Course introduction

Hi, welcome to this course on countering hate speech. My name is Julia Mozer and I'll be your instructor for this course. I've been working as a hate speech advisor for the past three years at a European organization called CEJI, a Jewish contribution to an inclusive Europe.

We run the Facing Facts project series that aims to tackle hate speech and hate crimes across Europe through education and advocacy. I also have a background in media and public relations and been working in this field for years. I'm happy to share some of my experiences and tips on how to better counter hate speech.

This is an introductory course, where we'll be introducing basic concepts and essential theories with practical tips and tools, so we'll keep it as practical as possible. We'll have three main areas to cover. The first one will be the destination of hate speech, what are the different definitions? What are the elements of hate speech? How they come together.

We will also be talking about freedom of expression and how fighting hate speech relates to freedom of expression. In the second part of the course, we'll be talking about safety, both technological safety and emotional safety, and will also provide you with a safety checklist that you can keep for later and go back to it when needed.

In the third part, we'll come to counteraction. We'll be discussing all the forms of counteractions from reporting and removing all the way to counter-speech and counter-campaigns and we will also talk about the cases when you need to turn to the police. As you can see, we have a lot to cover so, better get started right away.