Subjective Values Foundation and UNITED for Intercultural Action jointly took part in the organization of Sziget Festival’s NGO Island 2019.
Our activities took place at the EU Meeting Point parallel with hundreds of other NGOs represented at the NGO Island. For 7 days our organizations introduced various programs and methods together with our partners, namely: Generation Europe, UCCU, Minority Rights Group, Reményt a Gyermekeknek Közhasznú Egyesület, Menedék, Music Against Racism, Education Through Sport and the No Hate Speech movement. Different speakers were invited to take part and engage the Sziget Festival’s diverse community by building a dialogue on the most acute issues the European Union is facing at the moment.
Apart from the excitement of the concerts and other cultural programs, many came wondering around the NGO Island and found themselves in the middle of deep and vivid discussions on topics like racism and discrimination, and our invited guests gave visitors a deep analysis on the issues of the Roma community in Hungary, hardships of integration of refugees and migrants, the unfortunate Fortress Europe policies.
On a daily basis visitors of the NGO tents participated in quizzes, games and open discussions with the experts. The absolute favourite was the quiz on anti-racism campaigns and facts, which turned out to be eye-opening and shocking for hundreds of visitors. Some of the visitors had made connections with our NGOs in the previous years of the festival and returned to get updated on the current events held by our organizations.
Overall, it should be mentioned that participation in Sziget Festival became an integral part of our organization, as it provides a room for raising awareness on the issues that are not discussed on a daily basis or told differently by mainstream media. The questions that we often ask, but never get real answers to, could finally find their voice here. Our long-standing partnership with Sziget is a great way to promote our values for a diverse and inclusive society and upkeep our ties with the Hungarian and International Civil Society.
