To further inspire them in this effort, prominent justice champions took centerstage, including UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors Rossy de Palma and Xueli Abbing, Hollywood actor Tenoch Huerta, model Sanele Xaba, and historian and journalist Xavier Mauduit.
The Master Class was opened by Gabriela Ramos, Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences of UNESCO. She opened the event emphasizing the need to build capacities, especially of young women and men, to not only understand the causes of these societal ills, but to also fight them constructively, and both individually and collectively.
We hope that you’ll come away from today not only feeling empowered to challenge the narratives which we all hold which might be justifying discrimination, but also confident to promote anti-racist narratives in their place.
Speaking on their own experiences as persons with albinism and youth, South African model and activist Sanele Xaba and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Xueli Abbing both emphasized the importance of creating platforms for those who face discrimination to speak out as well as education around these issues.
UNESCO gave me the opportunity to spread to a larger platform what happened to me. Spreading stories is important, but so is giving a platform to those who wouldn’t normally have one.
Historian Xavier Mauduit delivered a lecture on the history of prejudice, teaching the historical roots of these ills while highlighting how we can learn from our past. Actress Rossy de Palma also joined for the Master Class pushing students to move forward with empathy and respect. She encouraged all participants to remember that our differences enrich us.
Finally, actor Tenoch Huerta joined Assistant Director-General Gabriela Ramos to share his perspective on activism, the media, and more. Encouraging participants to recognize their own privilege and critically analyze the current systems, he emphasized the need for collective action as well as dialogue.
The young participants also learned from each other. Students from Gwangju, Republic of Korea, presented the outcomes of their seven-month anti-racism project. Inspired by their learnings at the UNESCO Master Class Gwangju Series in 2022, they realized that they too could become champions of change.
Every student also joined one of the seven different workshops dedicated to covering media, refugees, hate speech, creative writing, LGBTQI+ rights, human rights, and more. Organized with different partner institutions, the workshops allowed students to take a deeper dive into the subject while gaining practical skills.
It’s not individuals against racism. It’s a community against racism.
In the closing session, students presented their learnings from the workshops and overall day. Students committed to bringing the takeaways from the Master Class to their schools and communities to keep advancing these discussions. UNESCO will continue to engage with them to follow schools and the students’ commitments, and provide guidance if and where needed.
A parallel Master Class was organized by UNESCO and the City of Montpellier, France, on the same day. In this context, UNESCO provided capacity building to city hall employees, to support efforts against racism and discrimination at the local level. Other editions were also organized in Ulaanbaatar high schools in collaboration with the Mongolian National Commission, and in Mexico City, through the Council to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination and RacismoMX.
