Citizens Journalists on Tour

Aims & objectives

What is Citizen Journalists on Tour?
Citizen Journalists on Tour is an international training course on how to combat hate speech on the internet. The target group are youth workers, educators, activists, young journalists and other multipliers. The goal is to provide participants with:
* a deeper understanding of the problem of hate speech on the internet;
* competencies and strategies on how to effectively counter hate speech on the internet;
* a space for networking and sharing of difference European perspectives.

Context

The political discourse in many European countries has taken a “right turn” in the past months. Not only do right-wing parties gain remarkable popularity in various election across Europe, people also use the internet and social media to spread hateful political views. In doing so, they contribute to a climate that is particularly hostile towards minorities, journalists, political elites or the European integration process as a whole. In view of this, we would like to contribute to the multiplication of tools for countering hate speech on the internet.

Target group & international/intercultural composition of the group & team

24 youth workers and trainers from Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland and United Kingdom took place in the training.

The trainers' team were composed of one German trainer and two Greek trainers.

Training methods used & main activities

We actively involved the participants and engage our brains, hearts and bodies.
Our methodological approach included theoretical inputs, discussions, workshops, reflections, best-practice examples, excursions, cooperation games, open space and others. The seminar language was in English.

Outcomes of the activity

The Citizen Journalists on Tour: Countering Hate Speech training course was very successful as participants
*deeply comprehended the phenomenon of hate speech through various non formal education activities
*felt more empowered in taking action against hate speech by designing team action plans against hate speech based on real needs

website of the project: https://www.kreisau.de/veranstaltung/citizen-journalists-on-tour-countering-hate-speech/

daily programme of the projecthttps://www.kreisau.de/fileadmin/kreisau/Projektausschreibungen/CJOT2017_Draft_Program.pdf

Your tasks and responsibilities within the team

I was a co-designer of the daily programme and I was full time trainer steering the group dynamics and the ongoing learning process of the group. I was also a lead trainer in the following activities:

Workshop: What is Hate Speech? Why is it
a problem?

Workshop: Counter Strategies against Hate Speech

Workshop:Local action plans: how to apply the
skills in your local context

I worked on this training for 8 days as a full time trainer.