Chapter Three: Approaches to Combatting Online Hate Speech In chapter one I conducted an assessment of Buddhist and Muslim conflict in Myanmar and demonstrated how religion has become politicized by Buddhist nationalists, like Wirathu, who provoke the mistrust of Muslims to unify the Bamar Buddhist identity group. Furthering this, chapter two examined how these tensions are amplified through hate speech, and the consequences that online hate speech can have on its targeted minority group. The primary concerns discussed in this chapter were the psychological harm hate speech has, such as the othering and dehumanization of Muslims, and the potential to provoke violence through its damaging ideologies. To guarantee long-lasting peace we must devise a solution to counter hate speech which encompasses Myanmar’s history of ethnic and religious tensions. Lederach, a prominent scholar of peace studies, posits a theory of conflict resolution which aims at deep alterations of the conflict parties’ relationships, in order to avoid reoccurrence of violence.107 This approach is useful in the complexity of Myanmar’s internal conflicts as it focuses less on short term solutions, and more on facilitating peace through changing the structural patterns that cause violence. This chapter aims to outline and assess different methods of countering hate speech that generally fall into three categories: prevention, regulation, and counter-narratives. Its purpose is to use these methods to evaluate what would be the most successful way to counter hate speech in Myanmar. Anti Hate Speech Movements in Myanmar Firstly, let us look at counter hate speech campaigns that have been initiated in Myanmar. The Panzagar campaign (known as ‘Flower Speech’ in English) 107 Lederach, J., (2003) The Little Book of Conflict Transformation, Good Books, p. 11. - 48 -