This has become a burning issue of 2017. How is language used to define and undermine the open society – whether by rejecting those who speak other languages or by using language for spreading hatred rather than understanding
POSITIVE MESSENGERS
2016-2018
“Coalition of Positive Messengers to Counter Online Hate Speech”
Since 2016 The Languages Company has been a partner in a EU project – Coalition of Positive Messengers to Counter Online Hate Speech. .
The project involves a consortium of 8 organizations from 7 countries across Europe: Bulgaria, Italy, Croatia, Czech Republic, Romania, Greece and the UK. Its central aim is to strengthen the response to online hate speech through the active engagement of local communities in creating and sharing powerful counter-narratives against xenophobic discourse. It also aims to provide new data on the scope and impact of hate speech and to exchange best practices among those already working in the field.
Over the past two years we have:
Produced 2 reports on the current situation in the UK, including analysis of on line media
Worked with others to developing counter narratives and support materials
Engaged in a public awareness campaign on hate speech
In October Lid King gave a lecture on the language of hate for the Chartered Institute of Linguists and how linguists can help develop a counter narrative, starting with what happens in school.
DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS Techniques for combatting hate speech using emphathetic listening techniques, proven to be more effective than facts-based rebuttals. Can be especially useful for people working to support refugees and immigrants. Download the materials here.
‘BE A POSITIVE MESSENGER!’ SCHOOLS CHALLENGE A ‘homework challenge’ published by the British Council. Suitable for schools, young people and community groups. Freely downloadable here.
Free classroom resources for MFL from Goldsmiths University of London. A set of classroom resources produced by Goldsmiths’ 2018 PGCE cohort covering levels from KS2 to KS5. Freely downloadable here.
NOW AVAILABLE COMBATTING ONLINE HATE SPEECH : Draft materials for use in schools are freely available for you to trial. Please contact us for access and further details
Combatting Online Hate speech
Last December Positive Messengers invited Arun Devasia from Hope not Hate to help colleagues working with refugees develop ways of engaging with the perpetrators of hate speech.
At two meetings in January we held seminars for over 80 teachers, student teachers, local authority representatives and others to discuss the impact of online hate speech in schools Eric Murangwa of Survivors Tribune spoke about the impact of Hate Speech on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. In a workshop session colleagues worked on some draft materials for use in schools.
Working with partners we organised a social media campaign culminating in Refugee week. This involved monthly ‘hot lines’ on a range of issue and a ‘thunderclap’ of tweets in June which reached over half a million people.
We have also spoken at a number of conference and seminars in the UK and abroad.
We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.
Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.
Essential Website Cookies
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, you cannot refuse them without impacting how our site functions. You can block or delete them by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website.
Google Analytics Cookies
These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.
If you do not want that we track your visist to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:
Other external services
We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.
Google Webfont Settings:
Google Map Settings:
Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:
Privacy Policy
You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.