Re-ACT

Analysis of hate speech and postings highlight links between current online hate phenomena and hate-slurs – prejudices and practices that have been propagated in the Third Reich. Project Re-ACT will dismantle these old concepts of stereotyping, scapegoating and racial discrimination to empower practitioners and the general public through an online prevention hub as well as the production of educational materials.

Antisemitism as well as antigypsyism (the sentiment and prejudices against Romani – people) are both major societal issues that have plagued EU countries for centuries. While drivers, means, methods and platforms related to these types of hatred have changed over the course of history, some of the underlying practices still prevail after decades: An analysis of hate-data collected by members of the international network against cyber-hate (a group of 29 European human rights CSOs) has shown that there are strong links between current online hate-phenomena and practices that have been propagated in the Third Reich.

To transform these worrisome findings into effective warnings (especially since remembrance and knowledge on the Holocaust and its horrors are fading), the project Remember and ACT! (Re-ACT) will put a special focus on researching how “old” concepts of antisemitism and antigypsyism are being re-enacted by concerted hate campaigns and where they originated from. The gained insights will be used as basis for the development and collection of educational materials and tools in order to dismantle the old concepts of stereotyping, scapegoating and racial discrimination and facilitate educational work to prevent racism and other forms of intolerance.

These self-generated sets of information and collection of educational materials will lay the foundation for the envisaged establishment of an online prevention-hub. A detailed need analysis of human rights, CSOs, educators and youth workers will be implemented by SYNYO, who is also responsible for the overall development process. Based on the so gained insights SYNYO will translate the identified needs of the potential end-users into the overall design, functionalities and features of the prevention hub before starting the development process. Through this approach, the company will develop an online-platform tailored to the needs of practitioners to ensure the practicality of the foreseen functions and features of the hub.

The objective of the prevention hub is to make the developed findings widely available and to empower all those addressing or having a high potential to come into contact with antisemitism and antigypsyism, especially NGOs who might be lacking the financial capacity or knowledge to develop such materials themselves.

Coordinated by the International network against cyber hate, the project brings together four partners: the French International League against Racism and antisemitism, the Czech ROMEA and SYNYO from Austria. Furthermore, the European Union of Jewish Students, the European Grassroots Organisations Network and CEJI- a Jewish contribution to an Inclusive Europe- will play a pivotal role in sharing their knowledge and supporting the project´s activities.

Project Re-ACT, received funding by the European Union’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (REC 2014 – 2020), will start in February 2020 and aims to complete its objectives after 24 months by the end of January 2022, with the prevention hub set to leave a long-term benefit for educators, CSOs, youth workers and other interested parties. In total 64 person months are allocated among all partners.

Links

https://react.inach.net/

Keywords

Hate speech, stereotype, scapegoat, prevention, CSOs, educators, antisemitism, antigypsyism, antiziganism, online