Educational resources For practitioners of hate speech prevention

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Educational resources

 

For practitioners of hate speech prevention

 

Information resources:

 

  1. Hate speech acknowledgment and awareness: The first step of hate speech prevention is to help people identify hate speech in others and themselves: hate speech can be direct and indirect and is usually rooted in attitudes and biases on a particular topic with historical, cultural, and communal context. Therefore, emphasis should be put on education, cultural awareness, and media literacy. Hate crimes are always preceded by hate speech. For this reason, teaching the history of hate speech, with a focus on the root causes, forms, effects, and impacts of the phenomenon, and placing it in a wider, historical, and contemporary context, is crucial. Precisely, learning important historical events, which started from hate speech and grew into some of the biggest atrocities our world has seen (both World Wars, slavery in the United States with the Kuk Klux Klan movement, discrimination and maltreatment of Indigenous people in North America, etc.).

Source: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2023). Addressing hate speech through education. A guide for policy-makers. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/in/documentViewer.xhtml?v=2.1.196&id=p::usmarcdef_0000384872&file=/in/rest/annotationSVC/DownloadWatermarkedAttachment/attach_import_26004d6b-ae0f-48cc-b394-06109eaaef51%3F_%3D384872eng.pdf&locale=en&multi=true&ark=/ark:/48223/pf0000384872/PDF/384872eng.pdf#1200_22_hate_speech.indd%3A.86089%3A648

 

 

  1. Awareness of human rights and responsibilities: Teaching about hate speech also means cultivating an understanding of what is and what is not protected by the right to freedom of expression – hence a clearer grasp of one’s rights and responsibilities, both online and offline. Being informed on this matter facilitates the recognition of hate speech, a necessary skill for ensuring hate speech prevention.

 

Source: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-civil-and-political-rights

 

 

  1. Instruments for identifying underlying hate speech indicators in oneself. The Implicit Association Test (IAT): Everyone is responsible for not spreading hate speech or for addressing it when noticed. Thus, hate speech prevention starts with identifying one’s negative thinking patterns, a leading reason for spreading hate speech. Hate speech is usually rooted in attitudes and biases, either explicit (a person is aware of them) or implicit (a person is unaware of them), with the implicit causes outnumbering the explicit. For this reason, the ability to identify and later address the root cause of the issue is of significant importance. Instruments like self-report questionnaires on implicit biases and attitudes are beneficial for these purposes with the Implicit Association Test (IAT) being the most common. The IAT measures the strength of associations between concepts (e.g., black people, homosexual people) and evaluations (e.g., good, bad) or stereotypes (e.g., athletic, clumsy) to reveal an individual’s hidden or subconscious biases. Several categories are available including valence (preference) for certain groups over others (based on race, sexuality, weight, skin tone, Arab-Muslim), stereotypes about gender-career and gender-sciences associations, and self-esteem-related associations based on the concepts “self” and “others”.

 

Link to the Implicit Association Test:  https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatouchtestv2.html

Authors of the test: Project Implicit was founded in 1998 by three scientists – Dr. Tony Greenwald (University of Washington), Dr. Mahzarin Banaji (Harvard University), and Dr. Brian Nosek (University of Virginia).

Recommended by:

  • National Institutes of Health – A research study by Marini et al., (2021) conducted six experiments (with 984 participants total) to assess implicit and explicit discrimination based on race/ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, weight, and age. The results revealed that IAT is a valuable tool for quickly assessing multiple types of implicit discrimination and has implications in hate speech assessments and programs.

Reference to the study: Marini, M., Waterman, P.D., Breedlove, E. et al. (2021). The target/perpetrator brief-implicit association test (B-IAT): an implicit instrument for efficiently measuring discrimination based on race/ethnicity, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, weight, and age. Biomedical Center Public Health 21, 158. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-10171-7

  • Association for Psychological Sciences: https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/the-bias-beneath-two-decades-of-measuring-implicit-associations
  • Harvard University: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/education.html

 

Interactive resources

Videos

 

  1. UNESCO: No one is born to hate: Addressing hate speech through education: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PXLvKT1U4M

 

 

 

 

  1. UNESCO: How to address online #HateSpeech with a human rights-based approach?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JirA4suOdXI

 

 

 

 

 

  1. United Nations: Hate Speech & the Consequences Explained | What You Can Do to Prevent the Next Atrocity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQeoUQa3MiU

 

Alica Wairimu Nderitu: “What I’ve learned is that the same tools that are used to spread hate often turn out to be the best tools to counter hate speech.”

 

 

  1. United Nations: Stopping Hate Speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnbcQT-b8ak

 

 

  1. Council of Europe: No Hate Speech Youth Campaign: https://www.coe.int/en/web/no-hate-campaign/videos1

This campaign presents a series of videos with perspectives from the multiple layers of hate speech. They have a more personal touch as they are presented by young people sharing their individual stories and opinions.

The campaign includes the following:

Ninja Project: explains what the internet is, highlights the thin line between freedom of speech and hate speech, and how this issue can be tackled

Norway Grants 2017: A training organised in Utoya, Norway, by the European Wergeland Centre, brought together youth leaders from Human Rights Organisations who produced a series of 5 short film clips to educate people on combating Hate Speech and Hate Speech Online.

Love Human Rights: about love and respect for Human Rights, for everyone, every day, everywhere

BLOCK Webmaster: a very short video giving a powerful illustrative example of the violent impact of hate speech on its victims. The girl in the video experiences physical injury every time you hear a click and see hate speech. The physical injuries are an illustrative demonstration of the psychological harm caused by hate speech.

