No to racism in sport
The ‘No to racism in sport’ conference was held on December 2nd 2010, at the Olympic Centre of the Polish Olympic Committee (POC) in Warsaw. The event was organised by the Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment, the Ministry of Sport and Tourism and the Ministry of the Interior and Administration, with support from the Polish Olympic Committee and the NEVER AGAIN Association. The conference was attended, i.a. by Elżbieta Radziszewska Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment, Ryszard Stachurski, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, Adam Rapacki, Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of the Interior ad Administration, Piotr Kluz, Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Justice, Adam Krzesiński, POC General Secretary, Piara Powar, Executive Director of Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) and Rafał Pankowski, Head of the Racism Monitoring Centre and FARE representative for Poland and Ukraine.
The main goal of the second ‘No to racism in sport’ conference was to present good practice in the fight against racism and discrimination in sports, as well as projects designed to promote diversity and tolerance, including Etnoliga, Warsaw’s first multicultural football league of nations, and the educational project EURO 2012 = Tolerance + Equality.
During the meeting, the ‘No to racism in sport’ declaration, signed last year, was handed over to representatives of Polish sports associations. In the declaration, representatives of Polish sports associations, as well as POC and the Polish Government, have undertaken to take measures aimed at eliminating all manifestations of racism and discrimination from Polish sports.
“I would like the declaration to be framed and displayed in the offices of all sports association presidents to remind them every day about the main propositions of the document. These propositions are very simple truths, but life shows that, unfortunately, they are not always respected” said Elżbieta Radziszewska, Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment, during the hand-over ceremony.
Winners of the ‘Stop racism in sport’ contest for journalists were also honoured at the Olympic Centre. The aim of the contest was to involve the media in the fight against discrimination in sports, to challenge stereotypes and fight prejudice, to eradicate anti-Semitism, and racist and xenophobic attitudes at stadiums, to develop among Polish sports fans, and the Polish public in general, attitudes of tolerance and respect for people of other races, skin colours, languages, nationalities and ethnicities.
The best press/internet release award went to Przemysław Wilczyński of Tygodnik Powszechny for his article ‘Arkadiusz Onyszko’s battle for freedom’. The best TV material award went to Michał Kaczmarek and Piotr Wojciechowski of Telewizja Police, for their programme ‘Stop racism in sport’.
Krzysztof Ratajczak of Radio Merkury won the best radio material award for his programme ‘Kolejorz’s championship brew’.