Alternative Narratives

Norwegian peace researcher Johan Galtung introduced the concept of cultural violence to explain how elements of a culture – such as stories, songs, or language – can be used to justify direct violence. Even elements that appear harmless can reinforce discrimination or injustice. Discussions about hate speech often centre on its most visible forms: offensive comments, aggressive slogans, or hostile online posts. These represent only the surface. Beneath them lies a deeper structure, a system of negative narratives that shape thoughts, emotions, and behaviours. Statements such as “They’re stealing our jobs” function as more than opinions; they form part of a harmful narrative that sustains fear and division. In contrast, alternative narratives are stories and messages that promote human rights, solidarity, and inclusion. These narratives make it possible to rethink problems, move beyond stereotypes, and create opportunities for dialogue and cooperation. Social transformation develops gradually; emancipation is a continual process rather than a final goal.

 

What Is Hate Speech and Why It Matters

Hate speech goes beyond the use of offensive words. It can take the form of any message, image, or action whether it is written text, a meme, a video, or even an emoji that intentionally targets someone with insults, threats, or messages that encourage discrimination or violence based on aspects of their identity. According to the Council of Europe, hate speech includes any form of communication that spreads, incites, or justifies hatred against individuals or groups, especially based on “race”, religion, nationality, or background. It also encompasses intolerance expressed through extreme nationalism, ethnocentrism, and discrimination against migrants or minority communities. Additional forms include anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, misogyny, anti-Roma sentiments, homophobia, and transphobia. The nature of online platforms allows this kind of content to circulate quickly and widely, often without proper control, which increases the harm and helps make dehumanising language seem normal. UNESCO’s 2023 report “Addressing Hate Speech through Education” highlights how hate speech can lead to real-world consequences, including violence, social division, and a weakening of democratic participation. It also harms the dignity and visibility of marginalised groups, especially when social media algorithms promote provocative or extreme content, bringing harmful messages into everyday public discussions. This situation shows why digital literacy is an essential part of being an engaged citizen. It involves much more than simply knowing how to use technology. It also means understanding the ethical side of communication, the influence of narratives, and how certain messages can be amplified. Being able to recognise hate speech and respond appropriately is a powerful way to act and protect both individuals and communities. Addressing hate speech is challenging. It can be emotionally demanding and may involve personal risks, particularly when speaking in online spaces or public settings. Hate speech frequently results in real-world consequences, as verbal hostility can escalate into physical aggression. The boundary between language and action can be narrow.

Meaningful action is possible without specialised expertise. Motivated individuals with awareness and clear plan can develop impactful messages or campaigns that counter hate narratives. The development of an alternative narrative typically involves four stages: analysis, planning, implementation, and evaluation. The process begins with understanding the harmful narrative that requires countering. This includes identifying its central message, its target, and the emotions it evokes. Many harmful narratives rely on myths and false assumptions and often target groups already facing marginalisation. It is also important to assess how media contribute to the circulation of these narratives – whether by supporting, ignoring, or challenging them. Following the analysis, the planning phase defines the intended message and desired impact. This includes identifying the target audience, selecting appropriate tone and language, and clarifying the values that the narrative should express. Effective alternative narratives are inclusive, grounded in human rights, and promote empathy, equality, and participation. Implementation involves sharing messages with the public. This may include engaging individuals who can amplify their reach – such as journalists, educators, influencers, and people directly affected by hate narratives, including survivors or former supporters of such narratives. The final step involves evaluating the results. Key questions include whether the intended audience was reached, whether the message was clearly understood, and whether it contributed to shifts in attitudes or perceptions. This reflection helps strengthen future efforts. In conclusion, although hate speech is complex and widespread, various tools and approaches exist to confront it. Language holds significant power: it can harm, but it can also support healing, connection, and social change.

Glossary

Afrophobia

Afrophobia is a term used to describe the specificities of racism that targets people of Afrodiaspora. Afrophobia seeks to dehumanise and deny the dignity of a large group of people. Afrophobia manifests itself through acts of racial discrimination – direct, indirect and structural – and violence, including hate speech, targeting Afrodiasporic people. It can take many different forms: dislike, personal antipathy, bias, bigotry, prejudice, oppression, racism, structural and institutional discrimination, racial and ethnic profiling, enslavement, xenophobia, societal marginalisation and exclusion, systematic violence, hate speech and hate crime. Afrophobia is based on socially constructed ideas of ‘race’. This is associated with understandings of racism as a concept and correlates to historically repressive structures of colonialism. The categorisation of physical attributes (e.g. skin pigmentation) considered as symbols of an inferior and/or incompatible difference is deeply embedded in the collective European imagination and continues to impact the lives of Afrodiasporic people.

