The objective of the LIGHT project is to equip educators and professionals working directly with young people with the tools needed to help them become aware of their prejudices and the unconscious biases that may influence them, to deconstruct these biases, and to raise awareness about the different manifestations of racism, including so-called invisible forms. Within the framework of the project, the partners developed innovative tools tailored to young adults in order to shed light on unconscious prejudices and invisible racism. These tools aim to strengthen the capacities of educators on these issues so they can work effectively with young people and organise activities that are appropriate, engaging and inclusive when addressing these phenomena. The LIGHT project also seeks to raise awareness of the existence and consequences of invisible racism and unconscious bias in order to better understand and combat them. The phenomena addressed by this project — invisible racism and unconscious bias — are present across all societies and deserve to be highlighted and addressed by any organisation working to combat racism and antisemitism.
In 2021, over 1210 victims of racism have reached Licra’s legal department to ask for our legal expertise. The CNCDH 2021 report on the fight against racism, antisemitism and xenophobia also says that prejudices remain high in France and 81,5% of respondents to their survey think that a strong fight against racism is necessary. A study conducted by the Chance Children and Youth Association on countering racism and invisible racism among young people in Poland, noted that young people increasingly notice subtle forms of racism, such as racist jokes or speech on the internet. A report by the Italian parliament demonstrates the existence of a pyramid of hatred at the base of which are stereotypes, false or misleading representations, 'normalised' or trivialised hostile language and, at the upper levels, discrimination. The Greek ombudsman reports widespread discrimination in Greece while 50,6% of the young respondents in a report published by CoE, ask for actions to fight discrimin. Behind these phenomena, explicit and implicit biases exist. Studies show that nearly 40% of people have unconscious biases against particular genders and ethnicities while a growing number of studies show a link between hidden biases and actual behavior.