Suggested Activities
Do you want to join the European Action Week against Racism by organising an activity? Are you stuck trying to come up with ideas? No worries, UNITED has got you covered! Over the years, we have collected many ideas for different activities that can be used to stand strong against racism, celebrate diversity, and build connection and understanding. Find them all collected below.
If you can’t find anything that suits you, feel free to come up with your own ideas! Want to get inspired with examples from previous years? Take a look at our collection of best practice examples from previous years.
Don’t forget to let us know about your activity here!
Why not organise a workshop or a non-formal activity? Non-formal education can be a great way to open up a conversation about difficult or unfamiliar topics. A useful method to explore the topic of marginalisation is called “Take a step forward”. Find a clear instruction from the Council of Europe here!
Does a workshop seem like a good idea, but are you not sure what kind of workshop? The Council of Europe has a great manual called Compass with all kinds of suggestions for activities on human rights, discrimination, and other related topics.
An intercultural dinner or picknick is a nice and tasty way to get to know different cultures and cuisines. You can organise a potluck event, in which everyone brings a dish that means something special to them, perhaps together with a story of where the dish comes from. Or you can organise an event focusing on food from one specific culture or country – cooking together provides a great way to get to know others across cultural boundaries, as well as get new recipe ideas!
“Music is living testimony to the fact that cultures can and do mix. It unites us and gives us strength, and offers a vibrant celebration of our multicultural and multiracial society. Racism seeks only to divide and weaken us.” (Love Music Hate Racism)
Music brings people together. With an intercultural music event, the options are endless: you could consider booking artists from minority backgrounds to showcase their talent or organise a jam session bringing people from different cultures together to make music. Or, if your strength lies more in spoken word, why not organise an anti-racism poetry slam where people can express their feelings, share their experiences and heal together.
To get you started, we have compiled a list of antiracist songs for you.
Board games are popular around the world, and a great way to break the ice over some friendly competition. Ask your local board game café if they would be willing to host an intercultural board game night with interesting games from around the world, or ask people to bring a game of their own. Or why not gather a group of people from diverse backgrounds and create an Intercultural Quiz Night – a good way to test your knowledge about other cultures and learn something new about each other on the way!
Sporting events are a great way to meet people and can be adapted to suit all ages and abilities. Charity runs may be the most popular, but feel free to think outside the box – anything that encourages people to come together counts! Engaging in a challenging Ultimate Frisbee tournament or relaxing with some mini-golf doesn’t require you to speak each other’s language. After all, there are over 800 sports around the world – you’ll be sure to find one that fits you.
Thematic walks are tours that focus on a certain theme that is often overlooked in day-to-day life, and are usually, led by one or more members of a certain group. For example, in recent years European cities have seen city tours spring up that are run by supporting organizations and given by homeless people. These tours are designed to offer perspectives into the lives and experiences of the people who run them. The exact theme of your walk can be modified to suit your particular location – it could be a walk detailing the Muslim, Roma, or Jewish history of a town, or a tour looking at the most important places and experiences of a newly arrived refugee. Afterwards, a relaxing picnic or cup of tea makes sure that the conversations continue and the interesting things brought up during the walk can be discussed and shared.
Originally thought of by a group of young activists in Copenhagen, and since becoming a worldwide phenomenon, Human Libraries are an innovative approach to creating conversations with people and challenging stereotypes. In a Human Library, the books are real people, all with different stories which you can browse, and the reading itself is a conversation. “Librarians” (event organisers) help facilitate the reading. If you are interested in creating a human library, read more here.
A Movie Screening might be an excellent practice to raise awareness about racism and discrimination in our society, especially among youth.
In order to make the most of this activity, we strongly encourage organizers to hold discussions with the participants after the screening!
We have prepared for you a list of movies on the topic of antisemitic hate speech, racism and diversity in general. You can find a PDF version of the list if you click here.
Note: Laws on public movie screenings vary by country. Make sure to check with the National Patent and Trademark Office your legal obligations and ask about humanitarian or educational screening rights before you start organising your action.