BLITZKRIEGBILLY

KICK RACISM OUT..!!! I’m sure many of you watched the recent taping of the Oprah Winfrey Show where her guest was Tommy Hilfiger. On the show, she asked him if the statements about race he was accused of saying were true. Statements like "If I’d known African-Americans, Hispanics, Jews and Asians would buy my clothes, I WOULD NOT have made them so nice. I wish these people would *NOT* buy my clothes, as they are made for upper class white people." His answer to Oprah was a simple "YES". Where after she immediately asked him to leave her show. The suggestion? Don’t buy your next shirt or perfume from Tommy Hilfiger. Let’s give him what he asked for. Let’s not buy his clothes, let’s put him in a financial state where he himself will not be able to afford the ridiculous prices he puts on his clothes. BOYCOTT. PLEASE SEND THIS MESSAGE TO ANYONE YOU KNOW. If we are small, then send it to the whole community that’s not white people and see the result. We have to see the result of unity. Let’s find out if Asian and Non-white really play such a small part in the world. Stop buying any range of their product, perfume, cosmetics, clothes, bags, etc., etc. ……………………………………………………………… Scene took place on a BA flight between Johannesburg and London. A White woman, about 50 years old, was seated next to a black man. Obviously disturbed by this, she called the air Hostess. "Madam, what Is the matter," the hostess asked. "You obviously do not see it then?" She responded. "You placed me next to a black man. I do not agree to sit next to someone from such a repugnant group. Give me an alternative seat." "Be calm please," the hostess replied. "Almost all the places on this flight are taken. I will go to see if another place is available." The Hostess went away and then came back a few minutes later. "Madam, Just as I thought, there are no other available seats in the economy class. I spoke to the captain and he informed me that there is also a seat in the business class. All the same, we still have one place in the first class." Before the woman could say anything, the hostess continued: "It is not usual for our company to permit someone from the economy class to sit in the first class. However, given the circumstances, the captain feels that it would be scandalous to make anyone sit next to someone so disgusting." She turned to the black guy, and said, "Therefore, Sir, if you would like to please collect your hand luggage, a seat awaits you in first class. At that moment, the other passengers who were shocked by what they had just witnessed stood up and applauded. This is a true story. If you are against racism, please send this message to all your friends; Please do not delete it without sending it to at least one person.

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Final Report International Youth Forum Against Racism

EXPO 2004 Hannover, Germany

AUGUST 4 - 12, 2004

Executive Summary

Background

The International Youth Forum Against Racism (IYFAR) was hosted by the Honourable Hedy Fry, Canadian Secretary of State (Multiculturalism) (Status of Women), in the Canada Pavilion at Expo 2004 in Hannover Germany in August 2004.

Over the course of eight days, approximately fifty youth from fourteen countries gathered to develop strategies and recommendations for the fight against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. They struggled through personal issues around racism and came together as a group to hammer out three key recommendations, gleaned from an original roster of over sixty-seven recommendations.

Key Recommendations

On August 10, 2004, the participants of the International Youth Forum Against Racism presented the following three key recommendations to Dr Fry, Mr Teffarra Shiawl Kedanekal, Senior Public Information Officer, Office of the UN High Commission for Human Rights, and South African Minister Dr Essop Pahad:

1. To create a youth council on racism, xenophobia and related intolerance to be linked with the High Commission on Human Rights and its youth committee.

   This youth council must have equitable, geographic representation from civil society to undertake among others:

   • the development of an international youth network system
   • the development of comprehensive public education
   • to organize international conferences, exchanges and special events.
2. To provide youth from civil society the space and resources to run a parallel conference to the upcoming world conference against racism. United Nations recognize the full participation of youth at all future conferences organized by the United Nations and its member states, dealing with issues of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance.
3. United Nations should recognize youth from civil society as full participants in the world conference against racism and that youth be allotted a specific time to present their vision and recommendations from the parallel conference to the General Assembly.

INTERNATIONAL YOUTH FORUM AGAINST RACISM

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The International Youth Forum Against Racism (IYFAR) was hosted by the Honourable Hedy Fry, Canadian Secretary of State (Multiculturalism) (Status of Women) at the Canadian Pavilion at Expo 2004 in Hannover from August 4 - 12, 2004.

The Forum gathered together approximately 50 youth from Canada and around the world who were involved in social activism, particularly in the area of anti-racism and was designed to link youth leaders within Canada with those in other countries to create an ongoing dialogue about how to combat racism. The Forum also aimed to sustain the momentum of Canada’s Racism. Stop It! Action 2000 campaign. Finally, its goal was to build an international youth position to bring for consideration at the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance taking place in South Africa in Fall 2001.

