If it is over there, it is here, series I: Life stories of resistance fighters

In Europe, the Belgian NGO RCN Justice & Democracy is raising awareness among a wide audience about contemporary mass violence through the If it is over there, it is radio series here. These radio series with witnesses to recent conflicts provide the basis for workshops on the prevention of contemporary mass violence.

How does the workshop go?

The workshops consist of three parts. They allow the students to discover the harsh reality of contemporary mass violence and open the debate about the universally human questions raised by these crimes over there and here. As a supervisor you can choose in advance from eleven committed life stories of eyewitnesses that you can work around.

In the workshop you start from the social world of the young people on the basis of the photo language methodology around a chosen theme (engagement, resistance, freedom, ...). Then you listen to a committed life story together with the students (20 min). These audiobooks tell the story of a person who survived and resisted mass violence.

In small groups, the students then answer a number of in-depth questions, which refer to the life story that was heard. The groups thus exchange about violence prevention and the challenges of living together in Belgium. The young people engage in a discussion about the questions raised by these international crimes, but also about the challenges of harmonious coexistence to prevent this extreme violence, also here in Europe. The young people allow their experiences, knowledge and opinions to enter into a dialogue with each other as critical, inclusive and responsible citizens. The facilitator closes the workshop by summarizing the results of the group work for the whole class.

To introduce or deepen the topic in the classroom, teachers can borrow the educational briefcase If it's over there, it's here. RCN G&D also has a modest media library from which the teachers can draw.