Stop #allwhitepanel campaign

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANEL

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELAn international campaign to help ensure representation of people and countries in panels that concern them, is getting concrete results.

In its first week of action on social media in Norway in early August 2015, organizers at the Development Fund and Digni added two expert speakers from Thailand and Sudan to what originally were #allwhitepanel on issues related to development cooperation.

These panels addressed a) Gender equality in development cooperation in low- and middle-income countries and b) Health issues in development cooperation.

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELThe Development Fund added an expert from Thailand just 24 hours before the event, after intense campaigning including tweets informing the Gender Advisor at the African Development Bank, the African Union Commissioner, the head of UN Women and the UN Special Rapporteur on Racism and Xenophobia about the #allwhitepanel. Here is the program before and after the change:

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELDigni, an umbrella agency for faith-based NGOs, used the campaign hashtag #allwhitepanel to ask for speaker recommendations on Twitter.

It landed on a Sudanese public health expert from Norad, and got positive attention in social media and full house at the event due to the professional planning and inclusive approach.

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELSeveral times per week in Oslo, panel discussions on a range of issues take place that exclude important segments of the population from the podium – immigrants and others with international background.

Most of these #allwhitepanel events are held by public entities or receive government funding.

An action group has been set up to identify events with #allwhitepanel and ask the organizers via social media and e-mail to ensure inclusion among speakers. Media is being kept abreast of the campaign.

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELEvents on development and humanitarian cooperation clearly benefit from advice from people with as deep knowledge as possible about the country or region being discussed.

At home, Norway’s population is increasingly multicultural and everyone’s voice and leadership is necessary to ensure the best possible societal development.

The activists coordinate efforts via a closed Facebook group. Members are experienced advocates, journalists, researchers and others who care deeply about inclusion and professionalism in event organizing.

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELA news magazine on development issues, Bistandsaktuelt, wrote two pieces about the initial successes of the campaign.

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELHere is a link to the first article by Bistandsaktuelt, and to the second piece.

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELThe national broadcaster NRK interviewed one of the

campaign members on 2 Sept 2015.

Andrew Mukuria of NRK Østlandssendingen spoke to Gry Tina Tinde

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELAfter many years of gentle nudging to achieve inclusive speaker panels in Norway’s public life, campaigners are no longer accepting excuses such as “we’re sorry and will do better next time”, “we don’t have a budget for this”, “the best speakers were chosen and skin color doesn’t count”, “experts are hard to find in immigrant communities”, “we hadn’t thought about this”, the meeting room is not equipped for Skype,” etc.

On its website, the government states: Everyone who lives in Norway shall enjoy equal opportunity to contribute to and participate in the community, regardless of sex, ethnic origin and sexual orientation.

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELIt is often academics, politicians, think tanks and civil society organizations that put together the panels. Judging from some of the responses the campaign has received, thought leaders in Norway are not used to addressing diversity when preparing events. The Peace Corps tweeted “We work with people, not skin color”, after being called out about an #allwhitepanel on “Development cooperation toward 2030” during Arendalsuka in August 2015.

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELThe head of a conservative think tank, Civita, was asked by an #allwhitepanel campaigner why Civita weekly debates usually lack speakers from Norway’s minority populations. She replied that she believes “diversity is often in peoples’ heads and may not always been seen on the outside.”Bistandsaktuelt referred to the quote.

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELThe Civita leader also responded on Facebook to a suggestion to add speakers via Skype, saying that the Oslo meeting room was not equipped for Skype. An activist based in South Sudan tweeted:

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELOf Norway’s population of 5,1 million, 800 000 have immigrant background, according to Statistics Norway. That is 15%. In Oslo, 32% of the inhabitants have immigrant background.

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELIn addition, there are many professors, PhD students and visiting scholars at Norway’s universities, colleges and research institutes from low- and middle income countries who have first-hand experience from issues that are at the center of public debates. Illustrations from CMI’s website:

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELWhat to do?If for instance the conflict in Syria is the headline of the event, and no Syrian or Middle Eastern expert in this field is available locally, Skype may be used at no financial cost to bring in an authoritative voice. However, the Fulbright Alumni Association did not bring in any voices from the region to its Syria event panel in Oslo in Nov 2013. At a 2 Sept 2015 event in Oslo about the current refugee crisis, the Norwegian Socialist Left Party (SV) did not invite any speakers with refugee experience or origin from countries being discussed. Just do it!

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELThere are calls to create a speaker pool of experts with diverse backgrounds. This is a good idea, however useful resources are already available. One is The Leadership Foundation’s Top Ten award that annually has selected 10 outstanding people with immigrant background since 2005.

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELThe Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO) has so far graduated 750 participants with immigrant background from its talent program Global Future. It seeks to mobilize immigrants with higher education to senior positions and executive boards in Norwegian businesses.

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELHow many #allwhitepanel events are there in Oslo these days? Too many, in the action group’s view. The campaign “stamps” each #allwhitepanel program with Mr. T. pointing his finger, a tool found on a Tumblr page. This fall, 18 events illustrate the challenge:

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELThe action group is in dialogue with organizers of most of these seminars, conferences and festivals and several other #allwhitepanel events. Diversity among speakers in terms of ethnicity, gender, ability, sexual orientation, beliefs, age, and other factors is the main goal.

Also, since Norway’s population is made up of people of many ethnic and cultural backgrounds, it is important to make room for their experiences and views on the podium in all public debate. They should not be made invisible.

A guiding principle is that people, groups or countries that are mentioned in the event title, should be given a spot in the panel. Another relevant hashtag is #nothingaboutuswithoutus.

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELWhen organizers make events inclusive after being alerted by the campaign, they are duly congratulated on social media. Between 1 August and 10 Sept 2015, seven events expanded the speaker list with eight speakers in accordance with the campaign's goals. A smiley stamps the agenda!

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STOP #ALLWHITEPANELAll #allwhitepanel organizers may expect a visit from Mr. T on their Facebook event page and tweets tagging speakers and funding partners.

Policy is influenced by many arenas, and one of them is public panels. Another is social media ;-)