Respect For Culture

xenophobia, genocide and related crimes against humanity. Hate speech dates back to the civilization of mankind. An example is what happened in Egypt, the then pharaoh was threatened by the strength and number of the Israelites migrants in his country and the thought of them possibly joining his enemies against him in a war situation, he came with an idea of forced labor on that race at that time with an intention to subdue them. The Holocaust of 1977 is another example. Hate speech about people that were Jews and differently abled were propagated which created a perception and eventually, let to their annihilation.

In recent times in 2019, A riot occurred in Johannesburg in South Africa from the 1-5 September 2019, this riot led to the death of at least seven people. The riots were xenophobic in nature, targeting foreign nationals from the rest of Africa. The rational was behind the riot was the words that were communicated by the locals on how opportunities which ordinarily would have been given to them to thrive have been taken over by foreign nationals. The hate speeches continued till it eventually culminated into the riot that was witnessed.

Tackling hate speech is very important because words spoken thoughtlessly can create a perception and the perception may develop into an ideology. Once an ideology is created, it most often passes from one generation to the other and the idea of lasting peace might be a mirage. Stopping hate speech has been propagated but not enough. The United Nations gave its Strategy and plan of action on Hate Speech, on stopping it and also supporting victims of hate speech. Other organization like the Ariel Foundation International has been intentional with uniting young leaders from around the globe, by engaging them on several projects collectively thereby uniting people of different race and colors fostering tolerance and oneness.

Many governments in the world have also seen the devastating result in which hate speech can birth and the have criminalized it. The Nigerian Government is an example of criminalizing hate speech.

Hate speech should never be allowed to thrive in any society, tolerance, acceptance, love should be advocated at all level of government, schools and family units. (“Bai kamata a bar kalaman kiyayya su ci gaba da yaduwa a cikin

kowace al’umma ba, a chikan yin hakuri, karbuwa, soyayya a kowane mataki

na gwamnati, makarantu da kungiyoyin iyali.”) Hausa Language.

It begins with me and you. In the words of President Kennedy; “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” I conclude by

saying ask not what the world can do to end hate speech, but think about what you will do to end it.