Hate Speech affects Us ALL

By S R Ranjan: Hate speech — starting with just words to hateful narratives — is infiltrating our societies, leading to discrimination,violence and killings around the world. “Misinformation, hate speech threaten creation of tolerant, peaceful world,” said UN secretary general António Guterres at the ‘virtual’ Global Ministerial Conference on ‘Addressing Hate Speech through Education’.

The United Nations (UN) states that hate speech is on the rise worldwide. It has 'vicious power' and capacity to incite violence, undermine social cohesion and tolerance, and cause psychological, emotional and physical harm. “Education can play a fundamental role to address hatred both on- and offline, and help to counter the emergence of violence. Strengthening educational responses to build the resilience of learners to exclusionary rhetoric and hate speech also lies at the core of the Education 2030 Agenda and more specifically of Sustainable Development Goals, which touches on the social, moral and humanistic purposes of education,” says UNESCO.

In this context, a one-day online conference was held, on 26 October, in the presence of heads of state and government, ministers of education, the UN secretary general and UNESCO director general to endorse global commitments to address hate speech through education. “The issue of hate speech cuts to the heart of the polarization and divisions plaguing our world. And it reminds us of the fundamental importance of knowledge and education in closing these divisions and building a better, more understanding and inclusive world,” said António Guterres. “Today, social media provides a global megaphone for hate. Lies, misinformation — and its close cousin, disinformation — spread around the world at the touch of a button. We need to make lying wrong again. That’s what this conference is all about — discussing ways in which education can help us fight back against mis- and disinformation and hate speech,” he added.

Education for all is the foundation and critical to action on hate speech prevention. “Educators, teachers and administrators are our first line of defence in preventing hate speech from taking hold. We’re counting on education systems that can build young people’s critical thinking skills. So they can tell facts from fiction and real news from fake news. So they can learn about, and build respect and tolerance for, other faiths and beliefs. And so they can recognize and appreciate the essential humanity, dignity and human rights we all share,” said António Guterres.

“Hate is learned, but it can be unlearned. We must educate about hate speech,” UNESCO.

(Singh Rakesh Ranjan)

Freelance Journalist

 (Representational images: source)