Tag: NEVER AGAIN

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THE MISSING PICTURE: RETHINKING GENOCIDE STUDIES AND PREVENTION

Members of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association were honoured by the invitation to speak at the global congress of the International Association of Genocide Scholars held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The IAGS conference entitled ‘The Missing Picture: Rethinking Genocide Studies and Prevention’ gathered around 500 intellectuals, researchers, and civil society representatives from all over the world. It was held at the American University of Phnom Penh on 14-19 July 2019. A special meeting with the Oscar-nominated renowned Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh was a highlight of the conference programme.

During the conference, Natalia Sineaeva presented a paper on ‘Museums as Spaces for Dealing with Difficult Knowledge: Examples from Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia’, Rafal Pankowski spoke on ‘Polish Entries at Tuol Sleng in 1979 and the Issues of Polish-Cambodian Genocide Analogies’. Nickey Diamond, a friend of ‘NEVER AGAIN’ from Myanmar, presented the subject of ‘Securitization of Islam in Myanmar: Security Discourse Analysis on the Mass Atrocities against Rohingya Muslims’.

After the conference, Natalia Sineaeva, Rafal Pankowski and Ali Al-Asani conducted two full-day workshops in Phnom Penh under the heading ‘An Introduction to the History of the Holocaust’. The well-attended workshops (in English and Khmer languages) were co-organized by ‘NEVER AGAIN’ and the Heinrich Boell Foundation Cambodia and took place at the office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation on 23 and 27 July. Around fifty participants included Cambodian human rights activists, academics and students. The themes of genocide, resistance and dealing with the past were discussed alongside the parallels and differences between the tragic chapters of European and Asian histories.

– ‘We want to share our knowledge, but our aim is also to learn from our Cambodian friends, from their unique perspective and experiences’ – said Natalia Sineaeva, a ‘NEVER AGAIN’ member and International Rotary Peace Fellow 2018.

The activities in Cambodia illustrate the long-standing commitment of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association to support genocide commemoration and prevention, peace and intercultural dialogue both in Europe and in the region of Southeast Asia. Future Polish-Cambodian meetings, publications and other activities are planned, also in cooperation with the Cambodian diaspora.

Other international events with the participation of ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association members and supporters are scheduled to take place over the next weeks and months in Thailand, South Korea and Japan.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent educational and research organization established in Warsaw in 1996. It has campaigned against racism, antisemitism and xenophobia in Poland and internationally.

More information:

www.nigdywiecej.org

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‘NEVER AGAIN’ ASSOCIATION ON A US STATE DEPARTMENT VISIT

The United States State Department and the US Embassy in Warsaw invited a representative of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association to participate in the prestigious International Visitor Leadership Program devoted to combatting violent extremism. During the three weeks (18 May – 8 June 2019) spent in Washington, Chattanooga, Montgomery, San Francisco and Boston, Dr. Anna Tatar took part in a series of meetings with representatives of various American institutions, NGOs, journalists and leaders of local communities. 

– ‘America is a country built by immigrants from many places around the world and I was able to observe what such diversity means. We met many people who had come to the USA from the farthest corners of the globe, as well as first, or next generations immigrants born in the States. Respect for the fact that their identity may be complex and subject to personal choices is one of the most important contemporary issues,’ said Ms. Tatar. – ‘At the same time, racial discrimination is still a serious problem, which is manifested most of all in the American justice system. One of the frequent topics of our discussions was the violent behaviour of the police towards Afro-American citizens.’

During her stay in the USA, Anna Tatar visited places with significant ties to the history of slavery and racial persecution, including Montgomery, Alabama, which in the nineteenth century was the centre of slave trade. She visited the Baptist church at Dexter Avenue, known for its famous pastor, Civil Rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Dr Martin Luther King Jr. She was honoured to meet Mrs. Jeannie Graetz, who together with her husband, Rev. Robert Graetz, supported the so-called bus boycott (a peaceful protest against racial segregation on the public transport system) and then became a leading figure in the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ representative also visited the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC and the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Centre, which is one of the largest mosques and Muslim culture centres in the USA. At the editorial office of ‘TIME’ magazine she had the opportunity to take part in discussions about the standards of public debate and the levels of hate speech in Poland and the USA. During these meetings, she presented the activities of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association and referred to the examples of xenophobic violence documented in the ‘Brown Book’ prepared by the Association.

