Communalism

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND EXTREME SPEECH: APPROACHES TO COUNTER ONLINE HATE by Sahana Udupa April 2021 Commissioned Research Paper for the United Nations Peacekeeping Technology Strategy https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/digital_technology_and_extreme_speech_udupa_17_sept_2021.pdf 

the paper proposes four priority areas for UN entities:
► tackling global unevenness in platform governance
► connecting critical communities
► monitoring ‘gray’ zones, fringe actors, and smaller/domestic platforms
► engaging repressive states to tackle coordinated disinformation and hate campaigns.

the paper builds on the framework of ‘extreme speech’ rather than the more commonly invoked term,
‘hate speech’. ‘Extreme speech’ emphasizes the importance of longer histories of exclusion, racialization and dispossession that underpin contemporary digital manifestations of hate. At the same time, it draws attention to rapidly mutating online user practices including recent trends of hateful language that comes cloaked in ‘funny’ memes and wordplays, and intricate networks of political manipulation that draw not only on technology but also social trust.
The normative emphasis of the ‘hate speech’ discourse hinges on the imperative for immediate action, and hence raises the risk of glossing over historical trajectories, cultural subtleties and evolving ground realities.
Moving beyond technological solutionism, crisis driven actions and moral panics about digital communication, the framework of extreme speech offers a way to develop culturally appropriate and holistic interventions. Such interventions can be grouped under four interconnected levels (global, national, bilateral and local/community) and a mix of five high-level action frames (intermediation, policy pressure, connection, monitoring, and training/awareness) relevant for each level.

Repressive and authoritarian assaults on online speech
► In cases of state aligned coordinated attacks or authoritarian controls over platform regulations, and dramatic turmoil when companies feel the pressure to take swift actions at the cost of due diligence processes, UN entities should apply pressure to, and if necessary,
support social media companies to comply with global standards of content moderation and human rights protection by offering procedural clarity around escalation protocols and decision making. An institutionalized global structure to regularly convene social media companies to address repressive assaults on online speech will be a significant step towards addressing upheavals that unfold at the national levels. Convening different social media companies is especially critical during elections since disinformation campaigns funded by
resource rich political parties have begun to increasingly adopt cross-platform manipulation tactics.
► When ruling governments are directly involved in digital disinformation and hate campaigns, it is critical to partner with civil society monitoring groups and global digital rights organizations for awareness raising and capacity building of key State actors such as
judges and the judicial personnel. UN entities can also provide context sensitive positive narratives to social media companies to engage hate influencers online for user education and sensitization.

Digital Hate  https://publish.iupress.indiana.edu/projects/digital-hate 

The Global Conjuncture of Extreme Speech by Sahana UdupaIginio GagliardonePeter Hervik

The euphoria that has accompanied the birth and expansion of the internet as a "liberation technology" is increasingly eclipsed by an explosion of vitriolic language on a global scale.

Kamlesh Tiwari row: Who is inciting violence?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYKbqDT5EW4 
Jan 8, 2016 Hindu Mahasabha leader Kamlesh Tiwari has been jailed for his derogatory remark over Prophet Muhammad., but still, his hate speech is triggering violence in various parts of Eastern India.

Bengaluru Mob Violence: SDPI Leader Arrested For Allegedly Inciting Violence  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4rxkLEAP00 
Aug 12, 2020

A Facebook post laced with communal remarks sparked violent clashes in Bengaluru on Tuesday night in which a mob vandalised a police station and the residence of a Congress MLA.
Three people died in police firing after angry mobs attacked a Congress MLA's house in Bengaluru as a communal social media post shared allegedly by the leader's relative sparked outrage and clashes broke out in DJ Halli and KG Halli police station areas of the city. SDPI leader Muzamil Pasha has been arrested by Bengaluru Police for his role in mob violence 

Burning the veil: An Indian response Saba Naqvi, SEP 26 2022  https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/burning-the-veil-an-indian-response-1148310.html .  I would learn that Iranian women are among the most educated in the region, with an 83% literacy rate and have one of the highest participation in the sciences .  Thirty-five people have been killed in the week-long protests that continue across Iran, triggered by the death of a young woman arrested by the morality police, and 750 arrested, according to state TV. Pro-government counter-protests have also begun..

https://www.nme.com/news/music/yungblud-speaks-out-mahsa-amini-3317082  “I am not gonna stand here and question someone’s religion, but I am gonna fucking fight for expression. I am gonna fight for freedom and I am gonna fight for the women of fucking Iran right now. The right to express yourself is your right and your right alone. said Yungblud just two days ago https://twitter.com/i/status/1574022845054713856 https://www.nme.com/news/music/yungblud-speaks-out-mahsa-amini-3317082