 

Asylum

Asylum is granting, by a state, protection on its territory to people from another state who are fleeing persecution or danger. Asylum encompasses a variety of elements, including non-refoulement, permission to remain on the territory of the asylum country, and humane standards of treatment.

 

Asylum-seeker

An asylum-seeker is an individual who has crossed an international border and is seeking international protection. In countries with individualised procedures, an asylum-seeker is someone whose claim for asylum has not yet been finally decided on by the country in which he or she has submitted it. Not every asylum-seeker will ultimately be recognised as a refugee, but every refugee is initially an asylum-seeker.

 

Bias

Bias is a prejudice in favour of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way that’s considered unfair. Biases may be held by an individual, group, or institution and can have negative or positive consequences. Conscious or explicit bias is when individuals are aware of their prejudices and attitudes toward certain groups. Positive or negative preferences for a particular group are explicit biases. Overt racism, discriminatory behaviour, and racist comments are examples of explicit biases. Unconscious or implicit biases are social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness. People can hold unconscious beliefs about various social and identity groups, and these biases stem from the tendency to organize social worlds through categorising those groups. Unconscious bias is far more prevalent than conscious bias and is often incompatible with one’s conscious values. Certain scenarios can activate unconscious attitudes and beliefs, and individuals may be unaware that biases, rather than facts, are driving their decision-making.

 

Diaspora

Diasporas are broadly defined as individuals and members of networks, associations and communities who have left their country of origin but maintain links with their countries of origin. This concept covers more settled expatriate communities, migrant workers temporarily based abroad, expatriates with the citizenship of the receiving or destination country, dual citizens, and second-/third-generation migrants. It refers to a people or an ethnic population that leave their traditional ethnic homelands, or countries of origin, and are dispersed throughout other parts of the world.

 

Discrimination

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), in its General Recommendation No. 20, said that differences in treatment based on citizenship or migration status constitute discrimination if the criteria for different treatment, when judged in the light of the objectives and purposes of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, are not applied in pursuit of a legitimate aim or are not proportional to its achievement.

Discrimination

Discrimination is the unjust or prejudicial treatment of individuals or groups based on characteristics such as “race”, colour, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex and gender, age, marital and parental status (including pregnancy), disability, sexual orientation, or genetic information. Discrimination puts burdens, obligations, or disadvantages on some individuals or groups that are not put on others, and/or denies or limits access to resources, opportunities, and advantages.

 

Discrimination can take various forms, such as:

 

Direct discrimination, when an explicit distinction is made between groups of people, results in individuals from some groups being less able than others to exercise their rights. Indirect discrimination, when a law, policy, or practice is presented in neutral terms (no explicit distinctions are made) but it disproportionately disadvantages a specific group or groups. Intersectional discrimination, when several forms of discrimination combine to leave a particular group or groups at an even greater disadvantage.

 

Institutionalised discrimination refers to the unjust and discriminatory mistreatment of an individual or group of individuals by society and its institutions through unequal intentional or unintentional selection as opposed to individuals making a conscious choice to discriminate. It stems from systemic stereotypical beliefs (such as racist beliefs) that are held by the majority living in a society where stereotypes and discrimination are the norm. Such discrimination is typically codified into the operating procedures, policies, laws, or objectives of such institutions.

 

Diversity

Diversity is about recognising and valuing individual and group differences across various visible and invisible dimensions. These dimensions include race, sex and gender, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, age, physical ability as well as personal life, educational and work experiences, geographic and socioeconomic roots, plus differences like thinking and communication styles, cultural knowledge, language abilities, and religious or spiritual perspectives.

 

Equity

While diversity refers to recognising and valuing individual differences, equity is about creating fair access, opportunity, and advancement for all without bias. Equity is the fair treatment of all people according to their respective needs and the historic construction and constraints associated with groups of people. This may include equal treatment or treatment that is different by group but is equivalent in terms of rights, benefits, obligations and opportunities. To ensure fairness, strategies and measures may be necessary to compensate for the historical and social disadvantages that prevent people from otherwise operating equally in society.

