YOUth in ACTivism
youth PROJECT
YOUth in ACTivism Exchange took place in Ommen, the Netherlands between 19th-28th of August 2018.
40 individuals from the 8 participating countries of the project met together, in order to experience 10 days of a dynamic skills-based program and focus on exploring Activism and the LGTBQIA+ Spectrum.
During the program, the inspiring Activists:
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Got to connect, network and created an empowering learning environment and safe space
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Experienced different non-formal and informal learning methods - fostering theirs and each other's learning, self-awareness and overall competencies
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Exchanged about the LGBTQIA+ Spectrum, activism and realities, sharing personal stories and experiences
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Met with inspiring Dutch Local NGO's and activists, in Amsterdam, Den Haag and Breda
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Put in practice their media skills and produced tutorial videos on different topics of their interest, about the LGBTQIA+ Spectrum and activism
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Went on bike trips, discovering the Overijssel province of the Netherlands with its beatuiful landscapes and intercultural aspects
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Organized and performed Street Actions in the city of Zwolle, raising awareness about the LGBTQIA+ Spectrum.
hOW DID IT LOOK LIKE?
You have a wonderful opportunity to get to know the current Changemakers & innovators - our amazing participants and team leaders ready to inspire change in the world!
Watch out for their initiatives!
meet the activists
daily reportages
Every day we asked our change-makers to create a reportage of what they have experienced during the day.
Swipe left and right in the album in order to see & read how they have enjoyed each day of the project!
local NGO's visit
In day 4 of the program, participants had an amazing chance to experience a different kind of activism while visiting local Dutch NGO's, where they had the possibility to learn new information, get inspired and ask all their burning questions.
Each group had the chance to visit one organisation and later on prepare materials in order to share their learnings and insights with the rest of the team and now with you too.
Check out what moved them the most!
video tutorials
This year's Youth Project is based on the idea of exploring and practising Activism.
As "online" activism is one of the major types of taking action to effect social change in our nowadays digitalised world, our activists were set to a task to explore this setting.
In their small teams, the group seized the opportunity to work on different topics about the LGBTQIA+ Spectrum and activism in an interactive way - becoming themselves videomakers and producing a series of tutorial videos, transferring their knowledge and experiences.
Have a look further into the outcomes and video creations and maybe some of the information is really useful to you as well, like how to set boundaries, how to be present for a friend in times of need, how to establish healthy relationships, how to create better LGBT+ representation in the media, how to break the stereotypes about bisexual people and how to have a more ecological approach during the Pride Parades?
Check out what tutorial videos team leaders and participants made in summer during the APV (advanced planned visit).
boundaries
This video can make you feel
uncomfortable, but it's totally fine.
Everyone has boundaries and there is no shame to
have them.
You can always refuse and you don't have to explain why - it's ok to have boundaries.
signs of depression
This stop animation video opens up the door to the Magical Kingdom of mental health in a heart-warming way - providing you with a new insight and perspective about depression and the stigma that surrounds it.
Soon, an updated version of the episode will be uploaded - in which you can also find additional information about where to seek (self)-help. Stay tuned!
healthy relationships
This video is made with humour in which you are encouraged to evaluate your relationships and create positive, nurturing ones early on. In the video there is emphasis on the main components that healthy relationships consist of and encourage you to take self-care seriously.
LGBT+ representation in media
This video in a humorous way equips you with 5 awesome tips + a Bonus one, for a good representation of the LGBT+ community in the mass media (movies and television series)!
breaking stereotypes about bisexual people
This video is a short tutorial on how to make a bisexual. It will give you all the most common stereotypes that you need to use in order to complete this task. You just follow the instructions and combine some physical attributes with certain attitudes, and here you have it: a real bisexual! But is it really that easy? The video will give you the answer to this question and a message of individuality and equality.
PRIDE AND ECOLOGY
This video in an amusing way, supplies you with tips and solutions on how to organize more ecological Pride Parades, taking care of the sustainability of the event.
Coming soon at your screens.
street actions
One of the major forms of Activism that participants and team leaders got to practice by the end of the program was Street Actions.
After a fruitful brainstorming about types of street actions and what they mean to each individual, the group divided themselves into smaller teams, identifying topics and methods they want to develop and implement.
In total 6 actions took place parallelly in the centre of Zwolle, in the Netherlands, giving the opportunity to the teams to interact with the inhabitants there and raising awareness on important topics.
They prepared activities such as sharing a moment of silence with the people on the streets, street art and drawings, sharing a hug, playing crossword games, breaking stereotypes by labelling people as well as having a silent protest for those community members who are not here anymore.
disconnect to connect
When was the last time you shared a moment of ... silence with yourself or with someone else?
We tend to forget about the real connection between human beings, focused too much on our busy lives, notifications on the phones, and lots of information all around us. The aim of the project and this street action was to connect to others without knowing the person who was facing you. No labels, no stereotypes, just a pure connection...
what is
a street action?
(Based on participants brainstorming before the event)
gained insights / learnings from the street actions
(Based on participants brainstorming after the event)
hugging
The Street Action contained two-part performances.
First is called "Hugging experiment". Activists wrote their identities on papers, such as gay, trans, bisexual and put them in the ground - in front of where they are standing.
Passing by people were invited to hug them, but would they do so while seeing the written identities on paper in front of each person?
Second part: Meanwhile "hugging" process, people are invited to watch a tutorial video, produced by participants within previous days about boundaries and invited people to have a discussion about what they have seen.
(If you are curious - you can see "Boundaries" tutorial video here)
LGBT Quiz and a crossword
In the crossword, you had to write words related to the LGBTQ+ community.
