Concept of the method

1. Concept

In a recently published report, the European Council has included hate speech within the more wide issue of information disorder, which is a contamination of contents on a global scale.
Information disorder is the combination of  hate speeches and fake news: disinformation reveals itself when misinformation (the spread of false but harmless news) and mal-information mixed up.

The most known definition of hate speech is the one we can find in the Recommendation n. (97)20 of the European Council:
"Incitement to hatred (hate speech) must be understood as inclusive of all forms of expression that spread, incite, promote, or justify racial hatred, xenophobia, anti-Semitism or other forms of hatred generated by intolerance, including: intolerance expressed by nationalism and by aggressive ethnocentrism, discrimination hostility towards minorities, migrants and people of foreign origin ".

The methodology based on fighting hatred campaigns throughout the dissemination of positive messages is based on awareness campaigns whose aim is to mitigate and contrast incitement to hatred speeches against migrants, refugees and minorities. 

This can be done through the active involvement of local communities in the creation and sharing of counter-narratives, which effectively contrast xenophobic discourses.   It Is very important to foresee the creation of stakeholders’ coalitions for the development of the counter-narratives that can denounce incitement to hatred e the negative representation of migrants and refugees. In addition, the spread of positive messages should be created through media’s literacy and awareness campaigns.

In accordance with the Bookmarks: a manual for combating hate speech online through human rights education and WE CAN manuals founded by the European Council, the information methodology based on the dissemination of positive messages is built on three dimensions which are classified according to different levels of knowledge or pre-existing experience.

The three dimensions are:
1. Acquire knowledge of human rights, what they are, how they are guaranteed and protected according European legislation;

2. Acquire knowledge through human rights, assuming that the process is as important as the content of the training, and that it must be reconciled with human rights values;

3. Acquire knowledge on human rights by developing the skills and attitudes of students for apply the values of human rights of tolerance in their lives, take actions to promote e protect human rights as positive messengers.

There are not set training paths to tackle the theme/problem of hate speech to do in a course/lesson, but flexible and adaptable tracks, with which the conductors can build a path, exploring the many and different opportunities for dialogue and educational work that the web offers. In order to do so is very important to know the context and the characteristics of the group with which you intend to work: on the basis of identified needs, of specific and concrete situations, it will be possible to make necessary changes so the task can be accessible to all participants.

Key point to achieve the set goals is to give a structure and containment to the group: it is fundamental for the success of the task, because of the deep emotions that this theme raises. Within a frame of stable reference, adult learners can experiment and express opinions freely. In this regard it is important to create a protected and non-judgemental context, based on respect for each-other. In the end it is very useful to propose well-structured activities to the groups in order to establish an emphatic relationship with them, having a welcoming attitude, and active listening environment.