Day 5 - Open Space Technology & Plenary Session

27/02/09

The working method introduced today was Open Space Technology, which is is a workshop design tool to use when situations include a diverse group of people who must deal with complex, and potentially conflicting material in innovative and productive ways. The method follows four basic principles: 

Who ever comes is the right person;

Whatever happens is all that could have;

Whenever it starts is the right time;

When it is over, it is over.

This method allows the participants to move from one discussion to the other whenever they feel that they have given and received enough to that discussion. Participants could move about, lending their knowledge and variey to the discussions available. 

A number of issues were suggested by the participants and were eventually discussed through the Open Space method. These included the showing of a number of movies of LGBTQ realities in different countries which were followed by further discussions on these experiences. Discussions on transgender issues, feminism, ableism and caucuses.

In the afternoon session, we began with the plenary of the Open Space Technology. This developed into a discussion of constructive criticism of how intercultural and anti-racist activities should be approached and how structures can replicate oppression.

The evening ended with some participants taking part in a few games of table soccer, billiards and table tennis, as part of the "Out Games Preview"!

Day 4 - World Cafe & Free Afternoon

26/02/09

The day started with a World Cafe event, whereby were asked to contribute issues that they would like to discuss and the ideas were grouped in 7 areas and the participants had the opportunity to move from one group to another every 15 minutes. Amongst the issues discussed were Alliance Building and Networking, Funding & Lobbying, Religion and LGBTQ, and Critical Whiteness. Feedback from each group was then carried into the plenary and today's sessions ended there since the next item on the agenda was a free afternoon. 

Participants made their way to the building of the Council of Europe and later to the city centre for some sightseeing and shopping. The group later met again for the dinner in town, which was another positive exchange and included Tarte Flambée, which was very tasty.

Day 3 - Introduction to Discrimination and Privilege

24/02/09

The day began with the formulation of a community agreement to facilitate the communication process between the participants. The expert, Tarek Naguib, introduced the topic of discrimination and the participants were asked to explore instances of discrimination that they experienced as a victim, as a perpetrator, as an observer who could not act and an observer who could act. Then, in small groups, they presented two of these situations and were asked to explain to the other participants, why these situations were discriminating according to them. The participants shared a number of examples of discrimination in the plenary, such as sexist language, sexist laws, homophobic behaviour in schools, sexism and racism in the provision of services. In the afternoon there were exercises that focussed on the privileges that our identities give us. 

Later the SWOT Analysis approach was introduced and partipants were divided into groups with the task to analyse their geographical region or common issues. 

The Obligatory Group Photo

Greetings from the participants of the study session...

Day 2 - Introduction to Racism

24/02/09

The topic of Racism was intoduced by our expert for the day, Katrin Osterloh, and participants were asked to think about they associate with racism. They were then presented with examples of behaviours and asked to think about whether the examples were racist and also what made them racist. The discussion covered areas such as experience of racism, othering, control of identity and power. Then they were asked to look at definitions of racism and think about which aspects were important in their personal view of racism. The input led the participants to experience some strong feelings and led to some intense discussions.

Day 1 - NGO Market

23/02/09

The "Market" was officially opened by a participant and a participant from the IFLRY study session, which is running in parallel at the EYC, with the ribbon cutting and a Hip Hop version of the European Anthem in the background. Every participant displayed their organisation's posters, booklets, publications, videos, etc; making the market as diverse and international as the participants.

Day 1 - Strasbourg Activity

23/02/09

With packed lunches, the participants were given the task to visit the city centre and document the ethnic and LGBTQ diversity in the city. They were asked to look at advertising material, shop windows, local statistics, information centres and the like. After the outdoor activity, each group presented their findings in a slideshow of the photos captured in the city. This activity helped participants to get to know each other better also.

