim at Ukrainians, Jews, LGBT people, and people with disabilities, as well as migrants and refugees.

– ‘Never before has hatred towards other people been used so systematically and on such a scale in an election campaign. A ghoulish place in the political messaging was taken by migrants from African and Asian countries who were identified with threats such as terrorism, sexual crime, and theft,’ said Anna Tatar from the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association. She added, ‘It is sad that this type of content was repeated by representatives of all parties.’

– ‘Video materials shared on social media played a particular role in spreading false and harmful image of migrants. Short videos, without any information about when they were recorded, with racist comments, are one of the most common forms of political manipulation,’ said Rafal Pankowski from the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association. ‘Such content subsequently generated hateful comments from more and more users,’ he emphasised.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association participates in the international project SafeNet (Monitoring and Reporting for Safer Online Environments), in which it monitors and reports content propagating hatred towards minorities to social media platforms. In September and October, out of 55 items reported to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube… none of them were removed. The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, as a Trusted Flagger, sent reports again to each of these platforms, containing detailed information about posts promoting hate. As a result,… 4 such items were removed.

Selected examples of statements documented in the report ‘«Shoot them.» Hate speech in the election campaign in Poland’:

– On 2 July Roman Giertych, former leader of far-right Mlodziez Wszechpolska (All-Polish Youth) and Koalicja Obywatelska (Civic Coalition) candidate in the parliamentary elections, shared a video on Twitter that showed a group of men chased by the police and added his own comment, ‘Twenty years from now, due to having allowed hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Muslim countries into Poland, we may witness such scenes on the streets of Warsaw.’

– On 8 July, Dariusz Matecki, Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc (PiS; Law and Justice) candidate for the Sejm (lower chamber of Polish Parliament) in the Szczecin constituency, published a comment on Twitter expressing his appreciation for the far-right militants who on 8 July invaded the Pride Fest festival in Tbilisi (Georgia) organised by the LGBT community.

– On 20 July in Bydgoszcz Dr. Slawomir Ozdyk, far-right Konfederacja (Confederation party) candidate in the Sejm elections (lower chamber of the Polish Parliament), presented a xenophobic, even grotesque vision of life in Western European countries. He said, ‘The German mainstream media describe what is happening there by saying that entire city districts have been taken over by migrant gangs. Let me repeat, by Arab-Chechen gangs.’

– On 20 July, Janusz Korwin-Mikke, far-right Konfederacja (Confederation party) MP and its candidate in the Sejm elections in Warsaw suburbs, posted a homophobic entry on Twitter. He declared, ‘Condemning homosexuality is one of the European values.’

– On 26 July, the far right wRealu24 channel on the BanBye platform broadcast a conversation with Dr. Andrzej Zapalowski, Professor at University of Rzeszow and Konfederacja (Confederation party) candidate in the parliamentary elections, made a false statement that ‘well over a million Ukrainian citizens live in Poland at the expense of the Polish taxpayer.’

– On 5 August in Zielona Gora, a huge election banner of MP Lukasz Mejza (unaffiliated, previously associated with the Kukiz’15 movement) appeared, containing xenophobic content. The poster displayed the slogans: ‘Accepting migrants – rape and terror,’ ‘Poland without migrants – safe Poland.’

– On 17 August, during the parliamentary debate, the Minister of Education and Science Przemyslaw Czarnek linked the presence of migrants in Western European countries with sexual crimes against women, ‘Polish women are safe in Poland, because there are no illegal immigrants. […] And you don’t pay attention to the threat and want them to be raped, like in France or Belgium.’

­- On 6 September, Jacek Cwieka, Konfederacja (Confederation party) candidate for the Senate, posted on Twitter that war crimes in Bucha and Irpin [two neighbouring towns in Ukraine where Russian troops have committed mass atrocities against the civilian population] ‘were, after all, a hoax.’ He also spoke in defense of the Russian president, ‘Today, all the inciters are going insane, because there is no evidence to call Putin a war criminal.’

– On 7 September, Adam Gbiorczyk, far-right Konfederacja (Confederation party) candidate for the Senate, published a comment on Twitter in which he questioned the mass extermination in the Nazi camps. He wrote, ‘The mere existence of the camps is not evidence of the death of millions, it is only evidence of the existence of the camps.’ 

– On 17 September, Dr. Krystyna Pawlowicz, Judge of the Constitutional Tribunal and former Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc (Law and Justice) MP, posted a comment on Twitter containing a term that dehumanises refugees and migrants (she called them ‘savages’).

***

In March 2023, the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association published the ‘Brown Book’ – documentation of racist, xenophobic and homophobic crimes and acts of discrimination in Poland in the years 2020-2023. Over 300 pages describe cases of physical assaults on the basis of skin colour, language, or religion, as well as acts of verbal aggression. In addition, the report documents street demonstrations with slogans inciting hatred, acts of discrimination against minorities, and fascist banners displayed at football stadiums. Examples of hostility towards refugees from Ukraine can also be found therein.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent anti-racist organization founded in Warsaw in 1996. It has campaigned against antisemitism and xenophobia, for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights both in Poland and internationally. It has actively participated in international civil society networks, including the Global Alliance Against Digital Hate and Extremism (GAADHE) and the International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH). It takes part in international projects to counter hate speech, Get The Trolls Out and SafeNet.

‘«Shoot them.» Hate speech in the election campaign in Poland’ (full version of the report – PDF).

Additional information:

www.nigdywiecej.org

www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity

www.linkedin.com/company/never-again-association