Following her US trip, on 14 June, Anna Tatar participated in an international conference on hate speech organized in Vienna by The World of NGOs together with the Faculty of Political Science of Vienna University. As a member of the discussion panel, the representative of ‘NEVER AGAIN’ elaborated on the long-term activities undertaken by the Association against the spread of racist propaganda on the Internet. She talked about the problem of inadequate enforcement of the laws against the propagation of hatred. As an example, she described the fascist concerts which have been freely organized in Poland for many years now.

On May 29, 2019, the Warsaw-Praga District Court dismissed criminal proceedings brought against Anna Tatar. She had been accused of libel in connection with critical statements made about an extreme-nationalist event known as the Eagle’s Nest Festival. The court upheld the verdict of the court of first instance and confirmed that there was a ‘complete lack of factual grounds for the accusation’. It was emphasised in the judgement that the representative of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association had the right to speak in a legitimate defence of the public interest. 

In May 2019, Anna Tatar and Joanna Naranowicz were awarded prizes by the Australian-based Jerzy Boniecki Independent Foundation for the Promotion of Polish Culture (Polcul) for their roles in the activities of ‘NEVER AGAIN’. The award ceremony took place at the Warsaw Uprising Museum on 25 May. Joanna Naranowicz is a vocalist of the rock band Qulturka and the animator of the ‘Music Against Racism’ campaign – she received a distinction for ‘the continuous and extremely effective propagation of pluralism and tolerance, and her efforts in combating ethnic and religious prejudices’. Anna Tatar received one for ‘propagating tolerance and pluralism in relation to ethnic and religious minorities and for her journalistic and scientific work over many years relating to the sources of xenophobia and racist violence.’

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent organization established in Warsaw in 1996. ‘NEVER AGAIN’ has campaigned against racism, antisemitism and xenophobia, for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights both in Poland and internationally.

More information:

www.nigdywiecej.org
www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity
www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

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‘MUSIC AGAINST RACISM’ LIVES ON

The NEVER AGAIN Association has released a special vinyl record to commemorate Marcin Kornak, the late founder and chairman of NEVER AGAIN, one of the stalwarts of the Polish anti-racism movement. 20 March marks the fifth anniversary of his passing and 21 March is the UN International Day Against Racism.

Marcin Kornak (1968-2014) launched the high-profile campaigns ‘Music Against Racism’ and ‘Let’s Kick Racism Out of Stadiums’. As the editor-in-chief of the NEVER AGAIN journal, he initiated the ground-breaking register of hate crimes in Poland known as the ‘Brown Book’. For his civil society activism, Marcin was awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta, one of Poland’s highest distinctions. Moreover, the Friends of Integration Association, working in the field of disabled people’s rights, granted him the title of Person Without Barriers (Marcin was physically disabled since he had had a serious accident at the age of 15). He was also an Ambassador for the Centre for Access to Football in Europe (CAFE).

The special EP entitled ‘I Know My Path is Right’ includes tracks dedicated to the memory of Marcin Kornak by two Polish rock bands closely associated with NEVER AGAIN: Qulturka and Skowyt. Their songs address the issues of bigotry and violence.

Marcin Kornak, who was also an acclaimed poet and author of alternative rock lyrics, launched the Music Against Racism campaign in 1996. Over the years, numerous artists representing diverse genres joined NEVER AGAIN to say no to racism and intolerance. The NEVER AGAIN Association released a whole series of records under a common motto of Music Against Racism, including hip-hop, electronic, metal, and reggae compilations. The campaign’s emblem accompanied more than 1400 concerts and festivals, while over 300 bands put it on their album sleeves – the open white-and-black palm of a hand symbolizes peace, friendship and diversity.

The cover for ‘I Know My Path is Right’ was designed by Witold Popiel, a NEVER AGAIN activist and graduate of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. The record was produced in cooperation with the independent label Jimmy Jazz Records. As a commemorative item, it will be distributed free and will not be sold commercially.

Qulturka is a punk-rock band founded in Pila in 1995. Its partnership with NEVER AGAIN concerning anti-fascist actions dates back many years. In 2010 the band recorded an album called ‘White, Yellow, Red, Black’ in support of the Music Against Racism campaign.

