Two sportists banished from Olympic Games

Firstly, Greek triple jumper Voula Papachristou was banished from the Olympic Games after making racist comments and expressing right-wing sentiments on Twitter.

And just a few days ago, a Swiss soccer player was expelled from the Olympics for his threatening and racist message on Twitter about South Koreans. Michel Morganella posted the message after playing in the 2-1 loss against South Korea on Sunday. 

This is not the kind of message from a competition like Olympic Games...racism, xenophobia and intolerance must be eradicated from all areas including sport or Internet.   

A strong message against hatred by the Italian government

"You can't just cry after every massacre and then forget the tears", the Integration Minister said. "Tears have to become concrete commitments to fight against the sowers of hatred."

The Italian government plans to introduce new legislation to beef up measures countering anti-Semitism and hate speech in cyberspace because of the increase in the number of websites with intolerance content. 

European Day for Victims of Hate Crimes

In Memoriam of Oslo´s Massacre

July the 22^nd

European Day for Victims of Hate Crimes

One year ago, Norway suffered the worst massacre since World War II. 76 people were murdered, most of them just because their political ideas as young members of Labour Party. That’s why some European NGOs are asking for an European Day for Victims of Hate Crimes, in order to preserve their memory and dignity and raise awareness about destructive capacity of those ideologies that promotes hatred and violence.

The unnamable killer is a terrorist inspired by the ideology of intolerance. Ideas shared by a Right Wing Extremist willing to destroy democracy and whipped out values of equality, tolerance and diversity. They clearly intend to terminate the global Human Rights advances.

The July 22^nd hatred motivated terrorist attack wasn´t an isolate tragedy. Another hate crime have shocked European Society. German neo-Nazi murders scandal linked to intelligence service, racist crimes in Italy, harassment of Roma people in central Europe, attacks to jews and muslims, desecration of religious places and homophobic aggressions are some examples of this wave of hate and violence in Europe.

Europe is not very used to remembrance however memory is more important than ever in order to preserve the victim´s dignity. We need more commitment and determination against racism and related intolerance. Democratic courage is required for a better struggle against the imminent threat of poisoned extremist ideologies.. Europe assumed values of equality, tolerance and diversity after the tragedy of Holocaust in order to shout “never again”, these principles are in danger and that means vulnerability for human beings.

An European Day for Victims of Hate Crimes is part of a comprehensive strategy to defeat ideologies that promote hatred and violence, and a way to preserve human dignity, democratic values, and Human Rights. The July 22^nd attack was a turning point for the struggle against intolerance. The shared sorrow of Utoya and Oslo is a call for justice emerging from an irreparable loss of human lives. This is why ONGs are proposing to the European Parliament to set up this European Day for Victims of Hate Crimes. Besides we encourage  civil society, institutions and citizens to support this initiative.

In Oslo, Madrid, Rome, Paris, Warsaw, Berlin…. …  July the 22^nd