Workshop with 'Red against Racism' at FC Bayern Campus

FC Bayern has been involved in an educational partnership at its Campus with the Munich school project ‘Learning with a Kick’ for some considerable time. In that context, the German record champion's ‘Red against Racism’ initiative for diversity and against all forms of exclusion has now organised a workshop. After a keynote speech on the topic of racism and discrimination, 8th grade pupils of the Wiesentfelser Straße middle school were able to reflect on their own experiences and views in a specially designed interactive game.

From the topic of inclusion with the joint development of sign language for players' names for people with a hearing impairment to many activities in the spirit of remembrance culture, such as projects with the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria or eyewitness talks with Holocaust survivors, to participation in the Christopher Street Day parade with the ‘QUEERPASS’ fan club and general rallies against far-right extremism, hatred and hate speech - the pupils were given a comprehensive picture of the different ways in which FC Bayern promotes diversity. They were also familiarised with the guidelines developed by the ‘Red against Racism’ initiative as a reference point on how to behave in the event of hostility towards minorities and discussed the question of what discrimination means and how to counteract it.

In the subsequent game of ‘More or Less’, the pupils explored how it feels to be part of a minority. They considered whether they themselves have ever discriminated against someone, whether they had make jokes about people with a different skin colour and how they feel when others tell those kinds of jokes. The aim of this exercise was to raise awareness of the experiences of minorities and to develop empathy for people in minority situations.

‘Learning with a Kick’ is a free service offered by the non-profit organisation AWO München Stadt and is part of the nationwide Lernort Stadion e.V. network, in which a total of 27 German professional clubs are organised. In addition to FC Bayern, it's also financially supported by the DFL Foundation. The idea is to "use the stadium as a special place of learning" to talk to pupils from eighth grade to vocational school about "socially relevant, sometimes political topics", explained ‘Learning with a Kick’ coordinator Moritz Janke. Thanks to numerous speakers and various cooperation partners, a wide range of areas such as discrimination and prejudice, sustainability, gender and identity, as well as media studies can be covered. Among other things, in a joint effort with FC Bayern, a cybersecurity workshop has already been organised on Campus with over 100 pupils, and Deputy CEO Michael Diederich also visited on one occasion to discuss the issues facing the next generation.

Read about president Herbert Heiner's keynote speech at a recent ‘Red against Racism’ event: