Youth Exchange in Greece (Action 3.1.1 of YiA)
Title of the project: Volunteering & Theater of the Oppressed against Xenophobia?
Host organisation: SCI Hellas (www.sci.gr, www.sciint.org)
Location: Igoumenitsa, Greece (N-W Greece, on the cost) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igoumenitsa
Duration of the youth exchange: 1 July 2011- 16 July 2011
We are looking for partners to participate in a Youth Exchange “Volunteering & Theater of the Oppressed against Xenophobia?” This Youth Exchange is a continuation of the previous years EUROMED youth exchange with the topics volunteering for peace (2005) and volunteering for human rights (2006). The aim of this youth exchange is to give space to young people to discuss and act against racism and xenophobia which is a very important issue in our countries.
The twenty-first century promises to be a new age of migration. Intensifying international migration pressures present many societies with major policy dilemmas; most countries of the world are becoming more multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-lingual. These changes challenge governments and civil society to accommodate and gain from this diversity in ways, which promote peace and respect for human rights.
One in every fifty human beings, more than 150 million people live outside their countries of origin as migrants or refugees. They are highly vulnerable to racism, xenophobia and discrimination.
Through this activity we try to introduce the reflection about the importance of multiculturalism and to train and strengthen the youth involved on the subject of xenophobia as the main theme of “injustice”. We will use an ensemble of techniques and approaches to theatre pioneered by the Brazilian theatre practitioner Augusto Boal: Theatre of the Oppressed and specifically Image Theatre, Forum Theatre*** and Rainbow of Desires***. Our idea is to explore whether these innovative methods could become a common methodological tools for human rights education around Mediterranean Countries.
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We are looking for at least 5 partners from 5 different countries (3 from MEDA* countries and 2 from EU).
Each partner organization has to send 5 participants (18-25 years old) + 1 group leader (no age limit).
If you are interested to participate in this project, please send a short description of your organization, together with a contact person and his/ her contact details to promovolou2@sci.gr. Please contact us within 27th January.
In case you need more information don’t hesitate contacting us at:
SCI-Hellas, www.sci.gr, tel: +30 210 382 3635, fax: +30 210 382 3635
Contact person: Isabel Dominguez ( promovolou2@sci.gr)
*MEDA countries: Algeria, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Palestinian Authority of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
***Forum Theatre is the best known and most widely practiced form of Boal's theatre; it is an interactive form used particularly in situations where there is a shared oppression, with a participating audience of 'spect-actors' focused on gaining a better understanding of a problem or issue and testing out possible solutions.
***Image Theatre is the basic vocabulary of all the various branches of the Theatre of the Oppressed. From simple techniques such as Image of the world (where participants are asked to sculpt themselves into a statue representing their reaction to a given word) - through to more complex techniques such as Image of Transition (where the technique studies the possibilities of change). Image Theatre harnesses the simplest form of self-representation to arrive at the deepest form of debate.
*** The Rainbow of desires, this is a set of techniques akin to various elements of psycho-drama and drama-therapy. It is usually for a closed group. First of all, one or more participants will tell a story about an issue they are dealing with or have dealt with in their lives - unlike Forum Theatre, here the sense is that there are not outside oppressors, but still the protagonist is troubled, perhaps by internalized oppressors. The group will settle on one story; an improvisation based on a real encounter related to the issue will be played out. Then, depending on which technique is being used, the group will react to the story they have heard and seen by making images (Image Theatre); the story-teller will then interact in different ways with these images.
