2018 Humanity in Action Warsaw Fellowship

Our sessions today—which concerned abortion rights, disability rights, and the situation of queer people in Poland—made me think most about lines. Whether we admit it or not, we are all always drawing lines, at an interpersonal level and at the level of our activism. We set ourselves apart, stabilize and energize our psyches by drawing personal lines of identity: am I gay or straight, white or black, male or female, Polish or Ukrainian? This process of identity-formation is often vital to our sense of ourselves in the world, and especially to our inspiration as activists. More troublingly, though, we also draw lines around others, often before we hear them speak, before we even know their name. So identity brings us together with others like us, and allows us to forge the solidarity needed to craft social movements. But identity also divides, forces us to emphasize the “other-ness” of others, even and especially others who might become our allies in the fight for social change—others ...

Empathize.  Define.  Ideate.  Prototype.  Test.  These are the five steps of the human-focussed design method, called Design Thinking (DT). The diverse tools are applied to effectively address the needs of the people given to their circumstances. During a training session with Martyna Markiewicz, a DT facilitator, we were introduced to a systematic tool that not only gives us the ability to improve our activism in human rights and anti-discrimination work but also enables us to go beyond the multi-layered environments that enforce human rights violations. The method of DT trained us to directly address the certain demand of a specific person or community. According to Alastair Fuad-Luke, DT is involved in so-called ‘design activism’ that he describes as, “design thinking, imagination and practice applied knowingly or unknowingly, to create a counternarrative aimed at generating and balancing positive social, institutional, environm...

Simone de Beauvoir once said: “Otherness is a fundamental category of human thought. No group ever defines itself up as the ‘One’ without at once setting up the ‘Other’ against itself.” [1] De Beauvoir was a French feminist and political activist, one of the first to introduce the concept of the “Other” into discussions on post-colonialism and feminism in society.  Simone de Beauvoir, Photo [2] A simple rationalization of “Othering” is claiming that it is a product of human nature, of fear, and the self-preservation of identity. Over the past few days, HIA fellows discussed and deconstructed this notion. We also deconstructed identity and social exclusion as related to Poles, migrants and refugees, to better understand the recent rise of anti-immigrant and refugee rhetoric in the country.  Our discussions have made me think about how in addition to creating the ‘Other’, we are often subjugated and become the ‘Other’ for different groups. I therefore believe ...

I was born early enough to remember when we didn’t even have a computer at home. The first mobile phone my dad bought was a model you probably find now in museums. While I hope to tell this one day to my shocked grandchildren, I truly believe that it should not be used as an excuse to avoid new technologies, and in order to keep up with the changing world, I try to stay up to date with what’s going on outside the bubble of human rights in which I spend most of my time. Yet, I didn’t expect to learn how to create a chatbot during the Humanity in Action fellowship. It was a day of surprises.  Screenshot from a conversation with the Chatbot created by one of the groups during the workshop, as a potential tool to empower teenage girls.  If you’re wondering now why a group of human rights activists managed to learn complex coding during one workshop, the reality is far from being so impressive. Firstly, simple Messenger Bots can nowadays be created without no more ...

It’s October 2014, I am in my 3rd year of architecture school, and I have found myself in Flint, Michigan on a studio trip to understand Rust Belt America from the perspective of those living in these left-behind cities. My professor, Wes Janz, instilled in us the absolute necessity of listening to the voices of those with first hand experiences, rather than allowing the outside world to determine our perspectives. Having seen the recent news about the Flint Water Crisis just months before, it was difficult to push away the narrative everyone else claimed as truth. But in spite of it, we gathered our open minds and prepared to listen rather than tell.  We listened, as an anarchist spoke of his fervent distaste with the Flint government system, perturbed by their insensitivity to those living around him. We listened, as a police officer turned pastor spoke with compassion and loyalty for a community not many see value in. We listened, as a member of the pastor’s congregation...

Do you check your phone first thing in the morning or after a sip of coffee? Nowadays, a vast part of our daily activities also appear in the digital form of scrolls, shares and emojis. Although having a phone might make activism easier, fast-paced dynamic relationships and buzzing news-feeds are making us immune to the kaleidoscope of campaigns. The golden question is how effective they are. After almost every session, fellows ask: “What can I do as an activist to change the status quo?” The answer is usually spreading what you know and believe to be right. Moreover, it might seem daunting to use social media for social activism, given how much of the audience’s attention is already occupied by commercial advertising and political messaging. Pro-democracy protesters open their umbrellas for 87 seconds at the Admiralty, Hong Kong on October 28, 2014. EPA/Alex Hoffard. So-called ‘Facebook revolutions’—for example, in Hong Kong, Turkey, Ukraine, and Egypt—have already demo...

