IWPR has begun training monitors in Burma (Myanmar) in readiness for the launch of a 12-month anti-hate speech project to promote greater tolerance of ethnic, religious and marginalised groups through information, education and public debate.
The first short training course in the former capital Yangon was attended by 19 journalists from that city and from Mandalay. It was led by IWPR’s Asia Director Alan Davis and by our new programme manager and editor, both of them former journalists with leading Burmese dailies.
Burma’s political transition in recent years has been accompanied by a rise in exclusive nationalism. Leading Buddhist monks from the Ma Ba Tha movement claim to speak for the Bamar majority and engage in anti-Muslim narratives targeting the Rohingya minority. To counter this, IWPR’s programming will encourage peaceful public engagement and seek to build a consensus that hate speech, left unchecked, is bad for the country’s future.
“The essential challenge facing Burma is how to protect and defend things without going on the offensive and attacking and inciting violence against others,” Davis said. “Consequently, our project is all about our belief that the more information and education and debate is encouraged and shared respectfully, the more we can all reduce the influence and impact of hate speech. (Courtesy of IWPR)
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