Did you know that “the new fascism in Europe is Islamism” or that “recently thousands of Arab men sexually attacked, humiliated and raped hundreds of women”? I don´t think so. I didn´t know either. But according to the vice mayor of Vienna, Johann Gudenus or the right-wing party leader from the Netherlands Geert Wilders this is happening right now. Shocked about the language? I was shocked! However, during my Humanity in Action Fellowship in Warsaw, I found out that those are only two examples of a phenomenon of rising hate speech, xenophobia and populism in Europe. As a German Muslim with a migration background unfortunately I see hate speech as a component of my life that I have to encounter, whether it is in the media or on the Internet. So, for me it was even more interesting to figure out how the situation in Poland would be like and what elements I could use to effectively counteract hate speech.
"Today immigrants, tomorrow terrorists" at one of anti-refugee demonstrations in Poland [source]
The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Front National leader Marine Le Pen or Poland’s former Prime Minister and current leader of the Polish ruling party, Law and Justice, Jaroslaw Kaczynski are just a few examples of top politicians using hate speech and unfortunately, it is not only this group. Hate speech is cascaded into several layers of public and private discourse.
I was able to have a closer look at the development in Poland and figured out some interesting points, regarding the rise of hate speech in this country. Observing the development in the period from 2015 until now with the Law and Justice party in charge one can clearly see a dramatic change in the political discourse. This includes not only a significant rise in anti-refugee, anti-Semitic and Islamophobic propaganda, just to name a couple of contexts, but also a dropping sensitivity towards hate speech in general.
Having a closer look at the situation in Poland I saw that there are several factors that are supporting the rise of hate speech and its acceptance in the Polish society. In the course of this the Law and Justice Party with its leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski clearly show their aversion against Muslims, refugees and anti-government media coverage. Therefore, refugees are easily called rapists or people who bring parasites, whereas opposition organizations and groups are depicted as servants of foreign powers who attempt to destroy Poland. The public media controlled by the government support those images and a reluctance against everything that is called as “the other”.
Professor Michał Bilewicz who discussed the rise of xenophobia and hate speech with HIA fellows explained also the several effects hate speech can have, not only on the addressee but on the one who witnesses hate speech. Due to a rising occurrence of hate speech not only on television and by statements of politicians but also on the Internet, more and more people would show a reluctance of condemning hate speech. One reason would be that when you hear hate speech all the time, you get used to it. You forget how insulting and harassing it is and do not consider it as something that anyone would be concerned about. Unfortunately, this development does not only apply for adults but especially for the younger generations. The research conducted by our guest speaker proves that more and more Poles encounter hate speech, may it be on the Internet or on the media. The result is a decrease in sensitivity in the society.
Among the HIA-fellows we discussed several ways to react to hate speech. Among those solutions were also calls for the change of the self-conception of society in which those statements are not accepted by the vast majority and where those statements are responded by a rising sensitivity and empathy of awareness for the problem that forces hate speakers to publicly step back from their statements.
Having in mind hate speech in Germany and my personal experiences, I wanted to know the thoughts of Professor Bilewicz, but also what I can do to counteract hate speech in my country. Comparing it to the situation in Poland, I had the feeling that although in Germany right wing parties and racists try to bring hate speech and xenophobia into the mainstream discourse, there is still a strong counter-reaction of a big part of the society that condemns this hate speech and forces the perpetrators to publicly relativize their statements. Even though I was told that Germany is heading towards a dangerous direction the situation in Poland would be even worse. More and more Poles are confronted with hate speech. Therefore, the sensitivity for fighting it drops rapidly. Now we are in a situation in Poland where hate speech is not only encountered without outrage, but with a sort of patriotism and a nationalistic pride of an attitude like “… we say what we want, when we want to…”.
Encountering hate speech with nothing but absolutely zero tolerance is something that we as active citizens all have to do. At HIA we do not only learn how to recognize those hate speech acts and xenophobic propaganda, we also learn to take action and apply the right measurements to encounter hate speech and deal with it in a proper way. What gives me hope for my own situation and the situation in Germany is the fact that the German society is not yet at the point where perpetrators can say whatever they want without any criticism of the majority of the people. As an activist and human rights advocate I see especially us in charge to act and prevent an atmosphere of intolerance and hatred.
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Onur Aksu was born and raised in Recklinghausen, Germany, he is now studying in my second semester Law at the University of Cologne and participating in the German-Turkish Bachelor program Law, at the same time. With this bilingual program, he is aiming to gain several experiences in my country of origin. Growing up with to different cultures he has always been aware of my responsibility as a mediator between both of his cultures and communities. Therefore, he is involved in a lot of projects encouraging interreligious and intercultural dialogue. Currently, he is working on an event that will bring together Muslim and Christian students for an open discourse, during the Islamic fasting month. He enjoys reading books and playing the piano. After graduating from university, he is striving to become a diplomat or work as an advisor on human rights issues in an international organization.
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