SAFE CITY TOUR LAUNCH: Welcome to Fredrikstad

Fredrikstad Kickstarts the Safe City Tour

Empowering youth, inter-faith dialogue, deep debates and building local democratic hubs in Fredrikstad. 

 

Last week, the Norwegian city of Fredrikstad kickstarted the ‘Safe City Tour’. Over 1 week, Fredrikstad welcomed the local and global public on a virtual visit, where they provided front-line insights into local efforts to build more democratic and inclusive cities and prevent extremist hatred and violence.

 

 

In 2020, Fredrikstad’s focus within Nordic Safe Cities, or their Safe City Action, is to promote democracy and citizenship, and counter extremism and hate through universal preventive programmes in arenas such as schools, youth clubs and libraries. Mayor Jon-Ivar Nygård added in his Safe City Tour welcome message that Fredrikstad is a small world-city that must inclusive and a safe place to grow up and live for all. 

 

 

As part of Fredrikstad’s Safe City Action efforts, the city and its civil society partners have arranged workshops for local youth since 2016, under the themes: hate speech, empowerment, democracy, active citizenship and inclusion. The upcoming workshop next month will, in partnership with Minotenk, explore the topics: democracy & power, communication, conspiracy theories & source criticism, and how the youth can use their voices to create change in the society around them.  

 

 

To create a more inclusive, diverse and tolerant city, Fredrikstad additionally supports inter-faith dialogue with partners, Dialogforum Østfold. Earlier this month, Dialogforum Øst arranged a dialogue day for 170 students, which included meetings with a local Mosque, Church, and a workshop on inclusion and diversity at the local library.  

 

 

In Fredrikstad, the library is a valuable arena to empower democratic engagement, support integration and promote inclusion. Leisure and youth clubs are also included in these efforts to build local democratic hubs. Young people under 18 cannot vote but in the youth clubs, they get a vote. The local youth are part of a small democracy that empowers them to influence the structure, leadership and activities in their clubs to fit their needs. 

 

 

In Fredrikstad, empowering democracy and active citizenship also includes being able to listen to other people’s points of view and engaging in constructive debate. Fredrikstad supports partners such as Litteraturhuset to facilitate Deep Debates (Dyp Debatt), where students debate complicated & controversial topics. The upcoming Dyb Debatt this autum, in partnership with Faktisk.no will focus on Q Anon, conspiracy theories, critical media use and source awareness.