The fight against the far-right continues
How It All Started
Since July 2023, we have been developing various workshops aimed at combating the far-right in two workplaces and a national union school.
Simultaneously, from the international department of CCOO, we had planned to create an interactive guide that could become a tool for work and transformation for union delegates. Our initial idea was to adapt a guide developed by TUC with the Elucidat platform, but adjusting it to our own reality. However, we lacked the funds to carry out this adaptation, which led us to seek creative and accessible alternatives.
Elucidat is a cloud-based platform that facilitates the creation and management of e-learning content, oriented towards companies and organizations. It allows for the generation of interactive and adaptive content that adjusts to different devices, which is ideal for mobile learning. Since we did not have enough financial resources, I decided to reuse graphic materials and adapt them using Genially, which would allow us to move from a simple PowerPoint presentation to a much more versatile and interactive tool. Genially, unlike Elucidat, offers an intuitive interface that allows for content development without advanced programming knowledge, making it especially useful for our goal of creating an accessible and effective guide.
Thus, I began to transform the TUC guide, adapting it to our union reality and turning it into the result of months of research and adaptation. This guide has been designed to be a pedagogical and training tool for our union delegates, offering clear and accessible resources to combat the narratives and strategies of the far-right.
In this process, I think I not only aimed to develop an evaluative tool but also a motivating and formative resource that generates a sense of collective commitment. The guide had to be able to provide tools to identify, analyze, and evaluate the far-right's manipulation strategies, but also inspire our delegates to defend their rights from a place of confidence and empowerment.
The interactive guide I started to use as an example
First steps. The interactive guide. Objectives:
Don't forget to activate the sound for a better experience
"With perseverance, everything is achieved."
With the objectives in mind, I started to make a deep research on all the contents that I needed to show up. And the result is the follow guide:
THE USE OF GAMIFICATION
AS A LEARNING TOOL
When I joined the Secretariat for International, Cooperation, and Migrations, I had already spent a year training in active pedagogies and active learning. My foray into gamification has been a process that not only transformed my teaching practice but also made me reflect on the role of engagement and motivation in adult learning.
I've always been terrible at playing video games, and I tend to get bored. However, one of the things I learned during ETT1 and ETT2 is that gamification is not just about playing; it is about introducing game-like elements and mechanics—such as levels, points, rewards, or challenges—into learning contexts. I believe that using this methodology in the right context has significant potential to transform learning into an intrinsically motivating experience.
During the months I spent researching how the far-right works, I wanted to understand why increasingly diverse people are joining these movements. Facing this complexity, analyzing the workshops, and working on the guide, I realized that we needed a simple, economical, and shareable tool that could accompany this learning process, even being disseminated through tools like WhatsApp, which are commonly used by delegates to share information in their workplaces.
Exploring different platforms to create a game that could accompany the guide, I initially considered Scratch, but I realized the limitations and the time it would take to develop a game from scratch, even though it is an interesting and intuitive tool. After a lot of testing, I finally found a breakout template titled "The Dragon's Dungeon" on Genially, which could be perfectly adapted to our needs if we built an appropriate narrative. I thought it was better to create a breakout rather than an escape room. Why? Precisely because, in a breakout, the player interacts directly with puzzles and solves them linearly. By solving each block, the player can progress to the next one without needing to explore an environment or relate different clues in a complex way, whereas escape rooms require more deduction and strategic exploration. Thus, the game "The Fascist Dungeon" was born.
A colleague testing a virtual reality experience during the seminar organized to show the virtual possible tools to be used in training courses.
A self-reflection process durign the active learning training organized by ETUI and ILO
Game cover similiar to 1980s Arcade's games
Script
Looking forward
The game "The Fascist Dungeon" was not only conceived as an evaluative resource but also as a tool to reinforce the knowledge acquired in the workshops and through the guide. I wanted to use the game's narrative—trade unionists facing a dragon—to see if collectively, after the reflection process, they had learned to identify almost automatically the different problems and narratives that the far-right faces. Let's say it was meant to be more of an evaluation object.
We wanted to use the game's narrative and symbolism to create an educational experience that emotionally connected with participants, providing them with a space where they could test their knowledge while facing challenges that simulated real-life situations.
Working with my ETT1 working group team to analyze how to create a pedagogical sequence
General objective of the game:
To promote knowledge about the far-right strategies, motivating union delegates through a playful environment that fosters active learning and critical reflection.
To increase the participation of union delegates in the learning process through playful elements that reinforce their motivation. (Engage)
To help participants question and dismantle the far-right's propaganda messages through interactive challenges. (Analyze)
To evaluate if participants have understood how far-right works. (Evaluate)
To use the game's narrative and symbolism to identify the manipulation tactics of the far-right. (Remember)
Specific
objectives
Game structure
"WITH GAMIFICATION, LEARNING STOPS BEING AND OBLIGATION AND BECOMES AND ADVENTURE"
The game begins by presenting a fictional scenario: in a remote kingdom, a sword was forged that, along with the power of the Elemental Gems (fire, water, air, and earth), could defeat any evil. The objective of the game is to gather these gems to complete the sword and defeat the "fascist dragon" that threatens our society.
Additionally, during the game's development, the narrator is an older, wise character. In the game, I created a fictional character based on a real photograph of the secretary of International, Cooperation, and Migrations so that, in a certain sense, the game had more personality and was identifiable with Comisiones Obreras.
Image of the International, Migration, and Cooperation Secretary of CCOO, created by AI.
