“Confronting hate speech and populism”
Regional Meeting of Schools of Political Studies from EU member states during the World Forum for Democracy, 27-29 November 2013
The meeting was attended by participants from the Schools of Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and the Visegrád School (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovak Republic).
The moderator, Mr André-Jacques Dodin, Head of Division for Intergovernmental Co-operation and Partial Agreement on Mobility through the Youth Card, Directorate General of Democracy, opened the meeting by offering a definition of the theme as it has been used by International Organisations, including the Council of Europe. In general, ‘hate speech’ can be described as ‘a communication that carries no meaning other than the expression of hatred for some group, especially in circumstances in which the communication is likely to provoke violence. It is an incitement to hatred primarily against a group of persons defined in terms of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and the like. Hate speech can be any form of expression regarded as offensive to racial, ethnic and religious groups and other discrete minorities or to women’.*
The recent Council of Europe campaign against online hate speech has raised awareness on the issue. The Council of Europe watchdog body, the European Committee against Racism and Intolerance - ECRI, plays a key role in monitoring racism and xenophobia throughout Europe.
In the ensuing discussion, it was recognised that hate speech is not a new phenomenon; even in the Roman period, hate speech was used to accuse and punish minorities. Several participants suggested that hate speech is often triggered by cultural stereotypes which are based on emotion rather than on facts or rational thought. Isolated cases where minorities do not seem to wish to integrate into society or submit to its rules and habits are readily being generalised. Fear of the unknown can be the engine for hate speech, as a country folds back into itself. Economic crises and insecurity feeds the fear towards those who do not originate from the same territory. Politicians can play a crucial role in the feeding of sentiments of fear and insecurity.
The recent economic crisis has provoked a multiplication and pseudo-justification of hate speech and intolerance towards minorities. Several Romanian participants reported a lack of credibility and trust in institutions and that the political establishment does not react properly; this means that hate speech is still expanding.
Some countries, especially those with ethnic minorities, are often confronted with hate speech and populism, sometimes emanating from political parties. In Bulgaria, for example, hate speech is thus often used by weak politicians, which gives supporters of hate speech a supplementary reason to use it against immigrants, in particular Syrian refugees. Hate speech has never been regulated in Bulgaria and is not likely to be regulated in the near future.
It was suggested that in Hungary hate speech and hostility towards migrants has always existed but has become more widespread since the start of the economic crisis, where populist ideas from extremist parties have given impetus to racist behavior. The ‘freedom of speech’ as it is known in Western Europe countries has been abused in Hungary to provide a ‘legal basis’ to promote and not to combat hate speech.
Most countries have the legal framework to act against hate speech, including on the internet, but often do not use it actively enough and minorities do not always have the possibility to step forward and use this framework. Excluding member states who do not apply their own legal framework against racism and hate speech (as proposed by a participant from a minority community) would, however, not be an effective method, as in that case, the Council of Europe would lose any leverage with such countries.
Education and schools (including the Schools of Political Studies) can play a major role in combatting racism and hate speech; the Council of Europe aims to promote European values in the educational field.
*Source : http://carm.org/hate-speech
