Symβiosis and MDI’s roundtable on how to fight xenophobia in Greece

Date: 13-14 September 2012

Country: Greece

thessaloniki_roundtable_1In Greece where xenophobic violence and far-right party have been on the rise, Symβiosis in cooperation with the Media Diversity Institute (MDI) and in partnership with the Journalist’s Union of northern Greece, Macedonia and Thrace, organised a roundtable on 13-14 September 2012.

The event was held in Thessaloniki with aim to encourage dialogue between journalists, civil society organisations and policy makers on how to enhance inclusion and social cohesion and how to fight racism and xenophobia in Greece.

According to several reports by human rights and migrant workers’ organisations, xenophobic violence has reached alarming proportions in Greece with gangs regularly attacking migrants and asylum seekers. In the racially motivated attacks hundreds have been injured in the past several months.

Greek society has been torn apart by the economic crisis and the far-right party, seen by many as the one of the main contributors to the climate of hate and blame towards migrants, has entered the parliament in June 2012. Issues related to undocumented migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, minorities and vulnerable groups have become severely aggravated and the myths of 2 million migrants pillaging the country reign in the public sphere.

thessaloniki_roundtable_3Therefore Symβiosis, in cooperation with the Media Diversity Institute, organised a roundtable with the mixed audience of about 40 individuals from CSOs, media and local governments from Thessaloniki and other cities who presented their work and views, discussed facts and experiences, and contributed with ideas.

More specifically, media actors reflected on their role in relation to social cohesion and elimination of discrimination. The dialogue in Thessaloniki helped the actors in the three different sectors to understand each other better and to build a stronger network for potential cooperation.

The roundtable in September in Thessaloniki is a part of a larger project called ‘Civil Society and the Media Working Together to Fight Ethnic and Religious Discrimination in the EU’. The project is funded by the Open Society Foundation’s Think Tank Fund and further supported by the FP7 Accept Pluralism programme.

Symβiosis, the Media Diversity Institute and the Journalist’s Union of northern Greece, Macedonia and Thrace, have been cooperating very fruitfully for over the years starting with the Ethical Journalism initiative in June 2011 conference on Migration in Thessaloniki,  continuing with the Journalist’s Union contribution to MDI’s and Symbiosis’s Migrant Voices project in May 2012, as well as cooperation during their “Let’s go Together” programme.