Purpose:
- To get to know two areas of Barakaldo, the history and anecdotes in relation to migration.
- To increase knowledge about the reality of migration in the city, the diversity of origins and cultures that coexist in these neighbourhoods.
- To generate spaces for interaction, inclusion and meeting between Barakaldo's neighbours from different origins.
- To raise awareness of the Anti-rumours Strategy and encourage more residents to participate.
Stimulus/Rationale: The initiative was devised by the Anti-rumours core group, with the facilitation of the organisation Amekadi.
The working framework is as follows:
- Starting point: action to be carried out by the core group based on the 3 principles of the intercultural approach in order to go beyond the multicultural approach.
- Diagnosis: the need to work through leisure activities to facilitate the incorporation of new audiences and participants was detected.
- Problem detection: lack of interaction of majority neighbours with migrant youth living alongside them.
Process: This is an initiative that combined awareness-raising and a community process, working with neighbours who acted as guides, making a brief historical review and highlighting the similarities and differences between international migrations and state migration processes, and their effect on identity.
This past year was the third edition of the Anti-rumours guided tours and, as on other occasions, they were led by two guides, residents of the neighbourhoods visited (Bagatza and Desertu). The visits started simultaneously from the same location, the Herriko Plaza. Once the group was divided in two subgroups, each one was led by its guide to the corresponding neighbourhood and once they finish the visit (1 hour and a half) there was a plenary meeting in the Clara Campoamor Civic Centre, where through some dynamic activities and in a celebratory atmosphere, they talked about what they experienced, they could interact with the rest of the people while one of the collaborating organisations provided translation services to facilitate the interaction.
The guided tours are Anti-rumours in two ways:
- We worked from an intercultural approach especially focusing on the positive interaction, working on the story of the neighbourhood showing the parallelism and differences of state and foreign migrations, in order to dismantle specific rumours and generate rapprochement.
- During the process, specific rumours were addressed, not explicitly, but through conversations and short interventions.
So far, this experience has been carried out in six different neighbourhoods, none of them stigmatised. The people who played the role of guides are considered key actors in the territory due to: their professional career, activism or historical or social knowledge of the area, etc. Examples:
- Retired social worker, activist and promoter of several historical feminist actions.
- Teacher and advocate for the public education and volunteer with young migrants.
- Historian and activist.
- Industrial engineer specialising in the history of industrialisation and its social, demographic and architectural effects.
Impact: It was the highest-rated action in 2023 by the core group. It was the Anti-rumours Strategy core group that devised, organised and assessed the action. One of the reasons for the satisfaction of the core group in relation to this action is that it has managed to reach people who do not usually approach the Anti-rumours actions, stepping outside the usual participants who tend to approach them because of their affinity with the subject and its values. It has also been achieved the approach of young people in street situations has also been achieved. In 2024, 54 people were registered.
