HOW DANGEROUS SPEECH (DEHUMANIZATION) PLAYS A ROLE IN PERPETUATING CONFLICT DYNAMICS.

" Violence starts with dehumanization. Dehumanization starts with language " 

We understand dangerous speech as “any form of expression (speech, text, or images) that can increase the risk that its audience will condone or participate in violence against members of another group,” a definition coined by Susan Benesch

WHY IS DANGEROUS SPEECH A PROBLEM

Between 2010 and 2015, Nigeria lost 6,500 citizens and 62,000 others were displaced from their homelands in 850 recorded violent clashes between herdsmen and farmers in the Middle Belt region of the country. ( Oludayo Tade. University of Ibadan. June 29 2020).

3,641 people killed between January 2016 and October 2018, 57 percent of them in 2018 alone. (Amnesty). In almost all communities affected by herders-farmers conflicts are not living together let alone living in peace.

On International Day of Living Together in Peace, I am focused on the topic of dangerous speech because it’s important. Nigeria conflicts shows dangerous speech has been one of the major cause. Rotberg has rightly argued: “state failure is man-made and not merely accidental”(Rotberg, 2002:93). Many people do not know how easily dangerous speech can lead to violence. According to Conciliation Resources, since 2017, the conflict between farmers and herders across the country has claimed even more lives than Boko Haram and is now one of the country’s most pressing security concerns.

From 2009 Boko Haram insurgency has claimed 100.000 civilians lives and leave 7.7 millions in serious need of humanitarian assistance.

There is some historical support for this claim. Tutsi people were called cockroaches by the Hutu before the horrendous 1994 Rwanda genocide. Jews were called rats and vermin by Nazis before the Holocaust. For instance the Farmers- Harder clashes are promote by the elites dangerous speech. Between 2015 and 2019, conflicts between farmers and herders in central and northern Nigeria have claimed over 8,000 lives, with victims and perpetrators on both sides. While these conflicts are rooted in highly local disagreements over access to natural resources, DANGEROUS SPEECH ON SOCIAL MEDIA has increasingly re-framed them as an existential threat to the entire nation, drawing more people into the conflict and deepening religious and ethnic divisions( By James Courtright, DANGEROUS SPEECH PROJECT). "No one has ever been born hating or fearing other people". That has to be taught it is a learned behavior – and those harmful lessons seem to be similar, though they’re given in highly disparate cultures, languages, and places. Leaders have used particular kinds of rhetoric to turn groups of people violently against one another throughout human history, by demonizing and denigrating or stereotyping others. 

Common dividing lines are religion, ethnicity, class or sexuality. However age is sometimes included.

But the good news is that research conducted by BEYOND CONFLICT and PIN has shown that it's very possible to change the narrative and rehumanize the other side.

WHAT SHOULD WE ALL DO.

* We must believe in humanity and desire to live together.

* We should avoid the use of dangerous speech when communicating (through speech, text or images) with others; 

* We should denounce and never promote dangerous speech when used by my community or political leaders; 

* We should establish and enhance mechanisms to prevent, mitigate, and respond to the use of dangerous speech in our communities;

 * We should share evidence-based knowledge on how to re-humanize members of other groups and the impact that will bring.

* We should rehumanize the other side.

Moses Homtapwa

Founder and CEO

Youth And Dreams Initiative