The Exelixis Institute, an NGO working with youth in Greece, and the Embassy of Norway in Greece joined together to create and distribute a pseudo-drug, Xenophobil, as part of a creative public campaign against xenophobia and racism starting in 2013. Packages are still being distributed in 2019, most recently at the the European Day of Languages celebration held at the Norwegian Embassy in Greece.
NOTE: The video is in Greek, because this is a Greek project.
The main focus of the campaign is to defend the right to diversity and the value of peaceful coexistence. Xenophobil, a “drug” that relieves the symptoms of xenophobia and treats patients with a satirical recipe which makes everybody smile while reading the leaflet and tasting the sweet chewing gum, has been distributed by the thousands.
Excerpt from the pamphlet in the box:
“Xenophobic Symptoms”:
* Patients consider civilizations and cultures as fixed entities that cannot be changed evaluating their own culture as the most important of the scale and underestimating the other cultures.
* Patients translate the term “immigrant” into the term “outsider”.
* Patients’ behavior toward the others depends on the predefined characteristics, due to his/hers religion, culture or mentality.
* Patients have the tendency to idealize their own image.
Center for Intercultural Dialogue 