22 October 2019

50+30 - Europe for Citizens Remembrance project

The '50+30' project refers to the remembrance of 80 passing since the beginning of WW2, The end of WW2 has led to 50 years of authoritarian regimes in many central and eastern European countries, culminating with the democratic revolutions of 1989.


30 years went on since then, and many citizens, especially youth, have a limited understanding of the implications of WW2 on Europe and in building a democratic EU. Also, European youth of less than 30, have never lived under authoritarianism, taking for granted the struggle that their close ascendants have faced. It’s hence, in our duty to pay tribute to those who sacrificed themselves for our well-being, not only through re-education of youth but also through remembrance. The latter is particularly important in acting against the rise of populism, and hate speech, which could generate a climate comparable to the one that has preceded WW2.



This project is particularly relevant in a national context, since Romania is commemorating 30 years since the revolution that caused the fall of the communist regime in our country. In order to remember those events, we have proposed to organize Memorial Walks in every country that is taking part in this project, a type of event which has already been organized by GEYC in Bucharest, in the spring of this year. See more at geyc.ro/invizita


Objectives:


  1. Raise mass awareness on the key-dates of historical events using retrospective social media posts to commemorate the struggle during WW2 and against authoritarianism (365 posts, daily, for one year) reaching more than 30.000 active users.
  2. Vivify the remembrance of the WW2 history and monuments by setting up 10 different memorial walks in 10 countries involving a minimum of 200 participants.
  3. Counter the rising populism in Europe by fostering remembrance with innovative digital tools, published as guidelines to target educational institutions.


European activities:

A1. Kick off meeting in Nice, France. - November 2019 - 15 participants

A2. Seminar of practitioners in the field of human right education and remembrance in Berlin, Germany. – Date TBC - 40 participants

A3. Conference and final evaluation: From Authoritarian regimes to democratic revolutions. Is the transition over? In Bucharest, Romania. Date TBC - 120 participants.


Local activities:

The international activities will be preceded and followed by a number of local activities that the partner organizations will lead in their countries. The main ones are:

  • Social media posts that are commemorating the date of an event related to WW2 or the end of communism: 30 to 50 posts
  • A remembrance walk in a chosen of the city in the country of the organization (at least 30 pax involved)
  • Survey aiming to gather thoughts about WW2 and the democratic revolutions (at least 200 response per country)
  • Participation in elaborating the guidelines and at least 1 local informative workshop aiming to disseminate the project outcomes.
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