An interview with Mohammed Jouni, a 24-year-old refugee from Lebanon who lives in Germany and is active in the Berlin branch of Youth without Borders (JoG, Jugendliche ohne Grenzen). Liz Fekete: Could you tell us when and why JoG was formed? Mohammed Jouni: It all really goes back to 2002, when an initiative for the
Geography: Other
International right-wingers gather for EU-wide minaret ban
Extreme Right parties are hoping to use the citizens’ initiative of the Lisbon Treaty to ban the construction of minarets across the EU. In February, Liz Fekete warned in a briefing paper from the European Race Audit that the extreme Right in Europe could well use the direct democracy provision of the Lisbon Treaty to
Freedom of speech upheld for German academic
Sabine Schiffer, the anti-racist academic accused of slandering a police officer when she suggested institutional neglect could have been a factor in the recent Marwa al-Sherbini case, has been acquitted. Marwa al-Sherbini was stabbed to death in a Dresden court room by the man (a known xenophobe) against whom she was giving evidence. Her husband
Yorkshire youth event a great success against all the odds
A ground-breaking civil rights conference, planned by and for young people in Yorkshire, went ahead despite claims that the local council placed difficulties in its path. On Tuesday 17 November, 450 young people packed into an international conference centre in Leeds to discuss the issues of most concern to them growing up in twenty-first century
Exploring belonging through film
In the UK, a number of innovative projects have been using film as a way of encouraging young people to look at their communities and engage with issues of identity and the meaning of heritage. The projects are of differing sizes, address different age groups and have had access to different amounts of funding. But
Building migrant civil engagement in east Germany
An interview with Dr Esra Erdem, coordinator of the Empowerment and Participation of Immigrants* in east Germany project (EmPa) based at the Brandenburg Regional Centres for Education, Integration and Democracy. Liz Fekete: This has been a very busy Summer for EmPa, which was set up to promote immigrant participation in the social and political life
Young Dutch Muslims find a venue
An interview with Umar Mirza, the 22-year-old chief editor of the Dutch website ‘We’re Here to Stay’.[1] Chandra Frank: The results of a TV opinion poll, released shortly after the Islamophobic Freedom Party (PvV)[2] won record results in European parliamentary elections, indicated that a large proportion of Turkish and Moroccan migrants no longer felt welcome
Islington’s not so silent voices
In June 2009, Reel Islington Screenings (RIS) held its second film festival to showcase up and coming young film-making talent in Islington. Islington has been acclaimed for its outstanding youth work throughout the borough. Young Muslim Voices (YMV), part of the youth engagement programme of the Listen Up project, won the prestigious Phillip Lawrence award
Migrant coalition-building in Amsterdam
If you want change, argues the Transnational Migrant Platform (TMP) in Amsterdam, you need to build a broad coalition capable of working simultaneously both on the domestic and the international front. Over the last six months, the IRR has been trying to find out more about the pioneering work of the TMP which was launched
Austria: ‘provoking and connecting’ the Kanafani way
Below we reproduce a discussion with members of the Austrian Kanafani Inter-Cultural Initiative. How did the Kanafani Inter-Cultural Initiative get started and what are its main goals? Baruch Wolski: To start with we were just a circle of Kurdish, Austrian, Turkish and Arab friends. One of the first things we organised were women-only dance events.