Two local organizations committed to countering online hate speech against the Muslim community are offering Muslim youth in Grades 11 and 12 the opportunity to apply for a Counterspeech Lab (CSL) sessions that begin later this month.
The lab is an opportunity for students to gain the tools they can use to create a counter narrative to online Islamophobic hate, says a press release.
Online hate speech has been a pressing issue among youth in the recent years with the rise in use of social media platforms as a primary connecting tool. Unfortunately, marginalized and racialized populations are among the first to be targeted when it comes to online hate.
Muslim youth are among the most vulnerable populations affected by this form of hate.
Eisha Amir, who participated in the first CSL in March and provided feedback on its impact, wrote that the Counterspeech Lab gives Muslim youth a chance to see how hate is presented on different platforms.
"It gives us the ability as individuals to tackle it and help others that are facing bullying, etc. to tackle it," she wrote. "It teaches us the concept of media literacy and how social media works. We're learning it for tackling hate, but we're also trying to re-educate ourselves about the use of social media."
The lab is offered by Youth Leaders 4 Change (YL4C), a Coalition of Muslim Women (CMW) of KW program.
The CMW youth program held its first Counterspeech Lab earlier this year. The full-day, daily workshop sessions were offered as a March break camp and were attended by 14 youth.
Students went through a series of information sessions, interacting with experts in cyber safety, online hate, digital marketing, and restorative justice. Using the tools and skills learned during the workshops, students develop strategic counterspeech campaigns for preventing and countering online hate.
“Three most important things that I learned were restorative justice, counter speech, and what actions are being done to avoid online hate,” continued Amir.
Nardeen Alqadri wrote that she would like to know more about the restorative justice system and how it is applied in Canada.
All youth that attended wanted to know how they could get involved in more programs that are similar to the Counterspeech Lab.
Space is limited and preference will be given to first-time applicants.
Interested youth are invited to reach out to Fatima Awan at [email protected] by Sunday, Aug. 7 to register for the week-long sessions that begin on Aug. 22.
