New education portal about cyber hate launches and welcomes your input
A new education portal launched last month at https://rememberandact.eu/ for those interested in cyber hate, be they professionals such as teachers, youth work staffers, civil society representatives, politicians, or members of the general public, featuring up-to-date, verified information and recommendations in the area of preventing the hatred of Jewish people, Romani people and other marginalized groups in the online space. The portal has been created as part of the international project “Remember and ACT! (Re-ACT)”, which concentrates on investigating modern forms of “ancient” concepts of hatred such as antigypsyism and antisemitism.
The project is a joint production of the International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH) in the Netherlands, the ROMEA organization in the Czech Republic, the LICRA organization in France and the SYNYO research company in Austria. “A crucial component of the project is sharing knowledge and experiences,” says Selma Muhić, who coordinates the project for INACH.
“Given that most of the direct eyewitnesses to the horrors of the Holocaust are no longer with us, and that on the contrary the numbers of those doubting the impact of the ideology of the Nazis are rising, activities such as this are becoming more and more necessary,” Muhić explains. “The educational portal contains many instruction materials, examples of activities that have been implemented, a library, examples of good practice and a map of the key organizations dedicated to the field of hatred online.”
The portal is currently undergoing its testing phase and organizers are asking professionals and the public for their input. “We will be glad if others contribute their materials about combating the forms of hatred that happen online and identify their organizations on the map of such entities, for example,” Muhić says.
“Take a look at how the virtual education portal could contribute to your organization’s activities,” she encourages all who are interested in combating hatred. The purpose of the project is to raise awareness, on the basis of close analysis, of what hateful practices and hate speech in the online space consist of, who is committing them, why they are being committed, and how cyberspace can be defended against them effectively.
