“No child is foreign!”: European Week of Action Against Racism 2018 in Patras, Greece

The week of 17 to 25 March 2018 was the European Week of Action Against Racism. Contributing to this week, the Greek city of Patras organised a series of activities under the initiative “No child is foreign!”. They were designed and implemented through a participatory process involving twenty-nine local stakeholders in the sectors of education, culture, sports, equality, justice and civil society. 

Several cultural events (dance-theatre-music-poetry-games) delivered positive messages on humanism and inclusiveness. Schools of elementary and secondary education, as well as civil society representatives made remarkable performances. Migrant associations and youth presented information about the culture and heritage of their origins. Language was explored as a means of expression and communication through narration, creative writing and music from Russia, Latin America, Romania, Bulgaria, Nigeria and Albania. 

This initiative is promoted through theIntercultural Cities programme (ICC), ALDA: European Association of Local Democracy and UNITED network, recognised as best practice on synergy of partners for building an inclusive society. 

The European Week of Action Against Racism activities in Patras were closely linked to the implementation of the ARRIVAL CITIES project (URBACT III programme). Patras is part of the ARRIVAL CITIES network and organised a signing-off event for the integrated action plan (IAP) on the integration of migrants on 30 March 2018. This local event in Patras is one of the final project activities before the ARRIVAL CITIES Final Conference on 24 April 2018 in Brussels.