Funding for the IYFAR was provided by the Multiculturalism, Aboriginal Peoples’ Programs and Human Rights Branch of the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

2.0 BACKGROUND

In February and March 2004, more than 120 youth from 25 countries came together in Canada to participate in Canada’s "Racism. Stop It! Action 2000" initiative, a special millennium youth project which sought to mobilize youth, world leaders and international artists on a global scale in the struggle against racism and the promotion of equality, social justice and acceptance of diversity. A key component of the "Action 2000" initiative was the Stop Racism Tour Canada Youth Challenge which invited Canadian youth between the ages of 15 and 24 to form teams to take up one of 21 youth?determined challenges to stop racism in their schools and communities.

The culminating event of the "Action 2000" initiative was the International Stop Racism Youth Forum, held in Ottawa on March 4-5, 2005. This event provided youth from around the globe an opportunity to develop strategies to counter racism in their respective countries and communities. Just as importantly, it allowed youth to work cooperatively and to forge a network of informed and committed young people of diverse backgrounds who could speak authoritatively and compelingly about racism, intolerance and xenophobia from a youth perspective.

In August 2004, the IYFAR in Hannover built upon the accomplishments of youth who participated in the Action 2000 initiative, bringing them together with other world youth. It provided them with another opportunity to develop and to shape an international plan of action to guide and inspire them in undertaking activities in their respective countries of origin. These activities will feed directly into the United Nations’ World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR).

3.0 GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The Forum was guided by the following vision, goals and objectives:

The vision of the Forum was to:

• develop and maintain a credible and well-informed voice for global youth on issues pertaining to racism, xenophobia and related intolerance; and
• · seek on-going means for youth input into international fora deliberating on the issues of racism, diversity and human rights.

The goals of the Forum were to:

• assist in the development of a long-term strategic youth plan to combat racism; and
• develop a capacity within youth, who already demonstrate leadership to become more involved in issues of racism in order that they and the organizations to which they belong can effectively fight racism.

The objectives of the Forum were to:

• establish a youth position as part of the consultation process for the WCAR;
• share personal challenges and successes in anti-racism work;
• develop a common understanding of the many forms of racism; and
• develop an international anti-racism youth network.

4.0 PARTICIPANTS

In choosing participants for the IYFAR, the goal was to build on the participant expertise developed during the Action 2000 Youth Forum held in March 2004 while adding Canadian and international youth who had been involved in other youth fora dealing with racism and governance issues. Inviting a certain number of Action 2000 participants ensured that a core group at Hannover would have some shared background and understanding of the key issues. All Canadian participants were selected based on a demonstrated commitment to civil engagement within their communities.

Youth representation was as follows:

• Action 2000 Canadian youth;
• Youths from the Forum for Young Canadians - a programme of the Foundation for the Study of Processes of Government in Canada, a non-profit agency that each year brings more than 500 senior high school and CEGEP students from across Canada to the nation’s capital to learn first hand how government works;
• Aboriginal youth recommended by Aboriginal Leadership through the Urban Multipurpose Aboriginal Youth Program (UMAY);
• Non-Canadian youth, including Action 2000 participants and local German youth involved in anti-racism programs in their community. Countries represented included those under Caricom (specifically St. Lucia, Antigua, Guyana, Belize), the United States, Nicaragua, Brazil, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Austria, Philippines,Indonesia, Australia, and Germany. A complete list of participants appears in Appendix A.

5.0 INTERNATIONAL YOUTH FORUM AGAINST RACISM

On August 4, 2004, approximately 50 young people from 14 countries coverged in Hannover to begin the pre-Forum discussion for the IYFAR. The content of the Forum was derived from youth input gained from the Action 2005 campaign and from a Focus Group of IYFAR participants held in Ottawa in June 2005. The full schedule of the Forum is attached as Appendix B.

The first two full days in Hannover focussed on participant team building and providing background information to the young people on anti-racism, the UN, other Canadian youth initiatives, and the purpose of the Forum. Then youth, on their own initiative, organized an evening around the campfire with the other youth, exploring racism in terms of their personal experiences. This proved to be an important activity in terms of group bonding, viewing racism in the larger social context, and in allowing youth to feel ownership of the Forum process.

The Forum officially started the morning of the third day when the focus was on possible global solutions to racism leading to recommendations for anti-racism initiatives. The subsequent day, the participants worked on building an international youth network (please refer to Appendix C) and committing to personal action plans against racism in their own communities (please refer to Appendix D).

Several small groups formed over the course of the last two evenings of the Forum to work on further defining and refining the recommendations. From the production of 67 recommendations produced by the whole group, a working group narrowed the number of recommendations to 8, and then to 3. The original list of recommendations is presented in Appendix E.

