Common Ground, Common Future Erasmus Project

Project Title

Common Ground, Common Future

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Research and innovation; Social dialogue; Inclusion – equity

Project Summary

We live in times of ever-growing polarisation, manipulation, discrimination, and miscommunication, all driving a wedge in communities and society as a whole, and future collaboration and cooperation.

Every day we see angry faces of protestors that give us disturbing images, in the streets, in the news, in social media. They are more than images: each face, each motion has a history. Every individual, every group cling to their history, because it is connected to their (and the group’s) identity or, as it happens currently, ‘identities’ evoked or created to arouse anger, fear, discrimination or exclusion.

The challenging question is “Are we our stories, or not?” Looking at the contemporary context, we are. However, we could also propose that most of our stories are self-created, subjective realities (or ‘truths’), thus fictions, that remain intact through habit, group coercion, conditioning, and are driven by our intentions, which can have positive or negative objectives (e.g. consolation, manipulation). In the worst case they lack self-awareness and (self) knowledge and promote selfishness, segregation, separation, isolation, a potential for stereotyping and discrimination.

Contemporary ‘value systems’
The us-versus-them thinking seems to have become the norm (citizen-government, native-immigrant, environmental activists-big businesses, autocrats-democrats, etc.), sometimes leading to countries where all bonds to civilized (co) existence are broken. The global rise of populism and the accompanying misinterpreted nationalism and isolationism are the most striking contemporary phenomena, leading to (social) disruption and discord and alienation, which not only affect groups but also entire nations worldwide. There is often a huge gap between the ‘values’ we embrace and the way we actually live and speak – the norms dictated by dominant discourses.

The (social) media
Online giants like Facebook, Google and Twitter agreed to a code of conduct, but up to date seem mostly busy with oral policy and promises.
Many extremist groups disseminate hate speech – overtly and covertly – by publishing (online) posts that incite hate, violence, etc. Even when covert, they can ignite reactions in the comment section that overtly will spread hate speech and its harmful consequences, e.g. ensuring adverse physical and emotional changes among the insulted individuals, groups or communities.

Justice for all?
Although the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that “any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law”, the laws against hate speech (to preserve public order, and to protect human dignity) are difficult to enforce, and depending on the good will of national justice. The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance has produced country reports and several general policy recommendations, and therefore no hard obligations.

Conclusion
As we have tried to point out, there have always been – and there still are – numerous reasons and causes for conflict, polarisation and reciprocal exclusion: misguided beliefs in ‘identity’, more dominant discourses, nationalism, and xenophobia.

Obviously, in these current times of uncivil (dominant) discourses and increasingly mean demagoguery there is a growing need and a necessity for principles and practices that lead to a peaceful resolution of conflicts as described above, personal, public, domestic or international; in all levels of the population and the educational systems.

Main objective of the project
The objective of this strategic partnership is to develop counter-strategies and to explore methodologies to increase the narrative awareness skills and to improve the skills to generate alternative, desirable, authentic narratives to oppose these principles of manipulation and hostile communication. Monitoring the process of using stories is an important element in the design of the project, as we know that stories both can connect and divide, the latter in the case of wrong application of stories and storytelling.

In short: we will foster the identification of authentic and assumed value systems and the ways of making that new system transferable. We will support the development of a common platform to defuse or dissolve contrasting arguments, to enable compassionate connections and affiliation around shared values.

Target Groups
For the outcomes we distinguish two target groups:

-Primary target group: Trainers/community/social workers who are active in the field of narrative work
-Secondary target group: People that suffer from domineering discourses and the conflicts they cause

Narrative processes are universal, they do not limit to national borders. It is an European issue and also the neigbouring regions have to be involved in the quest for new strategies and solutions. That why we believe the project should be transnationally.

Project Website

http://commongroundcommonfuture.eu

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 218239,75 Eur

Project Coordinator

Storytelling Centre & Country: NL

Project Partners

• Youth Initiative for Human Rights – Kosovo
• CSI CENTER FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION LTD
• ASOCIATIA PSITERRA
• OSLOMET – STORBYUNIVERSITETET