The Diplomat
The Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain (FCJE) and the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) signed last Wednesday a collaboration agreement to launch the Simone Veil Extraordinary Chair for the prevention of racism, anti-Semitism and promotion of interculturality.
The aim of the chair, the first in Spain in this field, is to “promote freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities, through research, scientific dissemination and training,” as reported by the FCJE in a press release.
To this end, the chair will develop studies and actions that “will improve the educational and social response to hate speech, anti-Semitism, prejudice and rejection of otherness, including the teaching of the Shoah and Intercultural and Human Rights Education,” it added.
For these purposes, the Chair is aligned with the Council of Europe’s educational policy on the development of democratic culture and the European Union’s Action Plan against Racism 2020-2025. Apart from that, the Chair adheres to the definition of anti-Semitism adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) on May 26, 2016.
The agreement was signed by the president of the FCJE, Isaac Benzaquén, and the vice rector of International Relations of the Complutense University, Juan Carlos Doadrio Villarejo. The project will be part of the Faculty of Education and Teacher Training at the Complutense University of Madrid and the directors will be Tamar Shuali, director of the European Institute of Education for Democratic Culture at the Catholic University of Valencia, and Gonzalo Jover, dean of the Faculty of Education at the Complutense University of Madrid).
