Roadshow of ‘Islam Cinta’ Literacy Surabaya: Young Generation for the Nation

ISLAMCINTA.CO – It was still fresh in the memory of many people, particularly citizens of Surabaya, East Java, when bombs attacked three churches and Surabaya Police office for two days, 13 and 14 May 2018. The attacks killed 18 people, 6 of whom were the perpetrators. The accidents were not the first suicide bombing recorded in Indonesia’s history, but they had sparked national and international attentions, because the perpetrators consisted of a father, a mother and four of their kids, all from one family.

It was even more ironic to know that Surabaya had long become a home to people from different ethnicities, races and religions. Multiculturalism had been strongly attached in the city. A study by Setara Institute in 2018 even put Surabaya among top 10 tolerant cities in Indonesia.

From the attacks, we could see that although Surabaya was considered as a tolerant city, the potential of radicalism, intolerance, as well as social and religious conflicts were unavoidable. Things could get worse if the government and civil society groups were unable to help maintain diversity.

As an attempt to enhancing the spread of peaceful values, Gerakan Islam Cinta (Movement of Loving Islam) or GIC collaborated with the Center for the Study of Islam and Society (PPIM) of the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to launch a program titled “Roadshow Literasi Cinta” (Roadshow of Love Literacy). The program ran on 27 and 28 November 2019, and targeted Generation Z, or high school students, in Surabaya. The roadshow continued the previous roadshow series held since 2018 to Bukittinggi (29-30 November 2018), Yogyakarta (7-8 December 2018), Bandung (14-15 December 2018), Jakarta (25-26 January 2019), Banjarmasin (18-19 September 2019), Bandar Lampung (28-29 Oktober 2019). Surabaya would witness the closing event of the program.

In general, the roadshow aimed for spreading the spirit of love-based literacy and encouraging young people to: (1) uphold a critical and open-minded thinking; (2) support interfaith dialogues and promoting inclusiveness, moderation, egalitarian, and tolerance; (3) raise public awareness towards diversity as well as extremism and radicalism, and embracing each other; and (4) gather young people to encourage them to be the agents of peace.

Specifically, the “Roadshow Literasi Cinta” in Surabaya would perform various interesting activities that could expectedly attract the young people from various religious backgrounds, including:

1. Community Synergy, Discussion of Gen Islam Cinta Series Book, and On Air from local media on 27 November 2019;
2. Initiator of Reading Club at Schools and Communities at Bober Café & Ruang Komunitas on 27 November 2019;
3. Talkshow and Training of “Literasi Cinta” at MAN Kota Surabaya on 28 November 2019;
4. Musical, Poetry and Dancing Performances at MAN Kota Surabaya on 28 November 2019;
5. Bazaar of digital books at MAN Kota Surabaya on 28 November 2019;
6. Book review, speech, story-telling, infographic design and statistical infographic design competitions which offered valuable rewards.
7. Making hashtag #AyoSebarkanCinta #MeyakiniMenghargai go viral on social media.