2 Communicating key messages through docutubes

Now watch again the short animation which explains the purpose of docutubes and challenges young people to make one. This video is also available in the Resources section and can be used to promote RETOPEA to your young people. You can find the Resources section at bottom of the contents list for each session.

Pay particular attention to the central part of the animation which focuses on Roger Williams, the historical figure you encountered in Session 1. As you watch, make some notes on how the example story makes a link between past and present (you can pause the video if necessary). Then, summarise in no more than 100 words what you understand the central message of this story to be.

Download this video clip.Video player: Video 2

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Transcript: Video 2

[MUSIC PLAYING]

NARRATOR:

Can you tell a story about the past that speaks to the present? I hear you asking, why would I do that? Let me explain by telling you a true story, a story from the past that has something to say about your streets, your community, your sports, or your hobbies. A story about diversity, people who are different, and a man with a passion for the values of religious toleration. The story takes you back in time 400 years ago to a place called Massachusetts on the East Coast of America. The people here have recently arrived from England.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

They're known as Puritans. They want to establish what they see as an ideal Christian society. But in building their ideal pure society, they're intolerant towards people who don't share their religious beliefs and practices. One person who disagrees with this is Roger Williams.

By winter 1636, Roger Williams is no longer welcome. He's facing arrest. He needs to escape. It's a long journey through the deep snow and harsh cold.

Eventually, thanks to some friendly Indigenous people, Roger got the chance to start a new settlement. It would become the colony of Rhode Island. Roger wanted this new colony to be different, different from Massachusetts, different from the Old World in Europe, a society where there is freedom of conscience. Roger Williams thought of this new society as a ship.

On this ship, in theory, there could be people of different religions, different types of Christians, Muslims, atheists, Jews. They were all welcome. They shared the ship. It was a ship where there was justice and fairness. Everyone had a choice about when they prayed and who they prayed to.

The captain of the ship could belong to any religion. In the 17th century, very few people believed a society could be like this. But Roger Williams did. And he pioneered a new approach to religious freedom.

There. I've told you a story, a story about diversity and toleration and what society might be like. What does that story trigger your thinking about? Why not make a film about it?

In this project, you will relay ideas from history to your streets, your community, your sports, or your hobbies? You'll become a historian, a film maker, and a blogger all in one. All it takes is a little imagination.

Like Roger Williams, you, too, will go on a voyage of discovery. Go to retopea.eu. It has all the tools you'll need to think about history in a new way and make your film. Bon voyage.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

End transcript: Video 2

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Video 2

A big part of the docutube Plan stage involves helping your young people decide what is the main thing they want to convey. It is now time to watch another actual docutube, produced by a group of students in Warsaw, Poland, to help you think about communicating a key message. Please note, that this docutube has been filmed in Polish; an Enlgish translation is available in the transcript.

(It is worth noting that this example is one of our longer docutubes, and it took the young people a lot of planning, filming and editing to achieve. Most docutubes will be shorter, especially if less scheduled time is available.)

In the text box below, try to summarise, in a couple of sentences, what you think the key message of the film is.

Download this video clip.Video player: Video 3

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Transcript: Video 3 (a translation of this video is available in the transcript)

[TEXT ON SCREEN: Jewish migrations to Warsaw.]

SPEAKER 1:

Migrations are now often considered as something negative, especially for the countries that are welcoming migrants. We are now in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, a city historically regarded as an asylum for religious immigrants, Jews in particular.

But is people’s attitude towards other religions still positive now?

We’ll ask students and people on the streets of Warsaw what they think about religious immigrants and if they could find refuge in Warsaw.

Hello.

INTERVIEWEE 1:

Hello.

SPEAKER 1:

I would like to ask you a few questions. What would you think if new synagogues were built in Warsaw?

INTERVIEWEE 1:

I think it’s a very good idea, because then the Jewish community could practise their religion freely and feel more at home both in Warsaw, and in Polish society as such.

INTERVIEWEE 2:

I certainly wouldn’t be opposed! As a multicultural city, Warsaw has a lot of space where all cultures and religions should have the right to establish their own religious and cultural spheres, and to cover them with their own artefacts. This should all be possible for respecting religious diversity and heterogeneity.

INTERVIEWEE 3:

It wouldn’t be a problem at all. Especially because there aren’t enough synagogues in Warsaw compared to the number of Catholic churches.

SPEAKER 2:

All respondents wouldn’t oppose new synagogues in Warsaw. Over centuries, religious migrations were a common phenomenon. Many Jewish immigrants came to Poland, at that time considered an asylum for people of diverse religious beliefs, and established new synagogues.

SPEAKER 1:

Are you aware of how many synagogues there are in Warsaw now and how many there were in the past?

INTERVIEWEE 4:

Honestly, I have no idea because…

SPEAKER 1:

You have never thought about it?

INTERVIEWEE 4:

I haven’t.

SPEAKER 1:

Right, I see.

INTERVIEWEE 3:

Well, yes, there were of course much more synagogues in the past, for historical reasons. Now these remaining buildings are not enough to accommodate the needs of the Jewish community, which exists in Warsaw and is prospering.

INTERVIEWEE 2:

I could certainly say more about the past, because I haven’t studied this topic now. I know that a synagogue is about to be built in Warsaw and that there are plans for another one. The architecture changes, but I believe this would be a place every resident of Warsaw should see. Not only churches, but also synagogues because these are monuments of our common culture, culture of Warsaw.

SPEAKER 2:

In the past, there were 440 synagogues and Jewish houses of prayer in Warsaw. There are 20 of them in Warsaw today, with only one still in operation. It is the Nozyk synagogue, which survived World War Two.

The palm located at the Jerusalem Avenue in Warsaw reminds us of the city’s Jewish history. It commemorates a Jewish settlement called the New Jerusalem, connected with the city through the Jerusalem Avenue.

SPEAKER 1:

What do you think about the level of religious toleration in Warsaw?

INTERVIEWEE 3:

It is really, really low, which you can experience when you, for example, wrap a scarf around your head to warm yourself up. And you immediately hear different comments on the street, which only tells you how much prejudice there is towards people who look even slightly different. People immediately think that this person is Muslim.

SPEAKER 1:

And therefore, a terrorist for example?

INTERVIEWEE 3:

Yes, for example. And if someone’s wearing a kippa, you will see people mocking them with weird gestures. Not to mention the situation when someone’s wearing payot.

SPEAKER 1:

I see.

INTERVIEWEE 1:

I think that there is certainly some religious toleration in Warsaw, but how high is it? I would have to think more about it, but I don’t believe it’s very high. People should get more tolerant, especially in Poland.

INTERVIEWEE 4:

I think the situation is mediocre, but Polish schools could certainly get more tolerant.

[TEXT ON SCREEN: How to increase religious toleration?]

SPEAKER 2:

As you can see, almost all interviewees believe that Warsaw could be more tolerant. We can draw inspiration from the past. For example, the Statue of Kalisz issued in 1263 granted religious privileges to the Jewish community. It was later confirmed by, amongst others, the kings Casimir III the Great and Stanislaw II August. It exempted Jews from taxes and made hurting Jews punishable under law.

SPEAKER 1:

Religious migrations are not a new phenomenon, and centuries-old vestiges of religious diversity can be easily observed in the cityscape of Warsaw. We shouldn’t oppose a similar situation now and we should be open to the Jewish community as it has been present in Warsaw for centuries.

End transcript: Video 3 (a translation of this video is available in the transcript)

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Video 3 (a translation of this video is available in the transcript)