PRISM – Preventing, Redressing, and Inhibiting Hate Speech in New Media
Hate Crime – Report it, record it, prevent it!
By Hanna Stephens
As Article 50 is due to be triggered on March 29, there is concern that this will lead to another spike in hate crime, as recorded following the EU Referendum vote. This also coincides with the attack on Westminster this Wednesday, with the attacker claimed by Isis as a ‘soldier of Islamic state’. This will no doubt fuel further Islamophobia. In light of this, it is important to raise awareness about hate crime; what they are, the many different institutions available to offer help and support, and ways we can better prevent them.
ROTA (May 2016) PRISM Educational Toolkit for Working with Young People
This toolkit was launched in May 2016 as part of our European funded Project, PRISM.
From various European surveys, studies and reports it emerges that in EU member states there are a growing number of physical and verbal attacks, often repeated and continuous, against minorities, which need to be evaluated and challenged robustly.
Download the Toolkit HERE.
Media
PRISM campaign video:
PRISM radio spot:
Workshops with Young People
Workshops were delivered in a school in Oxfordshire in November during Anti-Bullying Week lasting one hour each, and 5 workshops were delivered in a youth centre over 5 weeks, lasting 2 hours each. Within the framework of the PRISM project, these workshops were delivered to achieve the following objectives:
- To provide young people with an understanding of how negative myths foster racism against different communities;
- To give the young people an understanding of the different types of racism and some of the historical contexts from which they have emerged;
- To give young people an opportunity to consider their online interactions and how they can challenge hate / foster harmony.
- To give young people an understanding of some of the existing mechanisms for reporting online hate speech and some of the existing legislation that can be used to challenge hate speech.
Seminars with Journalists and Bloggers
The first workshop was led by Aidan White from the Ethical Journalists Network who presented the ‘5 Point Test for Journalists’ and led a discussion focused on the role of the media and that of journalists in challenging hatred online.
The second seminar was led by Fiyaz Mughal from Tell MAMA and Aidan White from the Ethical Journalists Network. The focus of the seminar was the Channel 4 documentary “What British Muslims Really Think”, and if it was inflammatory and islamophobic.
