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WORDS MATTER; STAND FOR HATE FREE CAMEROON.


The socio-political crisis in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon that degenerated into an armed conflict, has come to add more salt in the wound of the social fabric of Cameroon, not only in these two Anglophone regions, but all over the national triangle. #defyhatenow Cameroon for example, after a careful observation of some online and offline activities, came to the conclusion that, there is need to Mobilize Civic Action to Counter Hate Speech and Violent Extremism both Online and Offline.

It was therefore with shouts of joy and ululations that #defyhatenow Cameroon launched an online campaign to strengthen the voices and support the actions of primarily youth, community and media oriented civil society organizations, to counter social media based hate speech, conflict rhetoric and directed online incitement to violence in response to Cameroon’s ‘Anglophone Crisis’. The project provides capacity building and media literacy trainings to enable community based organizations and citizens, including people displaced by conflict, to become positive influencers with counter-actions, fact-checking and early response monitoring skills, peace-building, as well as education and culture oriented activities in a rapidly evolving social media landscape, rather than leaving that space open to agents of conflict.

Taking a stand against hate speech

Human rights experts, media and civil society organizations, repeatedly issue findings revealing serious instances of violence, hostility, intolerance and discriminatory attitudes towards minorities. They are often fueled by abusive discourse in the media. This goes against the very ideas of peace. Human rights, democracy and the rule of law are at the heart of our identity. It is important to protect the fundamental and human rights of everyone, be they ethnic, religious, sexual minorities or immigrants who are often the victims of hate speech and intolerance. One of #defyhatenow Cameroon, Advocates for Equity & Development, is running an online engagement campaign with a #HateFreeCameroon Photo frame as a tool to raise awareness of hate speech and its risks for democracy, and promote tolerance and multicultural awareness.

Online hate speech, propaganda, incitement to violence, and threats are posted and shared by numerous users and agents, from within the country and through the international diaspora–both knowingly and unaware of the consequences of their messaging. Many are organized, acting as conflict influencers in social media groups and on time-lines. They target fellow citizens, community organizations, schools, governments, international agencies–cutting across all social strata, both Anglophone and Francophone.

This peace-building collaboration between #defyhatenow Cameroon, its partner Advocates for Equity & Development and the media and civil society organizations has been enabled to keep the many conflict mitigation conversations going, develop public resources, including a comprehensive bilingual Social Media Hate Speech Mitigation Guide and to support local activists and peace oriented media-based activities.


It is worth noting here that, the #defyhatenow Cameroon initiative, works on providing community-based and data-driven solutions to the problem of hate speech, disinformation and misinformation. Their work focuses on creating a framework for increasing trust between stakeholders through mobilizing civic action against all forms of hate speech and incitement to violence, including disinformation created via the Anglophone Crisis in the two English speaking regions of Cameroon, the influx of refugees in the West Region of Cameroon as a result of the arm conflict in the North-West and South-West Regions, and also via the Covid-19 pandemic. #defyhatenow Cameroon seeks to support the voices and actions of citizens working against online induced conflict within and outside affected regions by bringing youth, community leaders, grassroots organizations and further civil society stakeholders into a peace-oriented media and information literacy framework. Bridging gaps of knowledge and awareness of social media mechanisms between those with access to technology and those without, #defyhatenow Cameroon is a growing network of online and offline peace-builders.

By Stephen Ojang.

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