RELATION Press release #1
17/07/2023
Last month, the third international meeting of the “Relation” project was held in Barcelona, an initiative financed by the European Union to unite efforts in the fight against antisemitism.
The meeting had representatives from four countries: Spain, Italy, Romania and Belgium through seven organizations: Bet Shalom – Progressive Jewish Community of Barcelona, Fondazione Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea, Centro Studi Villa Montesca, Universitá degli Studi di Milano, Universitá Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Institutul Intercultural Timisoara and CEJI – A Jewish Contribution to an Inclusive Europe.
They have been working since 2022 to develop a unique educational model and promote a better understanding of Jewish culture. The methodological approach proposed by the experts aims at increasing the socio-emotional skills of the students, allowing the deconstruction of prejudice and the critical sense in understanding hate.
The pedagogical proposal is ready to be taken to the classrooms and each country has begun to work with groups of teachers. As part of the training of trainers, the next school year educators will become social agents proving the methodology with children between the ages of nine and seventeen years old. The educational model is now available on the website www.relationproject.eu.
As part of the unique educational tools developed, in the coming months, it is expected the launch of a digital book game. Written and designed by the Italian game designer Andrea Angiolino with the multicultural support of all partners, the book will be a creative resource to teach the little ones about diversity and the ability to create new narratives.
USING SOCIAL MEDIA AS SOURCE FOR RESEARCH
On the project’s website, it is also possible to access the results of the first web monitoring exercise, another important axis of this project, which analyzes the rate of removal on social networks of comments reported as illegal antisemitic hate speech.
According to the report, over two days: “a total of 173 pieces of content were reported (…) Twitter received the most reports (52), while Facebook received 41, and YouTube and TikTok 40. Of the 173 pieces of content reported to social media platforms, only 21 (12%) were removed by October 12, 2022.” Noting that “the removal rate is well below the 6th evaluation of the European Commission Code of Conduct (62.5%), varying a lot between the four platforms and the four languages.”
To find out more about the educational activities, research and local events of the project join us on Instagram @relationproject and visit www.relationproject.eu.
For more information please write to: communications@relationproject.eu