The main objective of the project was to strengthen the capacity of partner organizations (Etudes et Chantiers and Point Barre in France, IKOS in Turkey, and ACRADE in Portugal) to address the issue of discrimination by enabling youth workers to utilize the collaborative educational tool www.discriminations.eu. By raising awareness among youth workers and introducing them to video tools for addressing this topic with young people, we sought to foster mutual understanding between different generations and different European realities.
Over the past decade, tensions have been mounting within European nations: the rise of populism and extremist ideologies, religious radicalism, an increase in racist acts, and so on. These developments undermine the potential for a balanced and nuanced development among a segment of the youth in many EU countries. Ecological, economic, societal (social media), terrorist, and health crises—and, more recently, wars—create an anxiety-inducing environment for a segment of Europe’s youth. These short-, medium-, and long-term crises either exacerbate attitudes of rejection toward difference or, conversely, urge some young people to assert themselves solely through their difference. In both cases, they overlook what fosters cohesion. The “www.discriminations.eu” project is part of an effort to promote European values, particularly tolerance. By inviting youth workers and young people to seek to understand the mechanisms of discrimination, we contribute to better combating these issues at the European level.