MADRID PRESENTATION

The following text is an adaptation of the transcription of the audio CDs of the Conference 2005.

From the Spanish capital there have been present: Mr. Jesús Manuel Migallón Sanz, Responsible for co-operation in the field employment and services from the Observatory of Madrid, Mr. Francisco Alberto Gonzales Rodriguez, Expert from the Observatory for Migration and intercultural dialogue of Madrid, Mr. Miguel Perez Milans from SOS-Racismo Madrid and Mr. Adrian Rodriguez Mesa from CEAR – The Spanish Commission for refugees’ help in Madrid.

Mr. Gonzalez Rodriguez and Mr. Migallón Sanz presented shortly the work of the Observatory as that of an institution for immigration in Madrid.

Mr. Perez Milans presented SOS Racismo. He mentioned that in Madrid there is generally little experience with the problem fields of integration and immigrants, since it has become a highly explosive subject during the last five years. In this respect, initiatives have been recently started to a greater extent. The city council demands a new institutional framework in order to guarantee the participation of young people. Thus local youth councils must get involved in the organisational work of the youth events with a social background.

The delegation of Madrid mentioned two examples of political practise: The initiatives for inner-city dialogue and for cultural co-existence promote the political participation of young people on a local level (in the districts) by offering them the possibility to found own groups within their own districts.

SOS Racismo is active in universities and secondary schools in the Spanish metropolis. Besides concrete activities, the organisation puts well-directed didactic and pedagogic material at students’, schoolchildren and teachers’ disposal, which should contribute to prevent racist tendencies efficiently.

Trainer: Miguel Angel Garcia Lopez is Spanish; he lives in Germany and works part-time as a trainer and as a lecturer at the University of Osnabrück.

Fields of possible cooperation: Participation ideas