Febrer 2016
EUROPEAN REPORT ABOUT INTERCULTURAL CITIES: SABADELL ONE OF THE MOST ACTIVE AND DEVELOPED CITIES MANAGING DIVERSITY POLICIES (OCTOBER 2014)
Last October 2014, the European project Intercultural Cities evaluated Sabadell, which joined the program in 2011, as it is one of the members in the RECI (Spanish Network of Intercultural Cities).
The program Intercultural Cities was created to offer tools to its partner cities in order to develop diversity policies, build a positive speech and promote positive social integration among the population. The goal of this evaluation was to measure the impact of this program in the management of intercultural diversity in the city. As a result of this evaluation, Sabadell City Hall was considered one of the most active and developed cities on diversity policy management in Spain. The report “Intercultural cities, Sabadell Case Study” highlights the implementation of innovative services and structures in the city, necessary to promote diversity. In concrete, Sabadell has been able to develop the following:
An intercultural strategy which has reached an agreement in the political and citizens sphere. This consensus led to the creation of a municipal agreement on racism, xenophobia and homophobia “Sabadell lliure de racisme, xenophobia i homophobia” (on January 24th) and the motion for driving sensitivity policies on rumours “Impuls de polítiques de sensibilització per desmuntar rumors enfront la diversitat i en pro de la convivència a Catalunya” (Decembre 2014).
An strategy which has focused on driving actions in learning environments, such as promoting the language; exchange of ideas and knowledge (the gastronomic month), open-door event in places of worship, kitchen 2.0; sensitization as, for example, values-based education within the program Ciutat- Escola and the project to create a Coexistence rap; creation of intercultural public spaces such as libraries and the building Estruch Fàbrica de creació. This strategy has also counted with the support of the media to fight racism, xenophobia and intolerance.
According to the report, as a result of the strategy implementation, there has been a change in the perception and attitudes towards diversity. For instance, employees of the administration seem to be more open-minded about intercultural concepts and ideas; teachers, students and parents, now feel more comfortable when interacting with people from other cultural backgrounds; people have improved their communication and relationship in the neighbourhood. Furthermore, foreign people themselves feel more integrated, participate in associations and detect a better social cohesion.
Thanks to the commitment of the whole society with the program Intercultural Cities, Sabadell has been able to join the project C4i: Communication for Integration in order to fight rumours and prejudices on foreigners, together with other 10 European partner cities. Sabadell has shared its experiences and it is now internationally known as a successful example in cultural diversity management.
In order to elaborate this report, specialists from the program Intercultural Cities interviewed representatives of associations, citizens and city managers during October 6th-9th 2014. Nowadays there are more than 80 cities joining the network.
This experience brought the Council of Ministers and the Council of Europe to recommend the development of this strategy to other cities of the State members. (See the Letter sent from the Council of Europe to Sabadell City Hall and the Text recommending the strategy, dated on January 21st 2015.)
Based on the results of the experience in Sabadell and in other cities from the program Intercultural Cities, last January 21st, the Committee of Ministers adopted the Recommendation CM addressed to the State members. This was aimed to promote and support the implementation of an intercultural strategy for integration in the cities. In concrete, the text points out that the intercultural mainstreaming for integration should: promote a public speech that emphasises the values shared in the community and a speech that aims to build a plural and diverse urban identity. It should guarantee that policies, institutions and services conform to a diverse society. Furthermore, it should fulfil an intercultural competence among civil servants and local agents, as well as nurture active participation from the local government.
This recommendation invites the State members to use the guide “Step by step: Practical guide for applying the urban model of intercultural integration.”
SABADELL CITY HALL PUBLISHES "APUNTS SOBRE BULLYING" AND PEDAGOGICAL PROPOSAL
The Department of Civil Rights publishes “Apunts sobre Bullying” (Notes on bullying)and its pedagogical proposal which is offered for this academic course 2014-2015 in several secondary schools.
As the councillor of Civil Rights, Quim Carné, stated in the press conference this morning: “this publication is the starting point, a tool for youngsters, parents, teachers and every person who is interested in the subject.”
