REaCT: Lessons of tolerance - Inclusive teaching of adults

Recommended size of the group:  from 6 to 30 people          

Aims of lesson:

• Starting by the concept of No Hate Speech during the lesson, the participants will analyse a good practice existing in Europe on No Hate speech campaign and in particular the No Hate Speech Movement created by young Europeans.
• To familiarise adults with the contents of the No Hate Speech Movement and No Hate Speech Campaign, through online tools in order to prevent intolerance and hate speech.
• To develop adult audience capacities for independent judgement, critical thinking and ethical reasoning about tolerance and equality.

Objectives / learning outcomes of the lesson

After the lesson participants will:

• Raising of awareness on the No Hate Speech movement/campaign
• ·Have a better understand of the needs of the No Hate Speech Campaign implementation
• Improve their communication skills
• Understand the importance of tolerance attitude in European citizenship enhancing
• To be conscious on the role of European Union and countries cooperation in building peaceful community
• To improve and scale up actions against hate speech using counter and alternative narratives as a tool to occupy the online space with alternative human rights-based narratives

Resources needed:

• White paper
• Pens
• Video-Projector & sound system
• Android smartphone app
• Computer
• Spacious training room

Teaching methods:

• Case study approach
• Group work
• Individual work
• Experiential learning

Content:

Hate speech, as defined by the Council of Europe, covers all forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify racial hatred, xenophobia, anti-Semitism or other forms of hatred based on intolerance, including: intolerance expressed by aggressive nationalism and ethnocentrism, discrimination and hostility against minorities, migrants and people of immigrant origin.

The graphic below shows how the expression “Hate Speech” has become common only over the last 30 years, while most initiatives by authorities and civil society are even more recent.   

Hate speech is an issue that educational institutions and educationalists must not just be aware of, but tackle as a matter of urgency. If hate speech is not tackled head on, this lack of action could be taken by students as an indication that this behaviour is to be accepted, and even small failures to act can reinforce this misconception.

The No Hate Speech Movement youth campaign was launched by the Council of Europe in 2013. The campaign was extended until the end of 2017 as part of the Council of Europe Action Plan on the Fight against Violent Extremism and Radicalisation Leading to Terrorism. In addition, the campaign contributed to the Action Plan for Building Inclusive Societies and the Council of Europe Strategy on Internet Governance, which promotes an open, inclusive, safe and enabling online environment.

The project was based on youth participation and co-management by young people, with the support of governmental youth institutions. It was initiated by the youth representatives in the Joint Council on Youth. This council brings together youth leaders from the Advisory Council on Youth and the governmental youth representatives of the European Steering Committee on Youth.

Campaign aimed to:

• support human rights education activities for action against hate speech and the risks it poses to democracy and the well-being of young people
• develop and disseminate tools and mechanisms for reporting hate speech, especially online, including at national level
• mobilise national and European partners to prevent and counter hate speech and intolerance online and offline
• promote media literacy and digital citizenship and support young people’s participation in Internet governance.

National campaigns, activists and partners

Under the Council of Europe umbrella campaign, national and local campaigns were set up. The national campaigns made it possible to reach out better to young people and to reflect on all the specific issues and cultural and linguistic realities of Council of Europe regions. Following the end of co-ordination at the European level by the Council of Europe, in December 2017, most of the national campaigns will continue to function in 2018 and beyond.

On-line resourses

- Play the video:

Video: Reflect, tell and act on Hate Speech[1]

Description: This short video calls young people to reflect on the hate speech they encounter, talk about it and react. The video was recorded for Human Rights Day by the NHSM campaign in Ireland during the International Youth Exchange, Solidarity Activist Camp KA1 Youth Mobility Project financed by Leargas under the European Union Programme Erasmus+ (#Solidactivist) and was held from 11 to 20 October.

Video Clip “No Race, No Hate”[2]

Description: This video was created by the participants of the project Euro-Caucasian Youth Network for Human Rights Online, which was funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission through the Turkish National Agency, to mark the European Action Week against Racism and Discrimination.

Action Day – Human Rights Online” – 10 December

Description: The Action Days mobilise the national campaigns and European partners of the No Hate Speech Movement in joint activities on specific forms or targets of hate speech. Each Action Day has a programme of activities prepared in co-operation with the national campaign co-ordinators, online activists and campaign partners.

Multimedia content:

Flickr album: Human Rights every day. Action Day Love Human Rights 10 December 2017

Flickr album: Hate is not an opinion. Action Day for Human Rights Online 10 December 2016. Different language versions of the Red card to Hate Speech.

Flickr album: European Action Day for Human Rights Online. Memes created by volunteers and activists for the Action Day.

Flickr album: Human Rights Cards. These cards were created by online activists to explain the relationship between some articles of the European Convention on Human Rights and Internet.

Flickr album: Human Rights Postcards. These online postcards were created by National Campaign Committees and national NGOs who are involved in the No Hate Speech Movement on the occasion of the European Action Day for Human Rights.

Love Human Rights video[3] (English version)

Campaign Tools examples

• Android smartphone app and online platform: “Don’t hate”
• Blog page of NHSM in Finland
• Campaign’s promotional materials
• Educational posters on Hate Speech and its history

Evaluation

Brainstorming discussion:

• Give participants a paper and a pen.
• Then ask the group to generate as many ideas as possible regarding the creation of a No Hate Speech Campaign and write them down.( If there is a big group, it can be divided into smaller groups)
• After that, participants will share ideas about the process of the creation of an awareness campaign as the ones previously seen on video, so they can be introduced to the contents of lesson n. 3.