On April 4th, the WELDI network brought together city representatives, community organizations and local leaders to explore how the Antirumours Strategy can help tackle discrimination and strengthen social cohesion. The session wasn’t just a training, it was a shared reflection on the real impact of rumours, stereotypes, prejudices, the rise of disinformation, and the need for coordinated, long-term responses.
Many participants described similar situations in their cities: migrants being unfairly blamed for getting more help than others, for not wanting to work, or for supposedly threatening local culture. These messages, often emotional and spread by media or political discourse, don’t just stay as opinions, they affect people’s lives and behaviours. They divide communities, create fear, and damage trust between neighbours.
The Antirumours Strategy offers a way to respond that goes beyond quick campaigns or fact-checking. It’s designed to work long-term, from the ground up, and starts with a simple idea: rumours grow not just because of ignorance, but because of fear, frustration or uncertainty. And that means we can’t fight them with facts alone. We need a deeper change, one that involves the whole city and focuses on prevention, participation and building trust.
During the session, participants explored how stereotypes often come from unconscious fears, and how public messages can be used to create scapegoats. But they also discovered that change is possible when we stop reacting and start creating new, positive ways of talking about who we are and how we live together. These new narratives need to feel real and emotionally meaningful to the people who hear them.
Putting the strategy into practice usually starts by identifying the common narratives in a territory and what’s behind them. Then, it’s about creating a community and building their capacity to lead conversations, support community projects, and promote critical thinking. The goal isn’t to impose a message from above, but to open spaces where local people can reflect, create and take the lead in changing how diversity is seen and talked about. The Antirumours Strategy works through close collaboration between local governments, grassroots organizations, and groups of everyday citizens who receive training to break the chain of rumours, create alternative narratives, and actively promote communities free from prejudice. It’s a collective effort rooted in critical thinking and civic responsibility, where also unexpected allies (from artists to shopkeepers, youth groups to librarians…) play a key role in sparking change and challenging stereotypes from within their own spaces.
This is already happening in many places: In Getxo, stand-up comedy shows challenge prejudice through humour. In Bilbao, an annual writing contest invites worldwide authours to share stories about identity and inclusion. And every year, around 60 young people from different cities meet at the Antirumours Youth Summit to exchange ideas and turn them into creative campaigns in their own communities.
The WELDI session made it clear: fighting prejudice isn’t a side issue. It’s a core responsibility for any city that wants to be democratic and fair. And more and more cities are joining this approach, turning everyday challenges into shared projects that bring people together, instead of pushing them apart.
You can find out more here: https://diversit.net/en/antirumours-global/
Article author: Gerardo Gómez
