MAKE SECTARIANISM

A HISTORY LESSON

A PROJECT LED BY:

> NEWSLETTER #2

What’s happening?

Project update

New posters created by different Glasgow groups

Interested in what you have seen here?

We are looking for partner organisations or groups from any of the 5 areas stated inside who would be interested in getting involved with this project. Get in touch using the contact details below or email us: sos@xchangescotland.org

Also, Xchange Scotland is always keen to hear from people interested in help out as a volunteer. If you are interested in contributing to this project either as a deliverer or with our promotion or design work around this project, do get in touch. For more of an idea about our education work, do check out some of the short videos here: www.youtube.com/xchangescotland

Finally, make sure you follow the progress of this project and contribute your comments on our project Facebook page:www.facebook.com/xs.sos.project

Follow our projects on Twitter @xchangescotland

The Pearce Institute840 Govan RoadGlasgowG51 3UU0141 237 4767www.xchangescotland.orgwww.facebook.com/xchangescotlandCharity number: SC040081

PROJECT FUNDED BY:

Xchange Scotland is a charity based in Glasgow, set up 6 years ago to engage and involve a wide range of people through international volunteering and non-formal educational opportunities.

Our main aims are:• International co-operation• Active citizenship• Access for all• Intercultural understanding • Lifelong learning

Within our educational work we have started delivering a project called Make Sectarianism a History Lesson which will run until March 2015. We have been supported in this project by the Scottish Government.

Through this project, we intend to build and strengthen partnerships with a diverse range of community-based groups to tackle Intra-Christian Sectarianism in 5 areas across Glasgow: Yoker & Dumbarton Road Corridor (NW), Ruchill & Possil (N), Castlemilk (SE), Pollok (S) and Govan (SW).

Phase 1: From November 2013 to September 2014, we are delivering creative Loesje poster-writing workshops to create posters with community groups.

Phase 2: Until March 2015, the posters will be spread locally and used as a tool to engage with & within the communities, and to promote dialogue and positive actions on tackling Intra-Christian sectarianism.

Project intro...

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ProjectPartnersThese are the

groups we’ve been creating posters

with so far...

What’s happening? Project update

> Set up in 2001 using the arts for community regeneration in Govan> We worked with their Kidz clubs

It is an exciting time for Xchange Scotland. This project has been a platform for us to meet and collaborate with groups we haven’t worked with before. Over the past months we have worked with 5 year-olds, creating original jigsaws (see photo on the right) about what make us

feel good about our communities. We have worked with adults groups, analysing realistic points of intervention to get rid of sectarianism. We have worked with other community activists, providing tools for them to incorporate in their work and sharing knowledge on related topics.

This project started with the clear aim of “tackling sectarianism”. First we have had to ask: what are we talking about when we talk about sectarianism? We have learned that there are as many ways of understanding sectarianism

as there are people in Glasgow. Bringing together community members and organisations having a positive impact in their

area has proved a good way of taking this forward.

So far, we have delivered 15 workshops exploring sectarianism and resources with different community groups, resulting in vital discussions and many great posters created. From the workshops done so far, one of the regular challenges is how talking about sectarianism tends to awake self-defensive attitudes. How to normalise talking about sectarianism?

Our team members bring the expertise to allow us to tailor each session in order to progress with this challenge, and to question what comes up in sessions. “Sectarianism doesn´t happen anymore”...“It’s not as bad as it used to be in the past”… are some common statements we hear during sessions. But why should we settle for ‘not as bad as the past’? As community members all of us have the chance, means and knowledge to make a change and shape the future we want to live in. Not just ‘not as bad as the past’, but a brilliant and colourful future for Scotland.

Julia Rodriguez Nieto, Project Co-ordinator

> Glasgow Association for Mental Health (GAMH) promotes good mental health in the community> We are working with one of their men’s groups

> Since 2000, Depot are passionate about the transformational aspects of the arts in the neighbourhoods of North Glasgow

> Community hub owned by community members and used by over 40 groups> We worked with their Kids Society

> A community organisation in Govan enriching lives through reconnection to traditional craft working skills

> Their Milestone Project provides a community rehab day-service to people living in the East end of Glasgow

> Support service aimed at helping young carers in the SW tailored to each person and their situation

> St. Vincent’s Primary School> School based in Pollok working within a learning community

GLASGOW SOUTH-WEST

YOUNG CARERS

SECTARIAN MYTHS

WILL TEAR USAPART

These posters are created collectively by all the participants of the workshops. They work as a group, thinking together, building on each other’s words, phrases and ideas. We use the following techniques in the sessions to help ACCESS the group’s creativity:

ASSOCIATE - put down the first words that come to mindCONRADICT - find the opposite of a word or phrase COMPARE - compare something new to something familiarEXAGERATE - take an idea, and put it on a big scaleSTIMULATE - put the idea/message in a new way SUGGEST - think about what you want to get across

To explain more about this poster-writing process, we have a great video. Go to www.youtube.com/xchangescotlandand select the video ‘What is sectarianism?’

How are they made?