The Internet is neither good nor bad in itself. It can be used to serve a noble cause and it can be used to spread hatred. It is up to human beings to choose how they can employ modern technology for the benefit of humankind.

It is certain, however, that things have changed with the arrival of the Internet in homes, schools and offices. The net has serious implications for our societies, not least in the field of political debate. The impact of the Internet on the future of democracy is yet to be seen. It gives a possibility to involve citizens and grass-roots social initiatives to become directly involved in decision-making on the local, national, and even the international level.

I CARE is a unique project giving an opportunity for anti-racists Europe-wide to exercise their right to be heard on important issues affecting our societies. Among others it provides a possibility for grass-roots NGOs to contribute directly to the European Conference against racism, preceding the UN World Conference on the subject under the title "United to Combat Racism".

For the first time in the history of the European anti-racist movement the message from the grass-roots will be heard directly at the top level.

You can use this opportunity, too.

It is vital that the voice of grass-roots anti-racist organisations be heard in the European Conference Against Racism. Only a limited number of (80) organisations have been selected for participation in the Conference itself and numerous groups lack resources to take part in the accompanying NGO Forum.

Thanks to the Internet facilities of I CARE, all organisations can participate actively in both events, regardless of their ethnic, political, or religious background or financial situation. Through I CARE independent organisations can monitor the proceedings of the European Conference and challenge what they may see as misrepresentation of the realities of racism by government officials.

At first it may seem a big international conference has little relevance for every-day activities at the local level. In fact it can have a real impact on the political climate in which the activities take place. The conference can be used by local and national anti-racist organisations to arouse media interest in their own work and to highlight specific issues of racism in their own country.

This chance ought not to be overlooked by anti-racist activists.

You can participate in the InterConference even if you do not normally work in an electronic environment: I CARE is easy to use and designed to be as practical as possible.

If you do not have an access to the Internet you should ask another organisation or institution to help you: an NGO taking part in the European Conference, a local Council of Europe or EU office, a library or a cyber-cafe.

See you in the cyber-space!

The Internet has often been cited as one of the new breeding grounds of racism and bigotry. Especially since it seems a free-for-all environment, in which the laws of the outside world do not apply. We question that view. The net may be a New World, but it is still a human world, in which the basic fundamentals of human rights must be asserted.

The Internet can be a way of spreading racism, but it can also be a medium for anti-racism. With ICARE we want to address the need for the promotion of anti-racism resources on the Internet. I CARE is more than just a website. This is your portal to Anti Racism on Internet.

The I CARE web site has been in existence since October 1999. It was born out of an initiative to combine the founding organisations' expertise, experience and contacts to create the most comprehensive anti-racist internet resource ever. UNITED for Intercultural Action brings to I CARE its efficient and elaborate information system including a database of over 4000 addresses of active NGOs as well as its experience in daily co-operation with anti-racist organisations of a variety of ethnic, political and cultural backgrounds. The Magenta Foundation contributes its "Crosspoint Anti Racism", the most consulted collection of web links in the field of anti-racism and human rights. Magenta has a vast technical knowledge and experience with setting up interactive anti-racist projects through the Internet.

With its European anti-racist news service, updated twice a week, I CARE is an unrivalled source of information on the daily struggle against racism. In December 1999 it was chosen as the best site of the month on Antifa-Net. In February 2000 it became the pivotal site for reporting protests against the entry of the extreme-right "Freedom Party" in the government coalition in Vienna.

In March 2000 I CARE organised chat sessions and reported live on events around Europe during the European Action Week Against Racism.

In May 2000 I CARE was present at the meeting "Ready! Steady! Go! European Youth Preparation for the UN World Conference Against Racism" organised by UNITED for Intercultural Action in Strasbourg which gathered 69 participants representing 66 active non-governmental organisations from 30 countries.

The meeting was reported daily to the outside world via an I CARE web newspaper. The I CARE team provided training to the participants on how anti-racist organisations can use the Internet to promote their message. The participants also took part in chat sessions with their Canadian counterparts involved in the preparatory process to the UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.

In July 2000 the International Youth Forum Against Racism taking place at the Canada Pavilion at the World Exposition in Hannover was presented on the I CARE site and, in turn, material downloaded from I CARE was distributed to participants of the Forum in Hannover.

I CARE has been used by NGOs to present elaborate policy papers aimed at influencing the outcome of the European and UN conferences, e.g. by the Norwegian NGO working group. Other crucial documents e.g. draft texts of the General Conclusions and the Political Declaration for the European Conference were made available to all interested parties through I CARE as well.

Since January 2000 I CARE has provided the forum for the InterConference in the framework of the European Conference against Racism.

As a part of the InterConference Warming-Up an e-mail discussion list was set up to give interested NGOs Europe-wide a chance to exchange ideas and comments on the topics of the European Conference working groups. On the list concerns were raised about the very limited number of organisations initially allowed to take part in the NGO Forum and as a result the Forum became open to all organisations willing to participate. Polish and British anti-racist organisations criticised their respective governments for their handling of the preparatory process and not taking into consideration legitimate NGO concerns.

Other important questions of relevance to the European conference raised by NGO representatives on the UN-discussion list included:

- What measures governments should take to improve the position of children affected by racism?

- Should the Conference deal with the question of compensations for slavery and colonialism?

- How to combat hate-speech in its different forms?

- What are the most effective ways of monitoring the implementation of anti-racist legislation?

These and other questions have been debated passionately on the I CARE UN-discussion list.

The issue about the uniqueness of the Holocaust seems to come up in many discussions. In the General Conclusions (draft version July 2000) the Holocaust is mentioned as a specific point in European history that we need to consider. Slavery and colonialism are mentioned separately. These are events in history and by trying to compare them or lump them together somehow, we don't clarify anything. There should be no hierarchy in suffering.