The LGBTQuiz is a game similar to hopscotch but for every step you took, you had to answer a question from three topics depending on where you stepped. And at the end of the game, if you arrived before the opponent or without any errors you got a candy.
Additionally, if you participated in any activity and finished it you would get a candy anyway, yeiiii!
The words you give
Labelling is something that we all do very unconsciously. We wanted to inspire people to reflect on the way they put labels based on appearance but also indicate how difficult and pointless this can be when they know nothing about the person in front of them.
Facilitators of the actions were standing in a row. Random passengers were given different labels and asked to give the labels to the facilitators without interacting with them. Afterwards, the facilitators said whether the labels were correct or not without specifying further and they asked the participants why they chose the labels that they chose.
The labels included words connected to gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, a field of expertise, personality traits and other labels the facilitators often hear or identify with.
In memory of ___
The activist performed a silent protest in Zwolle.
She was there to remember hate victims from LGBTQIA+ community, suicidal queers, murdered queers, oppressed and excluded queers, discriminated queers, abused queers and their families. She was standing in silence wearing black and with a rainbow flag on her shoulders and she was standing forever for those who can‘t.
This performance is about raising awareness and solidarity in the community.
sOCIAL EXPERIMENT - LABELS
In the experiment, we invited random strangers to participate with our group of activists. Activists were standing in a semi-circle representing their true identities. The mission of a chosen stranger was to label them as gay, straight, religious, victims of abuse etc. In the end, the person was informed of people's true identity and given info paper about labels and a small dictionary of words that were used during the action.
The aim of the social experiment was to bring out the hidden stereotypes the person posses, which we aimed to be a useful tool for breaking the stereotypes that are linked to a specific identity - to minimize their effect and help everyone involved realize that labelling is for clothing and that people are so much more than they appear to be.
P.S. How people perceive others to be is very frequently based on social norms, meaning from what is expected of them, even though not always true, regarding their gender, appearance, economic & social status etc, for instance (Kandori, 1992). The labeling theory suggests that when a person is considered to have a certain characteristic that maybe for instance is implied from their appearance through social expectations, then the person is more likely to attain it (Wellford & Triplett, 1993).
street art
During our visit to Zwolle, our group decided to create some street art and interview the passers-by about the LGBTQIA+ community. The questionnaire included questions about the meaning of LGBTQIA+ abbreviation, what are the attitudes towards members of the community and how many of them do people actually know personally.
Meanwhile, some of us were drawing on the pavement with colourful chalks. The objects of our drawings were people from the LGBTQIA+ community doing everyday activities such as reading, cooking or walking their dog. The goal was to show the viewers that people from the community are normal people doing normal things like anybody else.
Soon, we will also publish and share the results from the Questionnaire here. Stay tuned!
Participant's manifesto
By the end of the Youth Exchange, the YOUth in ACTivisists created a common one-piece manifesto about activism, with symbolic drawings, inspirational quotes and wishes to the world and each other, inspired by the learnings and insights gained during their time together.
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Keep your eyes open and your friends close
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New Visions are still to be invented
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Art is power to the people
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Activism means going outside of your safe bubble
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Take care of each other to be dangerous together
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We are flying away caring our learning. Let's spread them.
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Thank you, myself. Thank you, people before us. Thank you, everybody.
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Activism is for fighting for informing people, but also for expressing ourselves, feel free & create safe space together.
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The Great blue wholesome sky dragon of empathy, friendship and happiness (and potato)
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Beautiful performances
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Teamwork, touching moments, music
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We are all in this together. You don't have to go through this alone. Solidarity Forever! The Union makes us strong.
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It's ok to let yourself get triggered in safe space
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You are the sense of Activism
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We have the key
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Never Give up!
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Fun together is better
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Bike to Germany, if you have to
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Come Together
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Silent party can be a way
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Find your ways
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Team, community, art, fun, emotions, ideas, experiences, inspiration - HUGS
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Climax
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Mental explosion
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Empathetic boundaries
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Personal growth
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Network, community, raising awareness, biking, dancing, moving, laughing, learning new things, finding my own way in activism
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Love & Connections
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Change comes slowly, but that doesn't mean we have to conform with how the world works. Each of us have the same rights and dignity. Sometimes the right thing is to wait and/or hide. You may need to self-care or reflect. That's okey. Just don't forget what are you fighting for. Survive and rebel.
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Don't worry, be gay!
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Chaos is necessary to bring order. Embrace it and turn it into something else.
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Eternal movement brings collusion. Collusion brings change.
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Mental stability, recovery of self-confidence, energy and stress management.
Cards against heteronormativity
During the project, the team leaders seized the opportunity to challenge themselves in order to create a brand new game design about the LGBTQIA+ Spectrum.
Inspired by the board game "InterACTive Rainbow", which was created in the previous project InterACTive Colors - this time they decided to go into more sarcastic and entertaining path, and created a game based on the famous and well-known "Cards against Humanity" games principle.
Within a day, the card game "Cards against Heteronormativity" was created with original questions and answers, and now is available as well for you to download and play, with included instructions.
The Game consists of 178 question and 268 answer cards with print design for front and back part.
If you are curious about the "InterACTive Rainbow" trivia game, you can it find for your use here.
When you play the game, we invite you to upload a picture on Instagram or Facebook and tag @active_rainbow or use the hashtag #CardsAgainstHeteronormativity, so we spread the fun and make it visible!
During Follow-up activities, some of our fellow activists, inspired by the game, have created alternative versions in order to be able to play in their own native language.
Thank you to Andrea Pennasilico for creating an updated English version and Italian version and to Vendula Svobodová for the Czech version of the game.
Here you can find some of them: