By Rafal Pankowski

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In this notebook, several tactics used by a volunteer organization in Poland, Nigdy Wiecej (Never Again), are featured. Like many organizations, Nigdy Wiecej uses a number of tactics to carry out its work. Two of the tactics explained in this notebook are the use of cultural resources in the community to recruit activists and the organization of activists into an information-gathering network. The experience highlighted here demonstrates ways that these tactics have been used to engage and involve young people, a segment of the population whose attention can be challenging to capture and even more difficult to hold onto. Not only is different tactics described but also, how the tactics are combined to reinforce and strengthen each other. While Nigdy Wiecej used these tactics to fight racism and neo-fascism, one can imagine other ways that they might be applied to broaden involvement in human rights, especially among the youth population.

Never Again (Nigdy Wiecej) is an anti-racist network and publication in Poland. More importantly, it is part of a growing movement against racism in Europe. Rafal Pankowski describes here how Never Again uses cultural events such as concerts and football games to recruit young people to this movement. Through this recruitment, they have organized an extensive network of volunteer correspondents throughout Poland to report on and challenge the tolerance of extreme-right and racist groups and ideas in their society. These correspondents are taught to carefully and regularly report any and all incidents of racism and xenophobia in their districts. Never Again’s organizers then process and synthesize this information, publishing it in a magazine that is distributed to thousands of readers, including many mainstream journalists, throughout Poland and Europe. Hundreds of thousands of people have been introduced to the concepts of human rights and anti-racism at Never Again’s concerts. Thousands have signed up to join the organization. Of these, over 150 have been trained to serve as volunteer correspondents, each one producing monthly reports. The result is the most exhaustive source of information on hate crimes and racism in Poland.