Silence is not an option: Playlist on racism, discrimination and migration

Silence is not an option conducts heartfelt conversations with admirable people about the most important questions of our time. The makers are looking for people who understand what the big problems are, but are not paralyzed by them.

This playlist is about racism, discrimination and migration. We will talk to the following people:

Olivia Rutazibwa: Racism serves a purpose

She wanted to become a professor at the University of Portsmouth. But only if she can demonstrate in her lessons that development cooperation is a continuation of our colonial system. BAM. Today she is a professor at the University of Portsmouth. Justly. How Olivia connects racism, social inequality and our colonial history made our heads spin.

Dalilla Hermans (two conversations)

1. Fighting is no longer my day job

We talk about difficult topics – racism, elections, trolling, the meaninglessness of life – but somehow it's educational and fun all the time.

The first time we spoke to Dalilla just before her participation in De Slimste Mens. Nervous, thoughtful, strategic. Today you hear the real Dalilla. liberated. From himself and from the gaze of the other.

2. Fighting for various role models

We would have loved to discuss with Dalilla how to shape society with youth work, the sector where she was making a name for herself with hard work and without a diploma. But the conversation is about racism. Must be about racism. Within 10 years her son will be 14 and the society in which he lives shapes his self-image. So Dalilla tries everything she can to close the gap with the most exhausting weapon she possesses: understanding.

Naima Charkaoui: Not in my name

No one, wherever they are on the political spectrum, is arguing for open borders, right? Wrong. Naima Charkaoui does. And not because she's naive or otherworldly. Because she hates death eaters: poorly substantiated opinions that hinder real thinking. Especially if those death eaters do what they say: kill.

If you build up the temperature gradually enough, you can cook a frog alive without it getting ready to jump out of the cooking pot. Likewise, we allow ourselves to be dozed off by seemingly neutral words such as 'pragmatic' and 'realistic'. Words that really serve little else than to maintain the status quo. The dictatorship of reason.

Yassine Boubout: That is also impunity

At some point, Yassine decided that an ordinary life would not be for him. Perhaps he didn't decide it so much, but rather recognized it as a fact that had been growing for a while and could no longer be ignored.

Whoever says Yassine Boubout, says police brutality. Already young, much too young, he experiences for himself what it means when an institution abuses the power that is given to it. And he feels the anger that comes with it.

Someone who then decides not to throw stones but to build bridges, does more than we can expect from a reasonable person. And always has a place at our table.

Rachida Lamrabet: People are not normal

You probably know Rachida because she was fired from Unia because of the content of one of her artworks. (That in itself is reason enough for us to invite someone in 'silence is not an option'. But we are spoiled, there is more!) Intellectually sharp and verbally virtuoso. It's a rare combination, but Rachida masters them.

Meryem Kanmaz: Nothing is gained without struggle

The underclass has no money, the middle class has no time. It's those kinds of seemingly simple statements with which Meryem shares great truths. They show how well-read she is and how much time she spends thinking about the problems of the day. We spoke to her about topics that are still too new for us – and many of us. The history of Islam, for example, or the evolution of the life of guest workers in our country.

Rashif El Kaoui: This is my role in this juncture

Rashif, actor and author, masters like no other the art of speaking carefully and graciously without sacrificing sincerity. Quite the contrary. He wants to show his neck, because he wants to inspire others with his vulnerability, because he wants to believe that people don't bite.

Nozizwe Dube became chairman of the Flemish Youth Council

At 21, Nozizwe Dube is voted Young European of the Year. Three years earlier, she became chairwoman of the Flemish Youth Council, which formulates advice on the impact of legislation on the lives of young people. Four years before that, she heard her first word of Dutch.

We will supplement this playlist with future discussions on this theme.

Silence is not an option started very small and with no income, but now it has a community of more than 20.00 people and the ZIGO videos and podcast have been viewed more than five million times.