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Never Again (Nigdy Wiecej) is an anti-racist, anti-fascist organization created in 1992 to monitor and document racist and fascist activities, and conduct educational campaigns centered on music and sports. Never Again mobilizes cultural resources to build an anti-racist youth network in Poland. By anchoring their activities in the field of youth culture, the organization has been able to recruit and sustain popular involvement in anti-racist action. Youth mobilized through Never Again’s music and sports events often become involved as network anti-racism correspondents at the local level throughout Poland.

Extreme-right and racist groups have been growing in number throughout Poland in recent years, and are becoming an important political force in the country. The xenophobic, racist groups have penetrated various community gathering areas, including soccer stadiums. Many genuine soccer fans no longer go to matches because of the violent, xenophobic environment.

Authentic and noncommercial youth culture forms the basis for the involvement of many Never Again members and sympathizers. Two campaigns in particular have made an impact on the organization’s ability to mobilize a youth constituency: Music Against Racism and Let’s Kick Racism Out of the Stadiums. Both of these campaigns stress the need for young people to involve themselves actively in the struggle against racism. The message of Never Again to young people is not just “Don’t be racist,” but also “Get involved!”

Music Against Racism

The Music Against Racism campaign involved the creation of compilation CDs released in cooperation with independent music labels, featuring well-known Polish and foreign rock bands and the organization of Music Against Racism concerts. One such event in 2000 gathered a massive crowd of 250,000 young people who responded enthusiastically to the anti-racist message. Many musicians made anti-fascist statements from stage and the Never Again information booth was busy throughout the three-day festival. The event was repeated successfully in August 2002 with the strong presence of Never Again and its proactive anti-racist campaigning. More than 100 concerts were held under the banner of Music Against Racism all over Poland and many of the organizers were members of Never Again’s information network. At numerous other concerts (of all musical styles) anti-racist information desks were set up by activists encouraging young people to reflect on the issues of racism and intolerance.

Never Again’s success in convincing many respected musicians to take a stand against racism was possible thanks to a wide range of personal contacts in the music scene. The musicians appeared very responsive to the campaign. The campaign uses data gathered by the youth correspondents’ network to illustrate the seriousness of the problem of racism and includes a call to action for all members of its audience. The “Jedna rasa ludzka rasa” (“One Race Human Race”) compilation CD cover includes a list of victims of racist murders committed in Poland in recent years, while “Support, Help, Join Us” was the message repeated on all Music Against Racism compilations. The idea was to inspire listeners to become active agents of social change rather than passive consumers of the CDs and concerts.

Let's Kick Racism out of the Stadiums

Never Again’s other, more recent, major campaign concentrates on sports, soccer in particular. It differs from the music campaign in that it is often more of a defensive attempt to combat a cultural scene where racism is in evidence, rather than a recruitment possibility.

The sports campaign is considerably more difficult because soccer stadiums until now have been almost completely dominated by a xenophobic subculture. Let's Kick Racism out of the Stadiums is the only anti-racist campaign in Poland aimed at soccer fans, but it is inspired by the success of similar campaigns in England, Germany, Italy and Austria. Never Again publishes Stadion, an anti-racist magazine for soccer fans and usually run a sports column in the Never Again magazine itself. In April 2002, before the World Cup, and in cooperation with the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network, Never Again released the CD “Let's Kick Racism out of the Stadiums.' Several amateur soccer tournaments have been organized as part of the campaign, most notably during the Przystanek Woodstock festival in August 2002. In addition, Never Again gives support to local anti-racist groups of soccer fans by providing leaflets, posters, banners, etc. Until now, the best results have been achieved at smaller clubs such as Orkan Sochaczew and Wkra Zuromin, which now have a strong anti-fascist following. Until recently fans opposed to the xenophobic environment at the stadiums felt isolated from each other. These people have responded in increasing numbers to the anti-racist campaign and, in some cases, they volunteered to become correspondents of the network.

As a direct result of its youth-focused campaigns, Never Again has established a network of 150 voluntary correspondents who report on racist and xenophobic activity in their communities. Never Again is able to share the correspondents’ reports on the national and international level. It has also raised awareness about racism among a much larger cross-section of Polish society.

The tactic of mobilizing cultural resources to break the silence around difficult social issues can be used in other settings. The national context will determine what the underreported social problem might be, and what cultural resources can be mobilized to highlight the issue and to build a national network. In the case of Poland, music and sports were powerful mobilizing tools, especially for youth. Never Again is a positive example of using the social and political mobilizing opportunity that these cultural gathering places represent to involve people with a strong human rights consciousness or change people’s opinions and commitments about injustice