INTRODUCTION

Until the lion is a historian, the hunter will be glorified

Lincoln Williams, lecturer, "Europa Quo Vadis", Symposium, EYC, November 1990

The question is whether the youth of Europe are willing to defend their right to live in and to inherit a society that is free of fascism and racism, recognising that they will increasingly be sharing that society with nationals by birth who are of a different skin colour or ethnic origin than their own. It is a challenge that needs to be placed firmly on the agenda of education and of youth work in Europe.

European Confederation of Youth Clubs, "Racism in Europe - the Challenge for Youth Work", Study Session EYC, October 1989

What did Mahatma Gandhi say when asked about Western civilization? He said it would be a good idea. We cannot allow it to remain so when our own characters are being tested. For those who turn a blind eye to racism will become accessories to prejudice and violence, and society at large will suffer.

Gro Harlem Bruntland, "Speech to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe", 4 February 1993

Working for tolerance - combatting racism and xenophobia - promoting human rights - highlighting discrimination - solidarity campaigns: for youth organisations these phrases are not 'flavours of the month', they are continued and continuing central elements of their work. Although several of the international youth organisations have quite a long history, (the YMCA, for example, dates back to the last century), their membership renews itself every few years. This creates an exciting dynamic: issues can always be looked at anew and in the light of current events; there are not too many people around who are going to say "we've already done that, we know the answers". The fact that the members of the European Coordination Bureau (ECB) held three study sessions at the European Youth Centre (EYC) based around the themes of discrimination and immigrant workers in 1972/3 did not prevent them from organising seminars and a colloquy in Belgium dealing with racism and xenophobia in 1981 and 1983. History can be learnt from, the secret is not to get stuck in it.

"Ethnic cleansing" in former Yugoslavia; attacks on refugee camps in Rostock; desecration of Jewish cemeteries in France; higher rates of unemployment for migrant youth everywhere; political gains of the extreme right wing party in Belgium; the fear of the creation of a fortress Europe: daily we are confronted by racism and xenophobia. The current state of racism and developments in Europe are frightening. Often we see young people in the forefront of racist attacks and demonstrations. Equally youth organisations are very much involved in the fight against these forms of bigotry and xenophobia.

Faced with the continued rise and emergence of new forms of racism in Europe, the members of the Advisory Committee decided, in April 1992, to set up a working group to examine what had been done by youth organisations to combat racism and to promote tolerance. The working group met and decided to focus on a publication on racism which would be of use to interested publics and all youth organisations working in the field. This was seen as being most important for two major reasons: firstly, to share examples of good practice; and, secondly, to demonstrate the value of the work done by the youth organisations with the support of the EYC and European Youth Foundation (EYF). In December 1992, the Governing Board unanimously accepted the recommendations of the Advisory Committee and regarded the publication as the start of a general anti-racism campaign of the Youth Directorate. For more information on what became a Europe-wide campaign against racism, intolerance and anti-semitism, have a look at the Introduction in the Education Pack.

All the organisations cooperating with the EYC and EYF were informed of the initiative. Bearing in mind the large number of requests for information that they receive, the response of the organisations was extraordinary - over 80 are listed here in the acknowledgements section. Word spread and a mini avalanche of post started to arrive in the second week of January. When the members of the working group met again in February, they reviewed the material that had been received and the collection of documents from the archives. Impressed by what they saw, they decided to widen slightly the scope of ALIEN 93 to allow for the inclusion of material from local and national members of the EYC/EYF partner organisations.