Fight against Hate Speech : CSOs Fortified

The fight against hate speech is real, intense and on daily bases organization are multiplying strategies to keep hate speech at bay. With all these, perpetrators of hate speech are also multiplying strategies to keep hurting their victims. Hardly does a day go by without one stumbling on hate speech on the ground, on the radio, newspaper, or online. The government of Cameroon on the other hand has come out with laws punishing hate speech and several sensitisation campaigns have been carried out to combat hate speech. Despite all these, hate speech still thrives in Cameroon.
Hate speech is said to be any kind of communication in speech, writing or behaviour that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group, on the basis of who they are. In other words, based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, colour, descent, gender or other identity factor.
Against this backdrop #defyhatenow Cameroon recently organised a two day workshop that brought together  Civil Society Organizations – CSOs from all over Cameroon to train them with the necessary knowledge needed to intensify the fight against hate speech and  to get both the grassroots and the urban population aware of the dangers of hate speech.
Through the “Social Media Hate Speech Mitigation Field Guide” booklet of #defyhatenow Cameroon, the CSOs were drilled on how to carry out hate speech campaigns anywhere they find themselves. While presenting the field guide to the CSOs, the research/administration coordinator of #defyhatenow Cameroon, Kinang Derick Fai, explained that the fight against hate speech must be intentional because perpetrators of hate speech are intentional about their act. He said the field guide is a working document that will enable the CSOs...