As a Jewish studies scholar who has been educated in Greece, Germany, Denmark, Israel, and Sweden, I consider Poland (and in particular the city of Warsaw) to be the perfect study trip destination. On the other hand, as a humanitarian and person with a strong consensus about (collective) memory and empathy about the Holocaust (Shoa) in Europe, my sense of enthusiasm about “Jewish Warsaw” has gradually disappeared and been lost. There are only historical question marks and food for thought. Speaking in semiotic terms, question marks are extremely commonplace in the history of the Shoah. It seems as if they were always there to remind us of the dark and sorrowful past of World War II. Additionally, I also have question marks about the Shoah in Thessaloniki (Greece), the city of my origin. As a scholar, I used to make comparisons in order to better understand the framework in both cities, and predominately in both countries.    Commemoration site in the former Nazi death ...

My hometown of Spokane, Washington, is not very widely known. However, in June 2015, our small city, with a largely white and conservative population, made national headlines. Rachel Dolezal, the president of the Spokane Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), had just resigned after having been exposed of posing as a Black woman despite having been born to white parents. Ms. Dolezal, however, did not feel as if her actions of running for president of the NAACP chapter and marking “Black” on application forms, let alone darkening her skin and changing her hair, had been incorrect or inappropriate. She fully claimed “Black” as her identity.  Rachel Dolezal, former president of the Spokane Chapter of NAACP  While this controversial topic sparked countless debates and discussions on race across the US, the fact still remained that Ms. Dolezal possessed the privilege to choose when to disguise herself as Black and when to rever...

Human nature is a big mystery. Out of more than 7,6 billion people living in the world, the majority is trying to behave in a humane way. Yet, there are repeated cases of extreme violations of human rights all over the world. There are real people taking part in planning, organizing, and executing the most horrid atrocities. In the 20-th century, there have been over 20(!)genocides. How come mankind does not learn from its mistakes and lets genocides happen?  Never again - commemoration monument in Treblinka Each genocide has the same stages and the very first ones might seem very minor. It all starts with a change in language: the implementation of offensive terms and conflictful language towards the targeted group. Here populism usually adds fuel to the fire. What usually happens next is the change of laws in order to discriminate against the potential victims in any possible way and to deprive them of rights and freedoms. The next stage implies dehumanization of the...

While I marched on the July 9th on the streets of Warsaw decorated with rainbow flags, filled with music and dancing, surrounded by friendly people waiving at each other, one of the Polish fellows said to me: “What a nice feeling to finally march not against something, but simply to celebrate and rejoice our diversity and presence.” Warsaw Pride (photo credit @ Kamila Szuba) If you look at the most recent and burning events in Poland, you can easily see they that have one common point – people taking over the streets in mass protests against the changes proposed (or already implemented) by the ruling conservative party of Law And Justice (PiS). Constitutional crisis, Black Protests or most recent protest of families of people with disabilities. Those are pictures I have mostly seen in history books. Now, they have became alive right in front of my eyes and became sort of normal and often used in forms of response and expression to resistance and strong disagreement. In an e...

I was nine years old the first time I called any book my “favorite.” The book was Milkweed, a historical fiction novel set in Warsaw during the Holocaust and told through the lens of a young Jewish orphan, Misha. As the Nazi occupation progresses, Misha does not understand what is happening: Why is there a curfew? Why can’t his friend Janina and her family live in their house anymore? Why do he and his friends have to stay in the ghetto? Why is everyone being cleared out of the ghetto and put on trains? As I asked these questions alongside Misha, this book became my introduction to the Holocaust, and indeed to the notion of dehumanization. When I found out I was coming to Warsaw for the Humanity in Action Fellowship, it was as if everything had come full circle. I was told before I arrived that Warsaw had been bombed out in World War II, so its architecture was all built after the 1940s. Until we went on the (In)Visible History and Vibrant Present in the Streets of Warsaw walking ...