Aim of the project:
The aim of the Drop the Mic Campaign is to encourage young people from 12 to 29 to process the topics and features of harmful behaviours in order to build up individual resilience before the young people develop harmful behaviour or encounter actual situations which will lead them to take an active or passive role in it.
Target Group:
Young People from 12 to 29 years old.
Special Focus Group, Racialized Youth:
As immigrants, it sometimes appears that we have to ask ourselves: Are all our men rapists and all our women exotic sexual objects? Immigrants, refugees and their children are being racialized, as girls and women exoticized, eroticised and objectified, as boys and men vilified, painted as criminals and used by politicians, influencers and journalists as career boosters. Are we really all monsters or twerking objects. Is sexuality and violence all there is about us? Are our communities really obsessed with homo- and transphobia, genitally mutilating our children and revenge violence, as the white majority in Finland is made to believe? Do we really believe that boys don’t cry and women have to stay at home?
The truth could not be further from it. So what do we do against this image? Lets talk about it.
In the video: Examples from our 2021 Kristinastad and Turku events, with Sahwira Africa and the Kristinastad vocational school.
When kids are not welcomed in sports clubs, gyms, restaurants and libraries, when the socio-economic situation does not allow to participate in many of the leisure and cultural activities, how is anyone surprised they meet up in the streets? Is it right to call them “street gangs” then?
In reality crime rates are going down wherever and whenever immigration rates are going up. Also research shows that racialized people fall disproportionally often victim to abuse and violence. Racist and sexualised harassment are disproportionally high against BIPOC, while violence against women in relationships is higher in Finland than in most other countries. 31% of women experience sexualised violence during their life. A recent study by THL claims that children born in Finland into a family where one parent or both parents are of immigrant background are more likely to perform worse at school, suffer mental health problems, yet do not become more involved in crime than others.
Let’s take hold of the discussion.
Main methods:
The main idea in this project is to encourage young people to process the topic of different harmful behaviour through self expression. This can be any expressive art form:
painting,
photography,
film making,
storytelling,
spoken word poetry,
stand up comedy,
song and music,
meme workshops
theatre and many more.
The mainly targeted harmful behaviours in our campaign are:
bullying,
violence,
drug abuse,
online and offline grooming,
sexual harassment and abuse.
Additionally information and resources are provided both on the topics and where to find help. The main methods used are:
Open Stage/ Open Mic Events /PicNics
Workshops to practise and prepare for Open Stage/Open Mic Events
Forum Theatre: “What choices do we have?”
Send in - Competition
Important: You can participate in the project through any one or through any combination of our different methods ✌🏼
(The events and workshops can all be arranged both on- and off-line)
Partners:
Schools, Youth Houses, Sports Clubs, Culture Organisations, municipal youth services and many others everywhere in Finland.
Our activities, one by one:
1. Open Stage/ Open Mic Events
Click on image to watch example:
