Dispersion weakens us. When we become divided, we lose our capacity to react and we give way to hate speech as a way of doing politics that reaches the whole of society. Hatred disguised as simple ideas – usually false and easy to understand – quickly catches on in that part of public opinion that is not alert or has limited critical capacity.

Acampa por la Paz y el Derecho a Refugio was born in 2016 with a central idea: the unity of action of organisations and people who observe with sadness, but without resignation, the regression of Human Rights and the advance of a totalitarian intolerance that, with haste and without pause, is taking over the spaces of democracy, rights and social and political conquests.

Hatred is multifaceted. It can stem from the beliefs, prejudices and violence we suffer; from conflicts between groups, from economic problems; it can be triggered by inequalities, frustration over unfulfilled political promises. The most common reasons for hatred of the victim are their origin, race or ethnicity; their religion, language, political stance, sexual orientation; their disabilities (physical, mental or sensory)… Hatred has a thousand and one faces.

But it is important to know that no one is born hating anyone because of the colour of their skin, their origin or religion, their educational, social, political or economic status. Hatred is an elaboration, a learned response. Therefore, we can also learn to respect, to love, to live in harmony with what is different. Respect, empathy and solidarity are essential values that curb the emergence and proliferation of prejudices such as those that underpin fascism or different forms of violence.

Hate speech infiltrates the social fabric as a hindrance to dissent or social frustration, riding on fake news, idolatries or public policies that segregate part of the citizenry.

We are living through a crisis of multiple identities aggravated by a fallacious globalisation that has broken down old structures without articulating compensations for its victims and that benefits a very small group to the detriment of populations living in misery due to unscrupulous global capitalism.
Hatred must be fought at the grassroots. Schools must be the first place for prevention because they play a fundamental role in the understanding and respect of differences; it is where we learn to detect the harmful effect of hate and violence in the way we think and act; it is where we learn that hate mutilates Human Rights and coexistence, with a catastrophic effect on society as a whole.

Effectively combating hate speech requires the public authorities to tackle it with tough legislation, thus restricting its persuasive impact.

Peace is more than the absence of war: it is living together with our differences – of sex, race, ethnicity, language, religion, culture… – promoting respect for equality among human beings, universal justice and the active and resilient defence of the Human Rights on which, ultimately, this coexistence depends.

The global outlook is not encouraging. Hate speech is splashed across reality. Millions of migrants are no longer seen as human beings and are transmuted into “threats”; the extreme right is shouting ever louder and freer in the streets of any country in Europe. Minorities, those who are different, are increasingly persecuted and discriminated against. The rights that we have worked so hard to consolidate are disappearing. The same citizens, numb and fearful, are giving in and renouncing them. Vulnerability grows and, as if that were not enough, artificial intelligence arrives to demonstrate that human beings and their values are totally dispensable realities. In the face of all this, the only thing citizens must not do is remain silent. We must always remember that our most powerful force is unity.

Acampa 2023.