Carné also explained that “it is a delicate subject because we are talking about discrimination, which we can find of different kinds, such as gender discrimination, age discrimination, because of a functional diversity or the origin of a person. We should also pay attention to homosexual discrimination because children might be being bullied but may not be willing to explain it because they haven’t talked about their homosexuality with their parents yet. Carné insists that “ this is all based on values agreement, respect and freedom” and that this publication is aimed to be “a tool that empowers and strengthens children being bullied.”
Carné affirmed that anti bullying workshops are included in the programme Ciutat i Escola and that this is a critical debate about real cases, even though this programme is a “preventive action of situations that have always happened.”
This notes on bullying seeks to make youngsters think over the problem. Its goal is to raise awareness and encourage the young to adopt an active role in order to prevent bullying. They will learn how to access the resources available to face bullying and how to ask for support in order to solve it.
Bullying means “repeated harmful behaviour towards others.” Although children find many reasons to bully their mates, the most common ones are racism, xenophobia (discrimination because of the origin) and homophobia (discrimination because of the sexual orientation.)
Bullying can be physical, psychological, sexual, social…There are also many ways through which people bully: cyber bullying (by using communication technologies), humiliation, insults, violence… Whichever it is, victims who are bullied experience a number of negative emotions such as humiliation, helplessness, rage, vulnerability, loneliness, guiltiness, etc. Therefore, they suffer from social isolation during a very long time.
Education centres, together with the family and the whole society, play an essential role as socialization agents when promoting values such as plurality, respect to difference, social inclusion and culture of dialogue in our society. That is why they have a key role in order to prevent, detect and tackle bullying.
The Department of Civil Rights is willing to get involved in the eradication and solution of this problem. For that, it has designed and offered a pedagogical/educational proposal for education centres. This proposal aims to inform and raise awareness among the young about this problem, as well as encourage them to engage in the detection and report of the problem, that is, to become a bystander who observes bullying. Under the slogan “Break the silence”, they help to analyse the situation and work together to search a possible solution.
In concrete, this proposal targets first-year students in secondary schools because it is during this period, coming from primary school into secondary school, where most of the boys and girls experience growth and development. It is a period of changes, different school and classmates, which is considered to be favourable to strengthen values such as respect, tolerance, comprehension and dialogue, in order to avoid individual suffering and group conflicts. In other words, in order to achieve social cohesion and a peaceful coexistence.
AGENTS TRAINING AIMED AT YOUNGSTERS: CONVIVIM, COM? (10 OCTOBER 2014)
A group of 25 youngsters coming from different backgrounds of the city started the workshop Convivim, com? on Friday October 10th at Casal Pere Quart (Sabadell).
This workshop gives tools to the young to become anti-rumour agents in the city. By means of performing theatre plays, they can experience real conflicts on diversity, learn new arguments to dismantle rumours and adopt communicative skills to strengthen a group of active youngsters, ready to take actions related to living together and interculturality.
This training was carried out by the group Xixa Teatre.
Eventually, the group presented the process in a participatory Forum Theatre on November 14th at 5:30 p.m., at Casal Pere Quart.
SABADELL FREE FROM RACISM, XENOPHOBIA AND HOMOPHOBIA
International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The board of spokespersons passed a motion on January 24th due to the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The proposition has been passed by all political parties except the Popular Party (PP), whose attendance was excused, after being discussed and presented by different participatory entities from Sabadell: Taula de Creences, Taula LGBTI (Gays, Lesbianes, Bisexuals, Transsexuals I Intersexuals), Taula del Poble Gitano, as well as the Comissió de la Convivència (Coexistence Commission.)
Hora: 21h
Lloc: Teatre Principal.
Assistents: Marisol Martinez, Tinenta d'Alcalde de Promoció de la Ciutat i Participació i de les Regidories de Comerç, Esports i Programa de Cicles de Vida i membres de la Penya Ciclista Palomillas.
Acte a porta tancada.
Hora: 9:30h
Lloc: Despatx Lluch (c. Industria, 10)
Assistents: Glòria Rubio, Regidora de Participació, Responsables del SAC i Personal Tècnic.
Reunió a porta tancada.