Society for Tolerance

The project “Society for Tolerance” aims at publicizing and enhancing efficiency of activities performed since 1999 by Open Republic, Association against Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia, i.e. combating all forms of racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia and other attitudes offending human dignity. Monitoring of hate speech and hate acts will allow for description and analysis of particular cases and for taking civic and legal steps.

Everyone may report using a simple form available on the portal an incident connected with hate speech or hate act. Any supplementations or additional information added to a given description by portal administrators will be reported to the user who has sent a form to us. Thanks to the inter-active portal we intend to publicize this knowledge, promote good practices regarding counteracting intolerance and discrimination, teach how to do it and get citizens, NGOs and authorities of different levels involved in this activity. The project will contribute to activation of local communities in counteracting hate speech and acts, and, at the same time, it will make representatives of local governments and of the government more sensitive to these problems. Therefore, it will improve citizens’ cooperation and involvement in public life, as well as civic control and operation of public institutions.

Our partner in this project is Klamra Foundation, whose local experience we will try to promote nationwide.

The project is performed under Citizens for Democracy program financed by EOG Funds.

Society against hate

From May 1, 2010 to April 30, 2011 the Open Republic will implement the project “Society against hate”.
Under this project we will:

  • examine activity of prosecuting and judicial authorities regarding counteracting the ethnic, race, and religious hate manifesting itself in word and acts;
  • record acts of hate and discrimination against representatives of national, religious, cultural, sexual and other minorities, and monuments of their culture (e.g. vandalism at the cemeteries);
  • conduct continuous monitoring of applicable authorities’ reactions to the aforementioned acts of hate;
  • intervene everywhere, where national, ethnic, religious and cultural hate manifests itself.

Please report any events of this type to the office of the Open Republic: otwarta@otwarta.org or directly to our lawyer: piotrtomaszewski@otwarta.org
Project “Society against hate” is implemented thanks to the support granted by Trust for Civil Society in the Central and Eastern Europe.

Law against hatred

We conduct research on the effectiveness of the institutions of Polish law and judicial authorities in counteracting the ethnic, racial, and religious hatred manifested in oral form or in specific acts. We ask, if the applicable legal regulations are properly applied (and if not – why it happens?) for the purpose of counteracting and preventing such acts.

Monitoring of anti-Semitic and xenophobic events

We register the acts of hatred and discrimination against representatives of national, ethnic, religious, cultural, sexual and other minorities as well as against material expression of their culture (vandalism acts at the cemeteries). We gather information on the way, in which the appropriate local government institutions and authorities react to such events. We also attempt to monitor actions of the police, local authorities, and prosecutor’s offices and the courts.

School of Openness. An analysis of school textbooks

In the period 2002 – 2004 we carried out the School of Openness program. A team of reviewers analysed school textbooks for Polish language, history, and knowledge about society from the point of view of respect for ethnic, religious, and general outlook differences. Approximately 80 gymnasium textbooks were reviewed (of ca. 150 available on the market). These materials may be useful for teachers and educators. We send the list of textbooks and their reviews upon request of the interested parties.

Together in Europe – Open to Others

In 2007 we realized an educational project „Together in Europe – Open to Others”. The idea of this project was to initiate discussion in educational environment on respect and tolerance between social groups of different races, ethnic roots, religion and convictions and on the ways of promoting these problems in schools. At the same time, we conducted a research on the changes in defining the notion of openness and tolerance, but also of prejudice, among young people as a result of globalization and technological progress and the impact of these changes on the functioning in a peer group. The major actions of the project included: development of a scenario of educational classes for the students of gymnasium level schools and high schools, methodological workshops for teachers preceded by lectures of specialists, a cycle of educational activities conducted in 25 schools based on the prepared scenarios. In the schools participating in the project, students filled in the questionnaires on the subject of the project. A competition was also organized, which promoted the idea „Together in Europe – Open to Others”. The project was financed from the funds of the European Social Fund under the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All.

Educational materials

We develop scenarios of lessons and workshops for high schools. Theirauthors are the teachers cooperating with our Association.

  • The scenario of a lesson conducted in the area of the former Warsaw Ghetto entitled „And the end was at Umschlagplatz”;
  • The film „Chronicle of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising according to Marek Edelman” with supplementary materials;
  • The scenario of a lesson of English dealing with the Holocaust.

All educational materials are available on our website. We may also send them by mail.

Jan Józef Lipski Master Thesis Competition

Jan Józef Lipski Master Thesis Competition is meant to commemorate its Patron by supporting the gifted students of humanities and social sciences and facilitating their entrance to the world of science.

Jan Józef Lipski, a historian of literature, deserves our memory due to his exceptional contribution to the shaping of our social and civic awareness, and his special place in the history of the democratic opposition movement in Poland. We are convinced that awarding young people, who deal in their master theses with humanities-related problems and who are sensitive to social issues, is important for all of us.

The first edition of the competition was announced in 1995 at the initiative of Zbyszek Bujak and was organized by Towarzystwo Demokratyczno-Społeczne (Democratic-Social Society). Since 2002, the competition has been organized by our Association.