Promoting interfaith dialogue, combatting hate speech: Defyhatenow, Civic Watch school varsity students in Buea.

This was the focus of a two-day workshop on July 25 and 26, organised by #Defyhatenow and Civic Watch in Buea.

The young people selected from diverse educational and religious backgrounds, were educated on the importance of leveraging interfaith dialogue to mitigate faith-based hate speech and incitement to violence.

They also gained knowledge on understanding peace-building best practices to uphold in these communities for a hate-free Cameroon.

The 25 students originally from different parts of Cameroon, gained knowledge on overcoming existing stereotypes, pressure of social media and fanaticism.

This was through sessions facilitated by resource persons from the Department of International Relations and Conflict Resolution at the University of Buea.

Addressing participants during the workshop, the Research and Activity Implementation Coordinator at Defyhatenow Cameroon, Dr Kinang Derick, said hate speech inspired by religion is inevitable in the community, therefore highlighting the need for such a programme targeting young people. 

He expressed his desire to see young people share the knowledge with their peers, elders and parents to ensure a society free of hate speech.

On his part, Dr Wung Hans Wung, the workshop coordinator, said the aim was to foster interfaith dialogue with participants selected on faith-based and student-based criteria. 

“It is true that amongst our communities, we don’t have discrepancies between Muslims and Christians but the fact that we create awareness that they could exist or if they are existing, helping our society to tackle these differences to avoid violent conflicts,” Dr Wung Hans noted.

One of the participants, Rashidatu Dao, said the workshop had helped her understand the essence of communication in the community. 

She said asking questions about issues we do not understand in various religions, would facilitate reduce hate speech inspired by religion. She added that being culturally conscious of comments from others will be a message she would sensitise her Muslim community about.

On his part, another participant, Che Che Daniel, promised to share the lessons learned with others. 

“We are going to transform and deconstruct mindsets and spread the word against hate speech,” Che said. 

This story was first published in The Guardian Post Issue No:3184 of Tuesday July 30, 2024