The screens
The game begins by presenting a fictional scenario: in a remote kingdom, a sword was forged that, along with the power of the Elemental Gems (fire, water, air, and earth), could defeat any evil. The objective of the game is to gather these gems to complete the sword and defeat the "fascist dragon" that threatens our society. Additionally, during the game's development, the narrator is an older, wise character. In the game, I created a fictional character based on a real photograph of the secretary of International, Cooperation, and Migrations so that, in a certain sense, the game had more personality and was identifiable with Comisiones Obreras.
Thus, using this epic narrative, like forging the sword and fighting the "fascist dragon," sought to strengthen the collective identity of the delegates. I wanted them to feel like heroes of this story, committed to the union struggle and the defense of fundamental rights.
Try the game!
Presentation Sessions: March 6 and 7
Both the game and the guide were presented during sessions organized by the Secretariat for International, Cooperation, and Migrations, whose topics I designed with a colleague. As you can see in the program, the first day in the afternoon was dedicated to conducting the workshop (from 3 to 5:30 PM) in what we called: Presentation of a training module for the RLT to combat the far-right discourse in the workplace. Later, on March 7, I presented the anti-fascist guide as a tool, and we played collectively in plenary, solving the game.
As seen in the program, we incorporated with the participants, who were mainly trainers or heads of training, the use of virtual reality as an example of good practices. I want to highlight this because, while looking for an innovative element or course that I could develop during ETT1 and ETT2, I thought of, as part of that research, the possible use of virtual reality, and for that reason, we sought an example of good practices in our union related to the topic. I was inspired by the active learning course we did in Turin, where we saw how they designed a virtual reality game to combat sexual harassment in the workplace. Also, curiously, in Turin, I met someone close to my family circle who studied film engineering, with whom I learned how virtual reality can change the way we learn and experience learning immersively in our brains. Unfortunately, designing these kinds of experiences is extremely costly, and for adults, these types of glasses still cause issues like motion sickness, so I decided it had to be a project to explore in the future when there is more technological development and more funding. The use of virtual reality could also be a great and engaging way to teach teenagers in schools that the far-right is a danger to democratic societies, while at the same time bringing them closer to the union world.
THE INTERACTIVE GAME: REFLECTION IN PRACTICE
The game The Fascist's Dungeon offers an immersive experience that translates theory into playful, reflective practice. Although the answers to the questions posed by the game may seem simple on the surface, this design is no accident. Each answer invites participants to review their own behaviors, beliefs and reactions to situations that reflect the reality of hate speech and far-right narratives.
The main objective of the game is to confront the participant with hypothetical but plausible situations, so that they can experience how their decisions affect the unfolding of events. This approach allows for a self-evaluation that transcends the cognitive by also involving the emotional and attitudinal realm. The simplicity of the questions makes it easy for all participants, regardless of their level of prior knowledge, to engage and reflect on their own responses to extremist speech and behavior.
Don't forget to activate the music for a better experience
Between the game and the guide
The relationship between the guide and the game transcends mere complementarity, as together they create a comprehensive learning environment. The guide provides the conceptual framework, enabling participants to understand the what and why of the problem, while the game focuses on the how: how to identify these dynamics in practice and respond effectively in real situations.
About the guide and the game as a whole
The project, which includes both the guide and the game, is conceived as an innovative and effective response to the need for educational tools that promote critical reflection and active commitment in the fight against the far-right. Through a gamified methodology, I have sought not only to convey knowledge but also to motivate our delegates, with the idea of offering them an experience that combines learning, reflection, and union action.
Some of the topics:
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.jpg?etag=%227d739-676005da%22&sourceContentType=image%2Fjpeg&ignoreAspectRatio&resize=1500,3333&quality=85 "Ecology and migrants")
.jpg?etag=%2280f45-676005dd%22&sourceContentType=image%2Fjpeg&ignoreAspectRatio&resize=1500,3333&quality=85 "Ecology and migrants")
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Lessons learned
Activity of the last 29th of November, youth school for health workers
The development of the anti-fascist guide and the game "The Fascist Dungeon" has allowed me to gain valuable learnings in multiple areas. Firstly, I have understood the importance of flexibility and adaptability when working with limited resources. Not having enough funds to develop the tool with professional platforms pushed me to be creative and look for accessible solutions, such as using Genially, which has proven to be an effective alternative for our educational objectives. Additionally, although Genially was accessible and useful, it presented technical limitations that forced us to make concessions regarding interactivity and content scope.
Another challenging aspect was integrating the game across different devices. Despite our efforts to make it accessible to everyone, the user experience was not homogeneous. As mentioned earlier, interacting with the beam of light in the Water Gem presented specific issues on iPhone devices, which resulted in the unintended exclusion of some participants. From this, I have learned again the importance of thoroughly testing tools on all possible platforms before final implementation.
The most challenging part was simplifying ideas and presenting them in a playful way without losing the rigor of the content. I found myself rewriting and readjusting the narrative multiple times to ensure it remained both engaging and instructive.
Finally, the personal workload and time required were negative aspects to consider. Creating the guide (about four months) and the game (two months) took much longer than initially anticipated, which led me to work many additional hours to meet deadlines. This effort, although gratifying, came at a considerable personal cost, highlighting the need for better planning and resource allocation to avoid overwork.
Despite these challenges, this experience has reaffirmed my belief in the importance of connecting learning with the emotions and personal narratives of participants. In that sense, one of my personal goals is to continue deepening the use of these kinds of tools so that innovation becomes an integrated element in the training courses developed by Comisiones Obreras.