"Conne Island" is a socio-cultural center in Leipzig focusing on youth work.  Their Living Equality project is called: “When worst comes to worst - How to stand up against racism and anti-Semitism”.


The intention of the project is to initiate a conversation and discussion about racism and anti-Semitism in the city of Leipzig.  The current problem is that in Germany the edges between the terms “racism” and “anti-Semitism” have become increasingly blurred and that the specificity of anti-Semitism as opposed to racism are not sufficiently recognized by the majority of the population. 

The Conne Island youth center in Leipzig offers young people a wide range of social and cultural activities to help them become critical and independently thinking individuals.  The center includes a library and a web-based radio station and organizes around 200 different cultural and educational events every year.

In the first half of 2008 the center organized a series of discussions about the differences and similarities between racism and anti-Semitism.  These events were developed in cooperation with the “Antidiskriminierungsbüro” (Anti-Discrimination Office) and the “Bündnis gegen Antisemitismus” (Alliance against Anti-Semitism), both based in Leipzig as well.  Although both racism and anti-Semitism fall under bigotry, and although they often intertwine in political debates, differentiating between them is an important step in combating them.  The discussions consider historical and analytical connections between racism and anti-Semitism, highlighting the differences between them and the practical interventions available for fighting them.  The project includes various lectures by experts of Germany’s colonial past and looks at the relationship between anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.  Furthermore, the project develops practical interventions against racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.


Ruti Ungar

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