‘International Conference on Hate Speech and Discrimination’ by Hrant Dink Foundation

Hrant Dink Foundation will hold an online conference entitled "International Conference on Hate Speech and Discrimination" on December 11-12.

Organized in collaboration with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, the conference will accept applications until September 7.

While the working languages of the conference will be English and Turkish, simultaneous interpretation will be provided. It will be streamed live on Hrant Dink Foundation's Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts. 

As indicated by Hrant Dink Foundation on its official website, the conference "aims to create a space where the problems caused by hate speech and discriminatory discourse can be revealed and analyzed."

In doing this, the conference will provide a platform where "country-specific experiences, strategies, and academic studies for countering these problems could be exchanged, and potential collaborations developed."

"The need for creating a pluralist, inclusive, and rights-based discourse in every field and sector is becoming increasingly urgent," it has noted.

As the conference will be of an interdisciplinary nature, it will be open to the participation of researchers from various disciplines including communication and media studies, gender studies, migration studies, anthropology, cultural studies, sociology, political science, psychology, history.

So, with the online conference scheduled for December 11-12, 2020, civil society representatives, academics, legal experts, occupational organizations, media workers and journalists will be brought together to create a common platform for discussion and inspire new academic studies and other methods to counter racism in the field.

'Populism, polarization, xenophobia...'

Hrant Dink Foundation has also shared the following background information as to the discrimination and hate speech in Turkey and around the world:

"In Turkey, as all over the globe, discrimination against women, children, LGBTIQ people, ethnic and religious identities is too common.

"Political tendencies such as globally rising nationalism and populism, polarization, xenophobia, anti-refugee, and anti-migrant sentiments nurture and popularize discrimination.

"This situation necessitates developing ways to counter hate speech and discriminatory discourse and raise awareness both locally and globally.

'Stigmatization of Asian communities during pandemic'

"The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic started in the winter of 2019 and reached a global scale in a couple of months; it did not increase only discrimination against the local Chinese or Asian communities but also increased nationalism, xenophobia, racism, and anti-migrant sentiments and minorities against refugees and migrants.

"Thus, they who are portrayed as the cause of various unfavorable political developments and as a threat against social structures are associated with disease and stigmatized as 'usual suspects' once again.

Murder of George Floyd in the US and its aftermath

"After anti-racist protests that started in the United States (US) after the police murdered George Floyd, they were embraced in many countries such as the United Kingdom (UK), France, Brazil, and Indonesia, protests, and debates revolving around anti-racism, racial inequality and anti-discrimination began to drive the global agenda.

"Similarly, nation-states and their citizens' attitudes toward racism were challenged and discussed all around the world as were questions of race, history, and the importance of national symbols, like statues.

"These global outbursts and debates have the potential to guide many global anti-discrimination efforts and discussions.

Efforts for countering hate speech and racism

"The efforts for countering hate speech and racism diversify and spread as they become popular in different platforms. Corporate policies of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for countering fake news, hate speech and aggressive discourse are closely followed and discussed.

"Risks of leaving the identification of the "red line" between hate speech and freedom of expression to private companies, and the responsibility of states, public institutions, traditional means of communication, civil society actors and international organizations in these discussions and efforts will be important discussion topics in the days to come." (SD)

* Click here for detailed information about the research topics, points to consider in applying, how to submit an application and the international science committee.