Making ourselves respected. Proactive responses to racism in digital environments

Main objective:

To successfully implement the Making us respect programme as an effective, efficient and high quality project to prevent hate speech, racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia and other forms of discrimination in digital environments.

Summary:

The digital space is a channel for the amplification and dissemination of hate speech. Anonymity and the trivialisation of its consequences lead to a digital socialisation environment in which the rights of people, especially those belonging to one or more minorities, are systematically violated. Young people use digital channels as spaces for socialisation and identity construction, as potential victims, disseminators or passive spectators. Aware of the need to eliminate hate speech in the digital space, the “Making us respect” programme represents an intervention specifically focused on its specificity. On the basis of a previous quantitative and qualitative diagnosis of the nature of hate speech circulating on social networks and the analysis of good practices implemented with quality at international level, we drafted the prevention guide aimed at educators. At the same time, we created the “radar against discrimination”, a virtual strategy focused on the detection and monitoring of hate speech profiles and their victims. Currently, with the lessons learned, we are in the second phase of designing the content to promote the programme in the virtual space.

Keywords:

Racism, digital environments, equality, anti-racism, colourism, white privilege, protocols, educational guides, hate speech.