Skowyt debuted with ‘Achtung, Polen!’ in 2011 released under the patronage of Music Against Racism. The band’s name – translated as The Howl – refers to Allan Ginsberg’s poem of 1956, which condemned soul-crushing conformity and helped kick off the entire Beat Generation.

The NEVER AGAIN Association was founded by Marcin Kornak in 1996. It has campaigned against racism and xenophobia, and for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights both in Poland and internationally. Among others, it has conducted large-scale anti-racist activities at the Polish Woodstock festival, the biggest open-air free music festival in Europe.

More info:

‘I Know My Path is Right’ EP (2019): https://youtu.be/gpaewF3bgVA

Music Against Racism (issued in 1997) – the cult classic album compiled by NEVER AGAIN: http://bit.ly/2SWRrtp

www.nigdywiecej.org

www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity

www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

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HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD FOR ‘NEVER AGAIN’ CO-FOUNDER

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association’s co-founder Rafal Pankowski received this year’s Paul Ehrlich-Gunther K. Schwerin Human Rights Award.

The Award was established in 1998 by the US-based Anti-Defamation League to honour those who have fought antisemitism throughout Europe. The award was presented by the ADL’s Director of European Affairs Andrew Srulevitch during his visit to Poland on 6 February 2019.

In the preceding months, Rafal Pankowski had been subjected to numerous public attacks for his work in documenting and countering antisemitism and xenophobia. Several days before the handing of the award, government-controlled TV labelled the Warsaw-born researcher as ‘a horrible person’, ‘belonging to the worst sort of Poles’ who ‘lives from a hatred of his own fatherland’. In response, the Polish Human Rights Commissioner Adam Bodnar initiated a formal complaint to the National Council of Radio and Television in protest against the hateful language used on air.

In 2018, Rafal Pankowski (who is also a Sociology Professor at Warsaw’s Collegium Civitas) authored the widely discussed article detailing the resurgence of antisemitic discourse in Polish media and politics, published by the Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs. Over the years he has cooperated with numerous think tanks and academic institutions including, among others, Chatham House (London), the Institute of Human Sciences (Vienna), and the Centre for European Studies at Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok).

He was recently included in the annual ‘J100’ list announced by editors of The Algemeiner, a New York-based Jewish weekly. The list recognizes one hundred people who made positive contribution to the life of the Jewish communities in the last year and, besides political figures, it has included actress Sharon Stone, the UK’s Prince William and Indian conductor Zubin Mehta, among others. The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ co-founder was commended for his role in opposing antisemitism and racism.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent organization established in Warsaw in 1996. ‘NEVER AGAIN’ has campaigned against racism, antisemitism and xenophobia, for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights both in Poland and internationally.

More information:

Rafal Pankowski, ‘The Resurgence of Antisemitic Discourse in Poland’, ‘Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs’, July 2018: http://bit.ly/2Typpl2

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A NEW REPORT ON VIOLENCE AGAINST MUSLIMS

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has published a REPORT – part of its ‘Brown Book’ monitoring activity – on incidents targeting Muslims in Poland in 2017-2018. The association calls for the condemnation of xenophobic violence and for solidarity with those who experience it.

Former Gdansk mayor the late Pawel Adamowicz was viciously criticized for his efforts to support refugees and to create a migration policy based on respect for diversity. Two weeks before his death, the public prosecutor discontinued proceedings regarding ‘death certificates’ that the ultra-nationalist All-Polish Youth addressed to Adamowicz and ten other city mayors for signing a declaration of cooperation aimed at the integration of migrants in Polish cities. On 20 January, Muslims joined in prayer at the ecumenical funeral mass to mourn the assassination of the Gdansk mayor.

Examples of events documented in the ‘Brown Book’ include, amongst many others, the following incidents:

A group of men assaulted a Pakistani citizen. According to the victim, ‘They shouted, <Osama, Osama!>. Then they asked if I was a Muslim.’ As a result of the incident he had a broken nose, broken teeth, as well as head and chest injuries. (Ozorkow, 3 January 2017)

Two unidentified individuals beat up a student from Saudi Arabia. The attacked man received several fist blows to his face. (Zakopane, 8 January 2017)

Three men attacked Pakistani workers of a restaurant. They shouted abusive words, like ‘dirtbags’ and ‘terrorists’. Moreover, one of the assailants forced his way behind the counter, hit one of the Pakistanis and pushed him onto a hot grill. The two remaining perpetrators beat up the owner of the facility as well as another employee. (Swidwin, 8 April 2017)