 

Ethnicity

An ethnicity refers to a group that shares a common ancestry, usually a group that speaks the same language. Ethnicity is different from “race”, in that people of many different ethnicities can belong to the same race. For instance, white Europeans belong to dozens of different ethnicities.

 

Inclusion

Inclusion refers to how diversity is leveraged to create a fair, equitable, healthy, and high-performing organization or community where all individuals are respected, engaged and motivated, and their contributions toward meeting organisational and societal goals are valued. Social inclusion is the process of improving the ability, opportunity, and dignity of people disadvantaged based on their identity to take part in society. Participation and respect are key elements of inclusion and are pathways to REE, but inclusion alone is not equity.

 

Intersectionality

Intersectionality, a term coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw more than 30 years ago, is defined as “the complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination combine, overlap, or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalised individuals or groups”.1 Recognising intersectionality is important for understanding how individual and group economic, political, and social identities compound one another and affect power structures, including power imbalances, resulting in different experiences of privilege or marginality. Examples of social categories that may intersect in this manner include age, class, caste, (dis)ability, ethnicity, gender, geographic location, migration status, physical appearance, race, religion, sex, sexuality, and sexual orientation.

 

Microaggressions

Microaggressions are everyday actions and behaviours that have harmful effects on historically excluded groups. A microaggression is a subtle behaviour – verbal or non-verbal, conscious, or unconscious – directed at a member of a marginalised group that has a derogatory, harmful effect. The perpetrator of a microaggression may or may not be aware of the harmful effects of their behaviour. While microaggressions are sometimes conscious and intentional, on many occasions microaggressions may reflect the perpetrator’s implicit biases about marginalised group members. Whether intentional or not, researchers have found that even these subtle acts can have effect on their recipients.

 

Migrant

There is no internationally recognised definition of migrants. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ policy on migration describes migrants as people who leave or flee their places of habitual residence to go to a new place, across international borders or within their own state, to seek better or safer perspectives. Migration can be forced or voluntary, but most of the time a combination of choices and constraints are involved, as well as the intent to live abroad for an extended period. Although asylum-seekers and refugees often travel alongside migrants in so-called “mixed flows”, they have specific needs and are protected by a specific legal framework: they should generally not be conflated with migrants

 

Nationality 

Refers to a person’s citizenship. In other words, a citizen of a particular country has that country’s nationality. Many countries base their nationality laws on ethnicity. Others base it simply on the fact that a person was born in that country or has been naturalized by its government. Nationality carries with it a personal and legal obligation to a particular country.

 

Privilege

Privilege includes advantages, benefits, entitlements, and opportunities afforded to certain individuals or groups and not to others. Those with privilege may be unaware that they hold such privilege and be resistant to acknowledging it or the power that supports it. Further, a person may experience advantages for one social characteristic, such as “race”, while concurrently experiencing disadvantages for another social characteristic, such as gender or economic status (see “Intersectionality”).

Social privileges are linked to social characteristics or memberships in particular groups related to age, appearance, class, caste, (dis)ability, ethnicity, gender, migration status, “race”, religion, sex, and sexual orientation. Social privileges are often associated with characteristics and memberships that are static and unearned (such as those previously listed), but in some cases may be alterable (e.g., education attainment and wealth status). Social privileges often favour a majority group (for example, cisgender, heterosexual, white men) who serve as powerholders and can disadvantage minority group members.

 

White privilege describes the societal advantages that white people have over BIPOC people. The term white privilege was first developed by Peggy McIntosh in 1988 in her paper “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” where she described white privilege as the unspoken advantage that members of the dominant culture have over other people. White privilege extends to white people having rights and structural and social advantages that other racial and ethnic groups do not, with white being seen as “normal” or the default state.

 

Race

“Race” can be defined as a competition to determine an outcome. “Race” is also a socially constructed concept that categorises people based on physical appearances (such as skin color) and ancestry. “Race” is not a biological or genetic categorisation.

