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Humanity in Action Poland at “Different. Equal. Important.” – Annual Congress of Libraries

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In a sense, the Congress of Libraries is an annual festival for librarians as well as all communities cooperating with them. This year is guided by the motto “Different. Equal. Important” and, under the honorary patronage of the Ombudsman for Human Rights, the Congress was held in the atmospheric Art Factory in Łódź (November 26-27, 2019). Its organizers, Information Society Development Foundation and Polish-American Freedom Foundation, guaranteed that it was a top notch event. We had the honor to be one of its partners.

The festival included two intense days full of knowledge and good energy, during which 200 librarians from all over Poland could, as the organizers emphasized, “meet beyond divisions.” Here is a video summarizing the 2019 Library Congress.

During the Congress, you could find us in the Empathy Zone as well as at our workshops against hate speech and participating in the “Dangerous Journeys” game.

At our Foundation’s stand in the Empathy Zone, we had the opportunity to meet many participants of the Congress. We discussed empathy – both on a social scale, thinking about how it affects general relationships in society, but also wondering how important it is for our everyday relationships. We organized two contests regarding this subject. First, we encouraged librarians to share the titles of books and films promoting empathy, as well as to share their own experiences. In addition, there was the possibility of spreading the mottos promoting human rights further into the world, by taking and sharing photos with them.

We discussed empathy – both on a social scale, thinking about how it affects general relationships in society, but also wondering how important it is for our everyday relationships.

The workshops, run by Monika Mazur-Rafał, the president of HIA Polska, focused on the migrant community from Ukraine in Poland and on developing specific solutions that would allow an effective response to hate speech. During the workshops, participants had the opportunity to learn about migration experiences directly from Sasha Iwaniuk, who shared her perspective about life in Poland as a migrant from Ukraine. Additionally, on behalf of our Foundation, Gagik Grigoryan and Monika Mazur-Rafał moderated the game “Dangerous Journeys” prepared by Amnesty International Polska.

Thank you to everyone we had the opportunity to meet and we hope to see you again next year!