Four men took part in an assault on a kebab shop. They verbally abused one of the employees, a Bangladeshi citizen, with words including ‘you turban’ and ‘you nigger’ and spat on him. The perpetrators also threw chairs at the remaining employees and demolished the interior of the shop. (Lodz, 17 April 2017)

An unidentified man spat at a girl who wore a hijab. The teenage victim was participating in an educational excursion for young people from Germany. (Lublin, 21 June 2017)

A man and an accompanying woman assaulted a Chechen woman dressed in traditional Muslim garb. The assailant shouted at her, ‘You fucking Muslim!’, ‘To the gas chamber!’ and ‘Fuck off from here!’ He pushed her down to the ground and kicked her head and the rest of her body. (Warsaw, 7 September 2017)

‘Unknown perpetrators’ devastated a mosque. Surveillance cameras recorded two masked men breaking a few dozen window panes in the building by throwing stones and lumps of concrete. (Warsaw, 27 November 2017)

An unidentified man attacked a student from Saudi Arabia; he punched him in the face and shouted: ‘If you are to explode, do it where you came from!’ (Lodz, 8 January 2018)

In a kebab shop an assailant aimed a firearm at three Moroccan citizens and shouted that they are to ‘get the fuck out of Poland’ and that ‘Poland is for Poles’. (Gniezno, 12 February 2018)

An owner of a similar shop, an Egyptian national, was beaten by three men with a metal stick. (Warsaw, 13 May 2018)

Another Egyptian victim, belonging to the Coptic Catholic Church, made the following statement: ‘They were very aggressive. They said I was an Islamist and an Arab. When I showed them the cross I was wearing and said I was a Christian, one of the men spat on [my cross] and attacked me with his fists.’ (Krasnystaw, 31 August 2018)

In a bus two Turkish passengers were attacked by five apparent fans of football club Legia Warsaw. One of the victims, a dual citizen of Turkey and Poland, said, ‘They began to call us names, <Dirtbags, get the fuck out of here>. They were getting more and more aggressive. They sang a racist song (…) One of them severely head-butted me in the face.’ (Warsaw, 15 December 2018)

At a railway station, a group of a dozen or so men attacked three Arab students. The assailants hit one of them on the back of the head and pushed him down to the ground, forced the second onto the tracks just before the departure of the train, and beat the third until he lost consciousness. (Katowice, 22 December 2018)

– ‘This carefree show of hatred towards Muslims or people perceived as Muslims often stems from the rhetoric used by politicians, celebrities and other public figures in the media. They use negative stereotypes and derogatory expressions and this, in an unavoidable manner, facilitates xenophobic attitudes towards representatives of various minorities’, said Dr Anna Tatar, the author of the report.

The ‘Brown Book’ gathers examples of such public rhetoric which contains prejudice against Muslims or direct calls for violence towards them. The monitoring activity noted words by the regional curator of education Barbara Nowak when she told the King Jan Sobieski Secondary School students, ‘The patron of your school was a wonderful king who managed to save the whole of Europe from Islam. You must follow his example’ (Krakow, 11 September 2018). In turn, Wojciech Cejrowski (right-wing author and commentator) posted an appeal on Twitter (19 October) to send in photographs of Muslims living in Poland. In response, Internet users began, without asking for permission, to take photographs of women with hijabs and Arab men and to publish them with derogatory commentaries: e.g. ‘Muslim savages’; ‘more and more of them can be seen in Poland, they should be chased away while it’s still possible because the plague spreads quickly’.

For many years, xenophobic commentaries can be heard in broadcasts aired by the nationalist Catholic radio station, Radio Maryja. The ‘Brown Book’ for 2018 contains, amongst others, the words uttered by Tadeusz Rydzyk, director of the Torun-based station, who in a programme on the subject of ‘mixed marriages’ said, ‘I look, for instance, at Polish women who see some man and they like him because he has a darker skin… and then with this Arab, it’s like <go join the harem, go there>. So, it’s like that, this is dramatic’. (11 December). This statement failed to trigger any response from the National Broadcasting Council or from Church authorities.

In 2018, following an intervention by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, the Allegro online e-commerce platform removed T-shirts showing slogans and symbols derogatory to the Muslim faith such as ‘Stop Islam’ and a drawing of a mosque crossed out.

