The project “STAND-UP: Fighting hate in the EU” held on 26 September at the Euro-Arab Foundation headquarters the Spanish training on hate crimes and hate speech, with the participation of experts from different fields commited to the fight against hatred. The course was divided in four thematic blocks: “The phenomenon of hate and under-reporting: a victim-centred approach”; “Narratives of hate in digital contexts”; “Alternative narratives from civil society”; and “Tools for social transformation”.
The STAND-UP training has been divided into two specific trainings: one held on 12 September on the use of OSINT to monitor online hate speech imparted by Lior Mordechai from Falkor and addressed exclusively to Law Enforcement Agencies, and this one aimed to all the stakeholders and focused on more areas to fight hatred.
The course was attended by professionals from the fields of education and social work, psychology, community mediation, research and the National Police Force, and with the participation of different entities such as CEAR, Save The Children, CEPAIM Foundation, Asociación Marroquí and Granada Acoge.
The director of the European Projects at FUNDEA, Javier Ruipérez Canales, welcomed the attendees and opened the training, which began with a presentation by the director of the Instituto Confucio of the University of Granada, Isabel María Balsas Ureña, and her co-director Bu Shan, on the role of the Institute and the activities they carry out to raise awareness of Chinese culture in society.
The researcher from FUNDEA, Lucía G. del Moral, was in charge of moderating the day, giving way to the first block on the phenomenon of hate and under-reporting with a focus on the victims, and the first speaker, Ismael Cortés, member of the Congress in the 14th legislature, and his conference on access to justice and the different initiatives to tackle hate crimes from a multi-stakeholder and multi-level approach.
He was followed by María Pina and Marina Dólera from Columbares with the presentation of the project “Está en tu mano” (It’s in your hand) and a wealth of data and analysis to understand in depth the current situation regarding hate crimes. The third presentation of the block was given by Bárbara Pérez Serrano, a health psychologist, expert in gender violence and coordinator of FUNCOP (Foundation for the Training and Practice of Psychology), who explained the group psychological care services for women victims of gender violence that exist in Andalusia, and how the processes of reporting and under-reporting are.
The theme of the second block was the narratives of hate in digital contexts. Carmen Aguilera Carnenero, PhD from the University of Granada, shared her analysis of the power of dissemination of Islamophobic hate speech through memes. Next, the researchers from FUNDEA José Luis Salido and Lucía G. del Moral explained the monitoring of hate they carried out in the framework of the STAND-UP project on the extreme right on 20-N and Islamophobia in social networks during the World Cup in Qatar.
The third block dealt with the alternative narratives proposed by civil society. Vanesa Martín, head of projects and new narratives at Fundación Por Causa, explained how they generate new narrative frameworks on migration that connect with audiences and change public debate. Javier Vaquero, artist and LGTBI+ activist, presented the initiative ‘La Intersección’, a research and digital strategy team dedicated to creating collective narratives and tools to stop hate on social networks.
The last block was dedicated to tools for social transformation. Óscar Negredo, coordinator of the Community Mediation service of the Llobregat City Council of Hospitalet, where they apply multi-agency strategies for the prevention of violent extremism, creating spaces to promote understanding between groups and communities, took part in it. The National Police Inspector and Delegate for Citizen Participation of the Provincial Police Station of Granada, María José Ramírez Campos, also spoke about the promotion and awareness-raising work they carry out to prevent hate crimes in this specialised unit. The last presentation was given by Jero Varas, project technician of the Melilla Acoge Association, on the project ‘OWO: Defending the space of coexistence’ focused on the prevention of attitudes and behaviours that encourage hate speech and hate crimes.
The day ended with the presentation of the book ‘The Moon is in Douala: And my destiny in knowledge‘ in the form of a dialogue between its author Sani M. Ladan and Daniel F. Pérez, researcher at the Euro-Arab Foundation. During the conversation, they highlighted the prejudices and ignorance of European society about migratory phenomena, the lack of human quality that can be found in reception centres, the importance of having racialised references, the lack of protection of migrant children who are often used as a political tool, and the pan-African identity, among other interesting reflections.
