RightsCon Tunis 2019

We will offer knowledge from specific efforts to respond to hatred online, and then facilitate a brainstorm among all attendees. First, Dr. Cathy Buerger will describe a handful of key anti-hatred efforts from around the world, based on more than a year of research and interviews with their leaders. Two founders of anti-hatred efforts will then speak about their own active and influential projects.

Mina Dennert, an Iranian-born Swedish journalist, was deeply dispirited by the surge of hatred online in Sweden that followed the arrival of many refugees to Europe in 2015. She founded a group to respond to hatred collectively, wrote a set of rules strictly governing the tone of the group’s posts, and called it Jagärhär, or ”I am here.” The idea went viral, attracting 75,000 members, and Jagärhär has since been replicated in 13 other countries.

Logan Smith founded the popular Twitter account @YesYoureRacist in 2012, which has grown from a lighthearted way to poke fun at people who say “I’m not racist but…” to a major online presence in today’s fight against hate speech. In 2017, Logan was instrumental in identifying several of the white supremacists who rioted in Charlottesville, Virginia. By day, he is the communications director for Progress NC Action, a progressive nonprofit in Raleigh, North Carolina.

After these brief and provocative talks, the moderator will invite the entire group to offer specific ideas from their own responses to hatred online - or those they have witnessed. Finally we will invite ideas for future projects and collaborations.