Youth Against Hate

Over the past few years, MARL has offered a workshop called Hate - What Have I Got to Do With It? which has been offered to hundreds of students in Winnipeg high schools. In response to requests from students and teachers, we have developed a companion workshop called Responding to Hate. Following successful field testing of the new workshop, we are launching both workshops as the Youth Against Hate human rights education program.

These workshops will help students deal with an increasingly intolerant school environment: the racial, homophobic and sexist jokes, hate graffiti and casual put-downs that have become a part of their daily experience. We believe students can take a leading role in responding to hate. It is the everyday actions of students that will prevent hate from flourishing. These workshops focus on empowering students to be responsive bystanders.

There are two 60-minute workshops designed for high school students in Social Studies, World Issues, English and Law classes:

• In Hate: What Have I Got To Do With It? students look at their own attitudes, learn that hate exists because we allow it to and learn that hate affects everyone.

• Responding to Hate, builds on these ideas and teaches that every person's safety, health and well being is inter-related. Teenagers face situations where they have to choose between helping or not. Some of these personal choices allow hate to flourish. In this workshop, we emphasize personal responsibility and teach youth to act against hate by being responsive bystanders.

This series of workshops is highly participatory and engaging. Through facilitated learning, students uncover practical actions to respond to hate and improve the situation. Workshop materials include student booklets and teacher resources. Teachers can register by contacting our office by phone, fax or email.

Response to the workshops has been positive. Teachers are recommending them to their colleagues and feedback from students shows that we are challenging them to look at their attitudes and behaviour. We are leaving them with strategies they can use without putting themselves in danger and, from their responses, we can see that we are leaving them more aware of the positive role they can play by responding to the situations they encounter.