In Poland there are, according to various estimates, between 15 and 25 thousand Muslims which accounts for less than 0.1% of the total population.

‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent anti-racist organization, founded by the late Marcin Kornak (1968-2014) to monitor incidents of a xenophobic nature. It also conducts educational campaigns such as ‘Music Against Racism’ and ‘Let’s Kick Racism out of Stadiums’.

The ‘Brown Book’ is a monitoring activity, carried out by ‘NEVER AGAIN’, of racist, xenophobic and antisemitic incidents since the mid-1990s.

‘NEVER AGAIN’s ‘Brown Book’ documentation of selected Islamophobic incidents from 2017 and 2018:  READ PDF 

Additional information:

www.nigdywiecej.org
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THE GLOBAL AND LOCAL STRUGGLE AGAINST RACIST EXTREMISM

The team of the ’NEVER AGAIN’ Association has been working tirelessly on global and local challenges of xenophobia, discrimination, hatred and extremism. In the last days, members of the Warsaw-based anti-racist organization have actively taken part in several important initiatives on international, national, and grass-roots levels.

On 1-3 November, Adam Kuczynski represented 'NEVER AGAIN’ at the international seminar 'United for Equality’ organized in Paris by Maisons des Potes, focusing on the rise of the far right across Europe.

On 1-4 November, Natalia Sineaeva-Pankowska (a 'NEVER AGAIN’ member and a Rotary Peace Fellow) participated in the 'Lessons and Legacies of the Holocaust’ conference held at Washington University in St. Louis (USA) as a panelist on the topic of ‎’Forgetting the Holocaust in the global era of remembrance’. ‎The biannual international conference is the premier intellectual gathering in Holocaust studies.

On 5-8 November, Collegium Civitas Professor Rafal Pankowski‎, co-founder of 'NEVER AGAIN’, shared the association’s experiences at the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Seminar on Human Rights and Preventing Violent Extremism held in Yogyakarta (Indonesia). The ASEM is a forum for dialogue and cooperation established in 1996 to deepen relations between Asia and Europe. Members include 53 countries from both continents.

On 6 November, a public meeting about cooperation and solidarity with Polish anti-racists was held at Leith Community Education Centre in Edinburgh (organized by the Stand Up To Racism Scotland coalition) and the 'NEVER AGAIN’ Association was represented by Witold Liliental.

On 10 November, an inclusive celebration of the centenary of Polish independence takes place in Hamilton (Canada), reaching out to Jewish, Muslim and other communities. The event, organized by members of the Polish-Canadian community and supported by the 'NEVER AGAIN’ Association, is among a number of activities in the run-up to Poland’s Independence Day (11 November). In the last years, the national holiday was dominated by a large far-right march organized in the streets of Warsaw by extremist groups. Another such march is expected to take place on 11 November 2018, with the participation of islamophobic, antisemitic and neo-fascist groups from all over Europe.

Throughout November, 'NEVER AGAIN’ organizes and supports initiatives promoting an inclusive approach to Polish identity, challenging the growth of ethno-nationalism through a social media campaign using a 'Poland for All’ hashtag, a literary competition for young people and grass-roots activities including a series of rock concerts under the headline 'Music Against Racism’, some of them linked with the commemoration of the anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogrom (9 November 1938). For example, on 2 and 3 November, the well-known Polish band Dezerter played concerts with the 'Music Against Racism’ theme in Malbork and Ostróda. On 3 November, a special 'Music Against Racism’ show took place in Warsaw, featuring bands such as Human Rights, Uliczny Opryszek and RHL Ensemble, a new band formed by the legendary bard Janusz Reichel. 'NEVER AGAIN’ activist Izabela Glowacka prepared and coordinated the promotion of anti-racist messages at the event.

On 9 November, Polish and Belorussian rock bands play under the 'Music Against Racism’ banner at a festival co-organized in cooperation with 'NEVER AGAIN’ by the local Museum and Belarussian Cultural Centre in Hajnowka.

On the same day, 'NEVER AGAIN’ supports a conference entitled 'Stop hate speech’ taking place in Zagorow with the participation of Bartlomiej Grzanka, director of the Kulmhof Death Camp Museum in Chelmno, and law enforcement representatives. A series of presentations and workshops takes place in local schools using materials provided by the 'NEVER AGAIN’ Association.

