"Imagining a Future Without Racism, Intolerance, Prejudice or Xenophobia" The Australian community action kit on Racism |
Youth Against Racism
Young people can play a critical role in promoting the anti-racism message, by raising the World Conference and its objectives in schools, on campuses and in their communities.
Young people represent the hope of the future, and it is important to involve them in planning and action for a better world, one that they will inherit and inhabit. Also, such involvement encourages them to both develop the skills required to create this new world, and empowers them in dealing with the issues that will arise.
Action you could take:
- Promote a debate at schools or on campus: “Have we done enough to fight racism?”
- Organise 'speak-outs' at schools, universities and at TAFEs, focusing on youth experiences of racism and ideas of how to combat it;
- Approach your local Youth Affairs Council, student organisation, community centre or other youth organisations to help organise some of the above activities, whether by providing a venue, resources to make phone calls and send out letters, or to host an event;
- Hold a concert promoting anti-racism messages;
- Promote a petition headed “Students Against Racism” and asking students to commit to rejecting racism in all its forms and promoting understanding and tolerance between all cultures and races.
This kit is supported by the following organisations (in alphabetical order) in April 2001: Amnesty International Australia, Australian Catholic Social Justice Council, Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, Coalition Against Racism WA, Human Rights Council of Australia Inc., Quaker Service Australia, The Religious Society of Friends in Australia (Quakers),Western Australians for Racial Equality, WA Social Justice Commission - Uniting Church in Australia.