Previous 57 / 77 Next

terrorist groups like ISIS do not represent Islam and its beliefs.135 One positive aspect of this campaign is its simplicity and ease to participate in; additionally, its visibility can make it highly effective by drawing attention to the problem, which may intrigue its audience to look further into it. Though it may be simple, the ‘NotInMyName’ trend has been shared by thousands of social media users, helping to counter negative perceptions of Islam and show people that terrorist groups such as ISIS do not represent Islam. This is one of many social activism campaigns to raise awareness. The ‘SandraBland’ hashtag illustrated how social media is a powerful tool in the hands of activists. The hashtag became popular after scepticism arose surrounding the circumstances of Sandra Bland’s death (police claimed Bland committed suicide in jail three days after being arrested for what many considered, after a video of the arrest became available online, to be an unfair arrest). These social media campaigns that draw attention to injustice can often result in change: in 2013 feminist campaign groups called for the ban of online pages they said promoted violence, and this led to Facebook admitting they needed to do more to identity and remove controversial, harmful and hateful content.136 As these kind of campaigns spread internationally through Twitter or Facebook, it may be a useful method to draw attention to human rights abuses or discriminating attitudes that affect Myanmar’s communities. Furthermore, businesses can play an important role in countering hate by giving young people the tools to find their voice, promote peace and develop through education. In an interview Farah Anwar Pandith, who works for the American government as a Special Representative to Muslim Communities, argues that not only should the government create platforms where voices can be heard, but businesses should be creating them too.137 He gives the example of TED, a global set of educational conferences available through the TED app for smart phones, Facebook, and Twitter. 135 Mosbergen, D., (2015) ‘'This Is Not Islam': #NotInMyName Campaign Revived After Paris Attacks’, Huffington Post, available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/notinmyname-parisattacks_56494ef7e4b045bf3defbf7a?v3ac3di [November 2015]. 136 Lee, D., (2013) ‘Facebook bows to campaign groups over 'hate speech'’, BBC, available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22701082 [November 2015]. 137 Pandith, F., (2013), ‘Social Media in the Muslim World’, U.S. Department of State, available at: http://www.state.gov/s/srmc/2013/206743.htm [November 2015]. - 57 -

Select target paragraph3

● ● ●

Religion, hate speech and social media in Myanmar: Analysing methods of intervention

Academic Publication

Preview

Language

English

Topic

Hate Speech
Rohingya Crisis

Author(s)

Bethany Davis

Date Published: Dec 1, 2015

Abstract: Myanmar is home to one of the longest running intrastate conflicts in the world, involving a series of ethnic and religious clashes that have caused harm to all parties involved. The ideology of a homogeneity based on Buddhism and the Bamar ethnicity has marginalized minority groups, which make up a third of the population, and has particularly affected the Rakhine state’s Buddhist and Muslim communities, the latter of which are subject to what international human rights organizations are calling an ethnic cleansing. Since the government relaxed restrictions to the access of foreign websites, the social media site Facebook has become a popular means to disseminate misinformation and rumours, and this has created mistrust and hatred against Muslims across the country, heightening the polarization between Buddhist and Muslim groups. This study will combine conflict analysis with the assessment of different approaches of countering hate speech to propose which methods of intervention are most suitable for this situation in Myanmar. Lederach argues that to counter hatred and avoid reoccurrence of violence, deep alterations of the parties’ relationships is needed. This idea forms the basis for chapter three which examines educational methods, interfaith projects and social media campaigns to both prevent and change negative attitudes towards the religious ‘Other’. It argues that education and awareness campaigns are more effective than the implementation of legal regulation as we need to combat the underlying issue. In addition to secondary sources, this study involved field research to collect information about how the youth are influence by hate speech and counter hate campaigns in Myanmar.

Link: Source

Primary Documents

2015-12-00-Religion-hate-speech-and-social-media-in-Myanmar-en-red.pdf
English
Download View

Myanmar Internet Project

Select target paragraph3

Religion, hate speech and social media in Myanmar: Analysing methods of intervention

Primary Documents

Notifications