On 12 November, the Warsaw Jewish Film Festival starts in Warsaw, also with the support of the 'NEVER AGAIN’ Association. This year’s edition of the festival has a special significance in the context of an unprecedented wave of antisemitic statements in Polish media and politics which swept the country earlier this year.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association was founded in 1996 by Marcin Kornak (who passed away in 2014). ‘NEVER AGAIN’ has campaigned against racism and xenophobia, for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights both in Poland and internationally.

Additional information:

www.nigdywiecej.org
www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity
www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

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EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT CALLS FOR CONDEMNATION OF RACISM AT FOOTBALL STADIUMS

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution in which it calls the national sports federations and football clubs to counter the scourge of racism, neo-fascism and xenophobia in stadiums and in the world of sport by condemning and punishing those responsible and by promoting, in cooperation with schools and civil society organizations, positive educational activities aimed at young sport fans.

In addition, the European Parliament 'supports and praises social groups and civil society organizations fighting against fascism, racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance and calls for their protection’.

The resolution was adopted on 25th October 2018 in connection with the increase in the number of neo-fascist acts of violence in Europe. Through the resolution, the Parliament also expresses its deep concern over the 'impunity with which neo-fascist and neo-Nazi groups operate in some Member States’ and calls for robust condemnation and punishment of hate crimes.

Rafal Pankowski, co-founder of the ’NEVER AGAIN’ Association, was involved in preparing the contents of the resolution.

In October 2018, the Polish football authorities had cancelled an anti-racism campaign in the Polish stadiums. The initiative aimed to show players and referees opposing intolerance and racial prejudice, but it was met with opposition from several clubs which have a track record of racist incidents at their matches. The action was to take place during the ‘Football People’ Action Weeks organized across Europe by the Fare network with the support of UEFA.

Since 1996, the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has conducted the first anti-racism campaign in Eastern European football, ‘Let’s Kick Racism Out of the Stadiums’ and is a founding member of the Fare network.

Additional information:

www.nigdywiecej.org 
www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity
www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

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MUSIC, FOOTBALL, AND REFUGEE RIGHTS

This summer, the biggest open-air free festival in Europe hosted a unique edition of the ‘Let’s Kick Racism Out Of Stadiums’ tournament, organized by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association. At the Pol’and’Rock Festival (also known as Polish Woodstock), the players symbolically represented countries from all over the world. In the final play-off, Poland played against Iran, while the fair play award went to Croatia. A match was also played between the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association’s team together with artists involved in the ‘Music Against Racism’ campaign on one side and the team of the Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsman) on the other. The Commissioner, Dr Adam Bodnar officially inaugurated the whole tournament and even personally refereed during the opening game.

The festival was held in Kostrzyn on the Polish-German border from 2nd to 4th August 2018 and it drew between 500 and 700 hundred thousand people, as estimated by the organizers.

– ‘The World Cup in Russia didn’t go down without racist incidents. Also in Antwerp, Polish fans insulted and assaulted Senegali fans. After the match Poland-Senegal (which the former lost), numerous racist insults were published on the Internet,’ said Piotr Ciolkowski, who co-leads the ‘Let’s Kick Racism Out Of Stadiums’ campaign by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association. – ‘Through the anti-racist tournament at Pol’and’Rock Festival, we wanted to remind everyone about the importance of respect and diversity in sports’.

The activity received support from Dariusz Dziekanowski, a legend of Celtic Glasgow and Legia Warsaw and a former star of the Polish national team. The tournament partners included the Fare network, the local authorities of Kostrzyn, and the Polish fan club of FC St. Pauli, the Silesian Pirates.

The Polish Woodstock Festival is not just about sporting activities, after all it is also a music event. – ‘We’ve held meetings with bands who support our campaign Music Against Racism. For example, NEVER AGAIN invited members of the amazing group called Na Gorze (Upstairs), which includes musicians who are disabled, to share their story with the audience. They had overcome all the obstacles and became fully-fledged artists,’ said Joanna Naranowicz, an activist of NEVER AGAIN and herself vocalist of the Qulturka band. The musicians of Na Gorze were joined during the festival by the Polish-Danish star singer-songwriter Czeslaw Mozil, known for his support for diversity and equality. Together, they had recorded a song with an anti-hate, pro-peace message.