The NGO Resource Group has promoted that mention of anti-semitism and of islamophobia would be made, both in the General Conclusions and in the Political Declaration. Even when those phenomena are clearly linked with racism, it was felt that being specific in these case was important.

In the draft Political Declaration (to be adopted by the ministers) the phrase "Racism is a violation of Human Rights" is used. This particular phrase did not find support from all governments, as they stated that racism is not a crime as such but promoting racial hatred and especially violence is. Whether hate speech could be considered a crime on itself was a point of discussion.

NGOs and other independent organisations clearly have a role to play in uncovering institutionalised racism. ECRI has published several papers on the issue of national specialised bodies. Governments have been reluctant to grant such bodies, or NGOs powers to investigate, mediate and if necessary prosecute in cases of discrimination.

In the last years there has been more attention to the economics of racism, especially when considering economics on a global scale. The implications of global economics on the movement of people is only one aspect. With this in mind the NGO Resource Group has proposed a fifth working group for the NGO Forum: Asylum and Migration Politics.

Discussions on a global level on apologies have concentrated on the monetary aspects. This has made European states extremely touchy on this subject. However, many black and ethnic minority groups have stated that they want recognition for their history at least as much as they want financial support. As discussions on reparations for Holocaust victims still go on, discussions on other atrocities such as slavery cannot be ignored.

In this case asylum and migration politics and especially family reunification is especially relevant.

Although information overload is not a new phenomenon, it has worsened with the coming of email and the world wide web. Information is only worth something, if it is relevant, actual and practical. I CARE has worked hard to provide such information.

This discussion became one of the longer ones on the discussion list. We could widen this discussion with the question whether racism and anti-racism are problems for black and ethnic minorities or for society as a whole.

In October 2000 the InterConference will enter its most crucial phase: the Live InterConference coinciding with the European Conference against Racism in Strasbourg (11-13 October) and its preceding NGO Forum (10-11 October).

A temporary Internet centre will be set up in the same building as the forum and conference in Strasbourg. Via http://www.icare.to, an international team of technicians, chat session moderators, translators and reporters will issue live reports on the conference; lead chat sessions between web contributors and conference participants; and interject feed-back from web participants directly into the conference.

After the European Conference I CARE will still provide information about the preparations to and proceedings of the UN World Conference Against Racism.

- E-NEWS: email newsletter with highlights of the day;

- Your views from home, broadcast on a big screen in the conference building;

In confirmation of a proposal made by the UN Commission on Human Rights, the UN General Assembly, at its fifty-second session, resolved "to convene a world conference on racism and racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance" to be held no later than the year 2001.

The World Conference "United to Combat Racism" is the latest global meeting in a series which recently included the UN World Conference on Human Rights (Vienna, 1993) and the UN World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995). Prior to these events, regional meetings are held to prepare for the world conference. This will take the form, notably, of a European Conference against racism organised by the Council of Europe.

European preparations will address racism in a human rights context, underlining that discrimination based on factors such as race, ethnic or national origin, religious, linguistic or cultural background constitutes a violation of human rights and dignity. More specifically, European preparations are envisaged to provide an input to the World Conference which should be forward-looking, practical and action-oriented, based on European and other experiences, while addressing "in a comprehensive manner all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related contemporary forms of intolerance". In this way, the issues will be relevant to both Europe and the rest of the world. At European level, preparations should provide a forum for all groups or persons vulnerable to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, an exchange of information on good practices and an increase in public awareness. Relevant Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) are to participate actively in European preparations and a Forum for NGOs are to precede immediately the European Conference.

Four broad topics have been identified for in-depth discussion at the European Conference. Under each theme, consideration should be given, in particular, to the current situation of all groups and persons vulnerable to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, issues of everyday racism (in the workplace, housing, etc), the role of youth, memory of historical experiences such as colonialism and slavery, prevention, contemporary forms of racism and globalisation. Each theme should also be treated by examining the background, challenges – particularly in a forward-looking context – and best practices for dealing with the issues raised.

1. Legal protection against racism and related discrimination at sub-national, national, regional and international levels
2. Policies and practices to combat racism and related discrimination at sub-national and national level
3. Education and awareness-raising to combat racism, related discrimination and extremism at sub-national, national, regional and international levels
4. Information, communication and the media.
5. A fifth working group topic was introduced, too, following a large number of requests from interested NGOs: Migration and asylum rights.

The NGO Forum provides the opportunity for NGOs across Europe to join efforts, including in:

- Calling for action at local, national and international levels, to stop racism

- Informing and mobilising so that NGOs concur with and take on for themselves the priorities for action

- Sharing and learning by networking (e.g. through I CARE)

The NGO Forum will also adopt a set of NGO recommendations, to be transmitted to the European Conference and presented at the conference's opening plenary session by the Rapporteur of the NGO Forum. Those NGOs participating in the European Conference will seek to inject the issues identified as priorities in the recommendations adopted to the proceedings of the European Conference and its General Conclusions.

NGOs are invited to share their views through the Internet. The I CARE team will take care that messages and statements will be made available to the participants of the conference.

You can read more about the influence of NGO on the European Conference in the "Frequently Asked Questions" (or FAQ) on the ECRI website http://www.ecri.coe.int

NGOs can take part in the UN World Conference in 2001. You can find all information on participation on http://www.unhchr.ch and of course on http://www.icare.to.

You can become part of the preparatory structures, the planning committee, the coordinating committee or the facilitating team. The European representatives should become known before November 2000.