Countering hate in 13x20x20 seconds

At the end of October 2016, the operators of the EEA NGO Programme in Hungary organized a series of international events against hate speech and hate crime. One component was an open Pecha Kucha Night Budapest held on the 27th in Toldi Cinema. With this, our aim was to provide an insight in the results of the Programme, especially in the field of countering hate, enhancing mutual acceptance, solidarity and tolerance.

Thirteen exciting 7-minute-long presentations were performed by experts of Hungarian civil society. They talked about immigrants’ difficulties in finding a home, the communication potential of caricatures, the use uninhabited properties for good causes, the importance of focus groups in the preparation of campaigns, the role of art in therapies and community building and many more topics.

Dominika Milanovich, psychologist, teacher, human rights activist talked about the Hungarian LGBT Alliance’s national human rights campaign in her presentation entitled “Through the rainbow – experiences of a cross-country LMBTQI campaign”.

In his presentation entitled “DrugStigma – new ways of exclusion and recovery” Ferenc Dávid, biopolitics expert, program coordinator of the Blue Point Foundation talked about the challenges of this field.

Emőke Both, president of BAGázs Association visited Bag village for the first time in 2009, and she felt she found what she’d always been looking for. “What can you do to live in an inclusive country?” – she tried to answer this question in her presentation.

Why Pecha Kucha, the presentation platform used by architectures, visual artists and designers? The organizer of the Budapest Pecha Kucha nights has been the Contemporary Architecture Centre (KÉK) since 2006. The centre aims at opening new perspectives in architectural and urban thinking in Hungary by organizing open discussions for the public and making projects available in the field of visual culture that determines our lives. During the Pecha Kucha Night organized by the KÉK and Ökotárs Foundation countering hate became a common case.

Speakers were:

  • Angéla Thiesz - Retextil Foundation
  • Balázs Makádi - Motivation Educational Association
  • Balázs Simon és Balázs Várnai – SpecStreet Association
  • Dominika Milanovich – Hungarian LMBTI Alliance
  • Emőke Both - Bagázs Association
  • Ferenc Dávid - Blue Point Foundation
  • Fruzsina Benkő – Social Innovation Foundation
  • István Bodóczky - Real Pearl Foundation
  • Judit Schanz - Contemporary Architecture Centre
  • Móni Paulik – Utopia Civil Association
  • Szilvi Szénási - Uccu Foundation
  • Tibor Pásztor - Action and Protection Found
  • Tímea Lovig - Menedék – Hungarian Association for Migrants

All presentations are available on the Youtube channel of EEA NGO Programme (in Hungarian).