The other educational activities organized by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ team during the festival included DIY art workshops promoting diversity and respect as well as discussions on topics such as refugee rights.

In 2018, the festival line-up included, among others, the Israeli-based Balkan Beat Box – a creative mix of Middle Eastern and klezmer traditions, electronic music and punk rock – as well as heavy-metal stars Judas Priest and Soulfly, the US rockers Goo Goo Dolls and a plethora of other acts of various styles, from death metal to jazz and folk.

The festival audience paid homage to the people of Warsaw who fought for freedom in 1944, during the anti-Nazi Warsaw Uprising (that broke out on 1st August). A minute of silence was held to honor their sacrifice.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association was founded in 1996 by Marcin Kornak, a Polish poet and activist (who passed away in 2014). In spite of his disability, he laid the foundations of the Polish anti-racism and anti-discrimination movement. ‘NEVER AGAIN’ has campaigned against racism, antisemitism and xenophobia, for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights both in Poland and internationally.

Additional information:

www.nigdywiecej.org

www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity

www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

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NEVER AGAIN: Activities in South-East Asia

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has actively participated in South-East Asian initiatives for intercultural dialogue, peace, and genocide commemoration.

On 22-25 July 2018, members of ‘NEVER AGAIN participated in the conference on ‘Dealing With The Past: Aspects of Trauma and Healing’ held in Phnom Penh by the Heinrich Boell Foundation (Cambodia Office) in cooperation with Metahouse Cultural Centre and First Step Cambodia. The conference was a follow-up to the seminars on dealing with the past and genocide commemoration organized by the Heinrich Boell Foundation (Cambodia) and the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association in Phnom Penh and Warsaw in 2017.

Representatives of ‘NEVER AGAIN’ once more paid tribute to the victims at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and met with Chum Mey, one of the seven survivors of the Tuol Sleng torture and extermination centre, the leader of the Association of Victims of the Khmer Rouge Regime. During the conference, members of ‘NEVER AGAIN’ presented their perspectives on Holocaust commemoration and the current efforts in the global fight against hate speech and hate crimes.

The Phnom Penh conference was coordinated by Ali Al-Nasani, the director of the Heinrich Boell Foundation Cambodia Office and Dara Bramson, an interdisciplinary researcher and a longtime friend of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association.

On 30 July, the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association initiates a movie evening and a panel discussion about Angelina Jolie’s recent film on the Cambodian genocide, ‘First They Killed My Father’. The event is held at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok (Thailand) in cooperation with the Rotary Peace Fellowship Program, with the participation of expert speakers from Cambodia, Thailand, Poland, the US, and Germany.

On 19 July, representatives of ‘NEVER AGAIN’ took part in the launch of the report ‘They Gave Them Long Swords. Preparations for Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity Against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State, Myanmar’, published by the South-East Asian human rights NGO Fortify Rights. The event took place at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Bangkok. The report was presented by Kerry Kennedy, daughter of the late US attorney general Robert F. Kennedy and president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, who had concluded visits to Myanmar and Bangladesh with a high-level delegation in the preceding days. Ms Kennedy was joined by the former US Congressman Tom Andrews and the Myanmar human rights advocate Nickey Diamond. – ‘License to slaughter one group is license to slaughter others’ – said Kerry Kennedy. – ‘From Germany to Cambodia, from Bosnia to Rwanda, again and again we have learned the same lesson, until there’s accountability, the risk of repeated attacks of increasing severity is not just likely, it’s guaranteed.’

– ‘The motto of NEVER AGAIN must not stop with the commemoration of past atrocities, but it has to be a living commitment. We have a long-term dedication to cooperation with our partners across South-East Asia and are determined to assist in all efforts for peace’ – said a representative of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, Natalia Sineaeva-Pankowska, who is also a Rotary Peace Fellowat Chulalongkorn University.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association was founded in 1996 by Marcin Kornak, a Polish poet and activist.6. It has campaigned against racism, antisemitism and xenophobia, for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights both in Poland and internationally. It has conducted anti-racist educational campaigns in the field of music and sports and it has been personally supported by numerous figures including Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, Lech Walesa, the Dalai Lama and the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton. Stieg Larsson, the late Swedish jo‎urnalist and crime writer, was among the first friends and supporters of ‘NEVER AGAIN’.

