Fight Against Hate Speech : Field Guide Distributed

Stuck in a range of conflicts and tensions threatening peace in many regions of the country, Cameroon has witnessed an upsurge in hate speech, incitement to violence, misinformation and disinformation which has been threatening the peace of the country. Social media, communication technology and identity has increasingly been used as tools to fan the flames of tensions and conflicts in Cameroon. This is evident with the increase in attacks in the form of hate speech, and incitement to violence suffered by many on different social media platforms.  Against this backdrop #Defyhatenow an initiative of a German NGO Rock Agency for Open Cultures and Critical Transformation with implementing partner as Civic Watch Cameroon has come up with a field guide that can be used by all to organize workshops and other events in the fight against hate speech in Cameroon. The field guide that was presented and distributed to different stakeholders in Douala during the two-day workshop from the 25-the 26 of August was also aimed at educating the different stakeholders on how to foster the fight against hate speech.
According to the Secretary General of Civic Watch and the main facilitator during the workshop, Kinang Derick Fai, the field guide will go a long way to enlighten civil society organizations, community organizations and other stakeholders on how they can incorporate the Field Guide Resource Kit in their activities to mitigate hate speech and conflicts online and offline, educate communities on healthy online discourse by promoting the responsible use of social media, advocate for the usage of conflict mitigation tools and the Field Guide in particular as a tool in achieving a #HateFreeCameroon via promoting peace and social cohesion.
Kinang Derick Fai further explained that attacks have proven to ...