 

Racial and Ethnic Equity (REE)

Racial and ethnic equity builds equality, parity, and justice specifically for Afrodiasporic individuals. In the United States, it addresses power dynamics between western white and Afrodiasporic individuals, and builds equity to ensure fair access, opportunity, and advancement for Afrodiasporic individuals on systemic, institutional, interpersonal, and individual levels that is free from bias and discrimination.

 

Racial Justice

Racial justice is the systematic fair treatment of people of all “races” that results in equitable opportunities and outcomes for everyone. The goal of racial justice is for all people to achieve their full potential in life, regardless of race, ethnicity, or the community in which they live.

 

Racism

Racism is the belief that humans are divided into racial categories defined by perceived physical characteristics (see “Race”); that these physical traits are linked to behaviour, intellect, morality, and personality; and that certain racial groups are inherently superior to others. Racial superiority and associated racial hierarchies, have been reinforced throughout history through slavery, colonisation, and discrimination.

 

This racist hierarchy manifests at different levels:

 

individual racism, also known as interpersonal racism and personally mediated racism, is what people most frequently associate with the broader term of racism. Individual racism reflects the attitudes, beliefs, prejudices, actions, and behaviours of an individual-conscious and unconscious, active and passive-that perpetuate inequality and inequities. Individual racism ranges from the telling of a racist joke to violence enacted against a person based on race

 

institutional racism occurs within institutions (e.g., a school, a business, a government or policymaking institution, a professional association, a religious institution); and is demonstrated in biased policies and practices that chronically favour or discriminate against select racial groups which routinely results in increased disparities among racial groups. For instance, a school or workplace policy that prohibits select hairstyles commonly associated with Black students or staff (see also “Institutional Discrimination”).

 

structural racism, also known as systemic racism, exists across institutions and society as a feature of overarching social, economic, and political systems. Structural/systemic racism reflects a system of common institutional practices and public policies that perpetuate racial inequalities. One example of structural/systemic racism in the US is the racial income and wealth gaps which are the results of a history of discriminatory policies, such as those related to employment and salary, housing, and savings and investments.

 

Refugee

A refugee is a person who has fled their own country because they are at risk of serious human rights violations and persecution there. The risks to their safety and life were so great that they felt they had no choice but to leave and seek safety outside their country because their own government cannot or will not protect them from those dangers. Refugees have a right to international protection.

 

Stigma

Stigma is the disapproval and/or devaluing of an individual or group based on certain characteristics–real or perceived. Stigma occurs when a society categorizes and labels individuals, conceives or upholds stereotypes associated with those labels, and discriminates against those associated with those labels based on those stereotypes. Stigmas are commonly linked to prejudices related to social characteristics (e.g., age, appearance, class, caste, culture, (dis)ability, economic status, educational attainment, ethnicity, gender, health status, migration status, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation).

There are several types of stigma, including:

self-stigma refers to feelings of negativity or guilt and internalized shame that people hold about themselves

 

anticipated or perceived stigmas are negative associations that an individual or group believes others hold against them

 

public stigma refers to negative and/or discriminatory attitudes that individuals and groups hold against other individuals or groups

 

institutional stigma is systemic and includes institutional policies (of governments or private entities) that intentionally or unintentionally discriminate against certain groups of individuals

 

Xenophobia

“Xenophobia consists of highly negative perceptions and practices that discriminate against non-citizen groups on the basis of their foreign origin or nationality […] Acts of violence, aggression and brutality towards migrant groups represent extreme and escalated forms of xenophobia.”[1]

 

Xenophobia is an ambiguous term. It can be against non-citizens, but it can also be based on the perception that a person is an outsider or foreigner. Therefore, it is based on a real or perceived “foreignness”.

 

Some extra terms:

acculturation: The process by which members of one community adjust their values, ideas, beliefs and behaviour to those of communities with a different culture.

 

ally/allies/allyship: Ally is the term that is used for a person who is aware of their (unearned) privileged position in society and is willing to use the privilege to change these unfair patterns. Allyship refers to the active and conscious use of recognized privileges to confront bias, discrimination and inequality.

oppression: is a state that refers to unequal access to power and privileges for certain subgroups in society. Oppression is also a process in which certain subgroups with greater power use that power to maintain that inequality.

[1] UNDP, Human Development Research Paper 2009/47, Xenophobia, International Migration and Human Development, September 2009.