 

 

 

 

Literature:

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a leading anti-hate organization, recommends a literature list targeting children and young adults on the topics of biases, hate speech, bullying, diversity and  social inclusion

Anti-Defamation League. Books Matter™Children’s & Young Adult Literature: https://www.adl.org/education-and-resources/resources-for-educators-parents-families/childrens-literature

 

 

Games:

Video games and entertainment play a fundamental role in the daily lives of young people. The influence of games and gamification proves to be unavoidable in the construction of values, standards, and behaviors, being therefore an indispensable tool in the fight against hate speech.

 

Play Your Role: The main objective of this project is to implement  a counter-action to online hate speech, enhancing video games as tools to reinforce positive behaviors in teenagers both online and offline

All games listed below can be accessed through this link and the game of choice can be selected through the falling menu “video games” : https://www.playyourrole.eu/among-all-of-us/

 

  1. Divide Et Impera: a game where the player interacts with a connected group of diverse people initially in good relations between them; by using potentially divisive speech in various forms you try to instill division and hostility, consequently separating the group in fractions. Through manipulation of a simulated small community, the gamer can be confronted with and made aware of actual mechanisms used to manipulate people in social media. Adolescents can learn this way to be more critical about the sources and content of information they find on social media. Online hate speech often enters discourse in a banal everyday manner: by commenting on current events or by posting jokes, the player can realize how many similar messages they have encountered on social media and how these messages could hurt others.

 

  1. YouTube Simulator: In this game, the player takes the role of a YouTube streamer. The main goal is to keep a balance in the YouTuber’s life, between building a subscriber base and keeping the discussion in the comments civil, all while maintaining good mental health. Putting the player in the shoes of a content creator experiencing hate speech would show them from a more personal perspective what are the damages of hate speech on someone’s well-being.

 

  1. Social Threads: this game simulates social interactions online. The aim is for the player to react with good actions to harassing opponents. The game teaches young people how to react to such behaviors in a healthy manner and protect themselves in real life.

 

  1. Deplatforming: the game puts the player in the role of an activist group fighting against a hate campaign spreading quickly through the net. The player has to use the activist tool kit to stop the campaign and deplatform its actors from major networks. This gives young people a positive example of hate speech prevention

 

 

  1. Invasion of the Cybertrolls: in this game, the participant should aim to defeat the online trolls through arguments and collective efforts. It teaches young people how to deal with online hate speech more healthily.

 

Since this game is more complex and time-consuming, here is a list of instructions: https://www.playyourrole.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/IotCT-Instructions_EN.pdf

 

 

 

For victims of hate speech

 

Information resources

 

  1. Victim Support Europe:

An important step for victims of hate speech to manage their situation is by familiarising themselves with their rights as victims:

The Victims’ Rights Directive: file:///C:/Users/Office/Downloads/factsheet_victims_rights_2017_web_en_F6860A5C-FF7B-4684-E5B2E563B37D403D_43139.pdf

 

Furthermore, if hate speech grows into hate crimes, the victim has the right to take legal actions. If you are the victim of a hate crime, you may choose to contact the police either by phone or in person. If the crime is currently happening, you should use the emergency number, otherwise use the non-emergency police number to file your complaint.  If you decide not to report the crime immediately, you can do so later – contact your local victim support organization for assistance.

If you have been affected by a hate crime, there are several ways in which you can contact support services to get assistance or information. Get support locally. Contact your nearest Victim Support team. Report the crime to your local police station. Call 116 006 telephone number for the victim support helpline. This helpline is available in Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Sweden.

 

  1. LOVE-Storm Initiative: https://love-storm.eu/about-love-storm/

The LOVE-Storm platform offers learning, training, reporting and alerting system – where young people can report hate incidents, raise alerts, and request assistance. Furthermore, it provides an action platform where users can form teams to tackle online hate more effectively, exchange with and support each other. With the Love-Storm platform, you can learn how to effectively respond to hate speech, practice mediation techniques, and develop the skills needed to build a more tolerant online community. Their roleplay-based approach allows you to experience realistic scenarios and practice your skills in a safe and controlled environment. Their goal is to help people develop the skills needed to handle difficult conversations both online and offline and promote empathy and understanding.

Love-storm provides a freely accessible role-play training tool in which participants are exposed in different situations of hate speech that have to be resolved in group settings.

 

Video:

LOVE-Storm: How does the LOVE Storm training for civil courage online work? https://youtu.be/b65UZ3Obqrk

 

 

 

 

Interactive resources

 

Videos

 

  1. Victim Support Europe: The Role of a Psychologist in the Aftermath of an Online Hate Crime.

 

The video presented by Simona Toni advises victims on how to react if experiencing hate speech and encourages them to seek psychological help afterward due to the detrimental outcomes of such trauma.

 

 

 

  1. Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE): Understanding Hate Crime Victims. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59Vs7SaiWho

 

 

 

  1. Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE): Hate Crime Victim Support Providers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2haGpitPWc

 

This video describes how a victim support provider should be, the characteristics they should possess, and the help they should offer.

 

 

 

  1. Victim Support Europe: Ways to prevent, combat, and react to hate speech online | Victim Support Portugal (APAV). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sckjZ-hEAV4

 

 

 

  1. The voice of victims: these videos present personal stories of different victims of hate speech and how seeking help from their local victim support services helped them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mental Health/Therapy Services

 

  1. BetterHelp: A global platform developed to remove the traditional barriers to therapy and make mental health care more accessible to everyone. Today, it is the world’s largest therapy service — providing professional, affordable, and personalized therapy in a convenient online format. Victims of hate crimes can find therapy services personalized to the issues they are facing and their needs. https://www.betterhelp.com/

 

  1. 7 cups: An on-demand emotional health service and online therapy provider. Their bridging technology anonymously & securely connects real people to real listeners in one-on-one chat. https://www.7cups.com/

 

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

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