Day 1 - Introductions, hopes, fears, and expectation

23/02/09

The official start of study session began with introductions to the team, participants and the programme for the week. The CoE and IGLYO were presented to the group and later the participants took part in the "fears, hopes. and expectations" exercise represented on some creatively cut paper which was later stuck to a wall. Later, the participants were asked to present each other through the "Shield" activity with the aim of getting to know each other further.

Welcome Evening

22/02/09

A Strassy Sunday afternoon and participants starting to arrive. Some have gone through a rather long trip to get to this study session, while a few others made their way here with a few hours of journey. In the meantime, the prep team was busy making the final preparations for the welcome evening, which included a meaningful performance and a few get-to-know each other games for our dear participants. 

After settling in their respective rooms at the European Youth Centre in Strasbourg, the participants got to the registration desk and eventfully made their way to the plenary for the welcome evening activities. The prep team welcomed the participants with a hands-on performance with Gloria Gaynor's "I am What I am" in the background.

After the glamorous show, some get-to-know each other games were introduced, and the participants had the difficult task to say each others' names along with replicating the movement made by all the previous participants. This was quite tricky, but our dear participants were able to remember both the names and the movement, making it a successful exercise to remember each others' names. Moving on to another exercise, the participants had to take an amount of toilet paper blocks and eventually disclose some information about themselves to the group to help in the group cohesion and understanding. We then moved into some informal networking aided by Bingo sheets which ask participants to collect information about each other. And finally, the evening ended with some music and drinks until the night faded away.

 

A Warm Welcome to our Blog from the Prep-Team

The Prep-Team - Lucy Nowottnick, Alexey Bulokhov, Angelique Ruiter, Daniel Wistanley, Alexandra Raykova, and Colette Farrugia Bennett - would like to welcome you to the blog of the study session. We hope to keep you updated on the events and discussions taking place during this study session.

IGLYO Study Session - "Intercultural and Ethnic Diversity within LGBTQ Youth Communities" at the European Youth Centre in Strasbourg, France

About the Study Session 

LGBTQ youth is not a homogenous group, but come in multiple facets from multiple heritages and backgrounds. The diversity and cultural element to LGBTQ youth is widely underrepresented within the discussions in and about the LGBTQ community, both nationally and internationally. There is a lack of representation of the different equality strands within LGBTQ spaces, and this translates into smaller initiatives for LGBTQ young people from different ethnic minorities and those from deprived geographical or socio-economical areas in Europe. At the same time in many European societies, different sets of values between immigrant communities, ethnic minorities and indigenous people manifest themselves. It leads to a situation in which, sometimes, indigenous LGBTQ people feel that their achieved emancipation experiences the pressure of a renegotiation of common societal values. 

On the contrary, migrant communities and ethnic minorities often experience a lack of understanding and tolerance about their own models of sexuality and identity. 

IGLYO aims to bring people from seemingly different cultural and/or ethnic background together to explore the diversity within the LGBTQ community, exchange ideas and points of views. 

This will help provide an environment where IGLYO, together with its member organisations, start initiating practices that make our work more inclusive and coherent within different equality strands.

Objectives 

• Offer a safe and accepting environment in which participants can explore many different dimensions of cultural diversity within the LGBTQ community; 

• Sensitise the participants on issues of ethnicity, race, culture, religion, tradition and mechanisms of exclusion within the LGBTQ community that result out of these issues; 

• Provide participants with the experience and skills to engage in efforts of equality and inclusion; 

• Facilitate the creation of networks which nurtures sensibility and a broader knowledge about mechanisms of cultural exclusion, through which processes of integration can expand and continue;

• Explore how IGLYO, its member organisations and partner organisations can continue to work on the issues and the policy areas relevant to this event in the future.

Follow the blog "Intercultural and Ethnic Diversity within LGBTQ Youth Communities" - Study session in Strasbourg

You can follow the IGLYO Study session "Intercultural and Ethnic Diversity within LGBTQ Youth Communities" from everywhere via the blog where there will be daily posts and pictures of the exciting work being done by activists.

The study session is from the 22th February to the 1st March 2009.