The final 3 key recommendations were presented by three youth delegates - one from Germany, one from South Africa and one from Canada - at the official Forum closing to Mr. Teffarra Shiawl Kedanekal, Sr. Public Information Officer, Office of the UN High Commission for Human Rights; South African Minister Dr. Essop Pahad; and the Honourable Hedy Fry. The recommendations were as follows:

1. To create a youth council on racism, xenophobia and related intolerance to be linked with the High Commission on Human Rights and its youth committee.

   This youth council must have equitable, geographic representation from civil society to undertake among others:

   • the development of an international youth network system
   • the development of comprehensive public education
   • to organize international conferences, exchanges and special events.
2. To provide youth from civil society the space and resources to run a parallel conference to the upcoming world conference against racism. United Nations recognize the full participation of youth at all future conferences organized by the United Nations and its member states, dealing with issues of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance.
3. United Nations should recognize youth from civil society as full participants in the world conference against racism and that youth be allotted a specific time to present their vision and recommendations from the parallel conference to the General Assembly.

In addition to the pre-forum discussions and the Forum itself, the youth had the opportunity to take part in a number of educational activities while they were in Hannover. These included:

• a visit to Jam City to prepare and launch peace lanterns hosted by the Hannover Municipal Peace Group and their 130 international guests
• a tour of the Canadian Pavilion hosting the Hannover Municipal Peace Group
• tours of other Expo pavilions
• presentation by the UN Pavilion
• a City Tour of Hannover sponsored by the city
• a Wrap-Up Party at the Funsport Pavilion
• a visit to the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp Memorial sponsored by the German military.

Finally, a prominent Racism. Stop It! Action 2000 exhibit within the Canadian Pavilion highlighted Canada’s anti-racism activities.

6.0 NEXT STEPS

Although the youth participants presented their recommendations against racism to the media, the Honourable Hedy Fry and the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, their work is not yet finished.

Youth in Canada will continue to be involved in the development of the WCAR recommendations. Throughout the fall of 2000, Dr Fry held a series of regional consultations to help shape the positions and priorities Canada will take to the WCAR. Each consultation had a youth caucus in which Canadian youth who participated in the Hannover Forum were invited to caucus with other youth in the region who are involved in combating racism in their communities. The recommendations from these youth caucuses will feed into the Canadian position paper.

Dr Fry also formed an Advisory Committee to the Canadian Secretariat-World Conference Against Racism. This Committee consists of approximately 20 members representing the full range of civil society, Aboriginal peoples, and youth. Youth who participated in the Hannover Forum were selected to sit on the Advisory Committee, based on their experience in this important event. The Advisory Committee has been tasked with the following: supporting the Canadian Conference Secretariat - WCAR in information dissemination; reviewing and commenting on consultations results; participating in the development of a paper summing up the outcome of consultations; contributing to the development of Canadian views on key international documents; continuing civil society/government cooperation during and after WCAR; recommending a process for selection of NGO delegates to the Conference and NGO Forum in South Africa. A youth working group has been struck by the Advisory Committee to bring the youth perspective to these tasks.

Canada is also seeking buy-in at the international level for a Youth Forum in South Africa. A number of other UN member states have responded positively and indicated that they will bring youth as official delegates. Non-governmental members of national delegations attending WCAR, under the age of 25, could be convened to a special session immediately prior to the meeting of the governmental portion of the WCAR, to discuss youth experience with discrimination, and ideas for the eradication of racism and all of its manifestations. Organized and funded by member states from each of the different UN regional groupings, it could be a forum that would bring together the full diversity of youth from around the world in an effort to channel their enthusiasm, values and ideas into concrete proposals that could be tabled at the WCAR.

Some of the Hannover youth themselves have formed the International Youth Network and Resources Against Racism (IYFAR), coordinated by a British participant. The goals of this organization are to: co-ordinate the personal Action Plans of the original Stop Racism Youth Forum participants in Hannover; promote the individual actions of the participants towards creating positive social change; act as a means of encouraging support towards aforesaid actions from organisations and individuals, including youth, world-wide; provide a means for resource networking such as information, ideas, or skill sharing (e.g. web design, fundraising); bring international attention to local issues and raise youth awareness of national and international events; act as a means of peer-education through mass media; provide training materials and information on issues and create tools for young people to use in their own communities; demonstrate, through examples, young peoples’ capacity to create positive social change; become an open source resource anyone can access the site, use the information and become part of the Network; tie into, strengthen, and develop existing structures and networks for youth internationally.

APPENDIX A

LIST OF YOUTH PARTICIPANTS

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