Promoting Social Cohesion : SW Community Leaders To Counter Hate Speech

The German Ambassador to Cameroon, Dr. Corinna Fricke, has reiterated that hate speech within communities can be countered through trust building. The diplomat was addressing some 25 religious and community leaders from Buea, Limbe, and Kumba as she chaired a two-day seminar organised by the RainForest Center for Policy Research on July 28 and 29, 2022. 
In her opening note, Dr. Corinna Fricke highlighted the downing effects of hatred and mistrust on communities which to her, are capable of destroying an entire country or community. “The rising digital communication tools like the social media and the internet should be a uniting factor that generations before us never had. Unfortunately, these tools are used to spread hate, negative messages, and insert violence against others,” Corinna said regrettably. 
Hate speech as defined by Country Programme Manager of a local NGO “defyhatenow,” Desmond Ngala, is the use of expressions that seek to be abusive against people. “Deep-rooted and incubated prejudices and stereotypes that have summed up to hatred and biased attitudes have today matured to hate speech and are greatly spreading within the local communities. Desmond Ngala explained. As such, the bottom-top and dialogue appro...