After 4 months of an intensive campaign aimed at combating hate speech, a seminar for young people was held in Sarajevo as part of the same project. The seminar was held from 18th to 20th December 2020 at the hotel Hollywood in Ilidža. This seminar brought together 14 young people who were part of the #ALTerHate campaign and young people who are interested in getting involved in the fight against hate speech.

During the 3 days of the seminar, participants discussed what hate speech is, how to recognize it, what are the best ways to fight it and what are the deep-rooted forms of hate speech in our society. In addition to the topic of hate speech, the facilitators talked to the participants about narratives and how they are constructed, but also how to create alternative and counter-narratives to the ubiquitous narratives of hatred and division. Another topic that participants could learn about is media literacy and critical thinking, two extremely important topics connected to recognizing hate speech and the narrative behind this kind of speech as well as how to deconstruct that narrative.

#ALTerHate is a campaign implemented by Youth for Peace, with partner organizations Somborski Edukativni Centar from Serbia and Udhetim i Lire from Albania within the #Speech4Change platform. #Speech4Change is a platform created by young people gathered around the European Interfaith Youth Network of Religions for Peace, which aims to combat hate speech through activities of education, sensitization, and advocacy for acceptance of diversity and inclusion through the creation of alternative narratives.

You can find more about the #ALTerHate campaign on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages through which the campaign is implemented.