Additional information:

www.nigdywiecej.org
www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity
www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

 

Opublikowane w

A VICTORY AGAINST ONLINE PEDDLERS OF HATRED

In the space of three months the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, in cooperation with Allegro (the biggest online e-commerce platform in East-Central Europe), has effected the removal of over 1,000 auctions of newly manufactured items with racist, fascist and antisemitic content. The platform has now turned to the representatives of the association with a suggestion that they develop systems for recognising and eliminating all such future offers.

The items offered for sale included, among others, necklaces, signet rings and badges with Nazi swastikas, contemporary imitations of Nazi military decorations, a brass bust of Hitler, watches, lighters and flasks with emblems of the Third Reich, Hitler Youth pocket knives, mugs with images of Hitler, T-shirts with the inscription ‘No apologies for Jedwabne’ (Jedwabne is a town in North-East Poland where in 1941 a group of Poles burned to death hundreds of their Jewish neighbours), CDs with music by the leading neo-fascist bands, and even a contemporary coffee grinder with an SS symbol.

– ‘The Internet has become a space in which hatred is propagated on a large scale and in various ways. Allegro, the largest e-commerce company in Poland, has decided to strive to eradicate this type of offers and we are more than pleased with the results of our cooperation ‘ – said Dr Anna Tatar from the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association. – ‘A lot of effort is still needed to make objects or publications with racist and antisemitic content disappear from this site for good.’

– ‘It seems particularly important to remove numerous auctions offering neo-fascist music. Music is a strong carrier of ideologies, including racist extremism. When we searched Allegro we saw how easy it was to find albums of bands whose songs had references to Mein Kampf, the Aryan race, the tearing out of >the Hebrew root<, the white revolution, or national socialism. Today, the availability of such releases has been significantly reduced’ – said Jacek Dziegielewski from the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association.

Thanks to the cooperation with ‘NEVER AGAIN’, hundreds of sale offers have been removed by Allegro. Over 640 of them related to items such as replicas / imitations of Nazi decorations and 230 were auctions of CDs with fascist music. There were over 70 jewellery auctions (signet rings, pendants), over 30 auctions of T-shirts with antisemitic and racist slogans, as well as more than 50 auctions of other Nazi-style gadgets, such as watches or lighters with SS symbols.

The deletion of sales offers or auctions which are contrary to law is permitted by articles 256 and 257 of the Polish Criminal Code together with the provisions in Appendix No. 1 to the Allegro Code of Conduct. Allegro has also developed a programme named ‘The Rights Protection Cooperation’ under which the service aims to eliminate illicit offers. On 21 March 2018, the International Day for Combatting Racial Discrimination, ‘NEVER AGAIN’ became an official partner in this program for a three-month pilot period. Currently both organisations are working together to develop further methods of cooperation.

Established in 1999, Allegro is one of the biggest Internet sales companies in Europe. In 2017, it had over 16 million users and more than 20 million accounts. Between 2008 and 2016 it was owned by the South African corporation Naspers (formerly Nationale Pers, a company linked with the apartheid system). For years, the platform was used for sales of racist and fascist propaganda products.

The campaign of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association against the sales of items with racist material on Allegro commenced as far back as 2009. That year a petition appealing for the removal of such auctions was signed by several thousand people, including well-known figures from the fields of culture and civil society. A court case related to the campaign led to a Supreme Court ruling in 2015, in which the Supreme Court of Poland stated the criticism of the company by activists and artists for allowing the sales of racist materials was legitimate. The continued campaign led Allegro to its later decision to establish cooperation with ‘NEVER AGAIN’.

For over a decade now the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has been taking various actions to stop the promotion of racist and antisemitic hatred on the Internet. Its programme called ‘Racism-Delete’ has had a number of successes. One of them was the decision by the Polish authorities in 2014 to ratify the Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime together with the Additional Protocol on combatting racism.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association was founded in Warsaw in 1996 by Marcin Kornak (1968-2014). Throughout the years it has campaigned against racism, antisemitism and xenophobia, for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights both in Poland and internationally. It has conducted anti-racist educational campaigns in the field of music and sports and it has been personally supported by numerous figures including Barack Obama, the Dalai Lama and the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is also a member of the International Network against Cyber Hate (INACH), which brings together organizations from twenty countries fighting hatred and discrimination on the Internet.

Further information may be found on:

www.nigdywiecej.org
www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity
www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