Fighting online Hate Speech
Would you report your best friend if he shows you a cyberbullying video? Would you join your friends' pranks about a foreign student in a forum? Online hate begins at school, so it is there where education against it should also begin. No Hate Speech movement is spreading all over Europe.
30.06.2014
They talk about politics, literature, social media, but also about freedom of speech, bullying or racism. They are under 18 and they have much to say. Plataforma ONG de Acción Social, operator of the EEA GrantsActive Citizenship Programme, brought together over 20 young Spanish in a discussion, awareness-raising and training session about Hate Speech on the Internet, because to insult a person online is as serious, if not more, than doing it in the street.
The goal was to discover and analyse the roots of discrimination and intolerance in its online version, but also to supply the necessary tools in order to promote and protect human rights. This activity, within the EEA Grants Active Citizenship Programme operated by Plataforma de ONG de Acción Social -38 projects of 120 entities financed with 3,7 million euros-, fits in the European campaign No Hate Speech against intolerance on the Internet by the European Council, and with the collaboration of Instituto de la Juventud, la Plataforma de Infancia y Cibercorresponsales.
The participants, bloggers in Cibercorresponsales platform, that brings together some 1.200 young people in Spain, don’t have the slightest doubt: it is fear and ignorance what causes discrimination whether it was for sex, race, religion o economic level. And the recipe is education. The main conclusion of these boys and girls is that freedom of speech is crucial in our society but using it carefully. And above all, solidarity with the victims of this modern discrimination (offensive or inappropriate online content), with greater emphasis on cyberbullying.
The overall objective of the Active Citizenship Programme is to strengthen civil society through fostering the role of the NGO in our society as social motor closer to the people's needs and searching for solutions in partnership with governments and private sector.