How to face hate speech and promote critical thinking?
Students of the “Pietro Piazza” High School of Palermo within the framework of the project “New Chapter – NEtwork of Cooperation against Hate”, implemented a workshops 30th October 2018, which was designed by Center for the Development and Creativity Danilo Dolci.
We presented No Hate Speech Movement to promote freedom of expression online by providing a safe space for people to express themselves free from fear of hate speech. The campaign seeks to decrease the levels of acceptance of hate speech, online and offline. It combats hate speech in all forms, including those that most affect young people, such as cyber-hate.
In order to make the project more successful and to address the issue of freedom of expression, we have used the methodology of Danilo Dolci’s Reciprocal Maieutic Approach. The Reciprocal Maieutic Approach (RMA) is a dialectic method of inquiry and “popular self-analysis” for empowerment of communities and individuals and it can be defined as a “process of collective exploration that takes, as a departure point, the experience and the intuition of individuals”. As the name says, RMA is a “reciprocal” process between at least two persons and it is normally done inside a group, with one person that asking questions and others giving answers. It is the reciprocal maieutic communication that brings out people’s knowledge, with all participants learning from each other.
During the meeting:
– Students sat in a circle
– Every student was asked:
- What is “freedom” according to your personal experience? What does “freedom” means to you?
- Describe a situation in which their freedom can interfere or limit the freedom of the others;
- Is it right?
- In which situation the freedom can/should be limited?
Talk to students about the project and to share their own experiences has been an effective method to motivate them, encourage active learning, and develop key critical-thinking.
NEw CHapter – NEtwork of Cooperation against Hate is a 15-month, 4-country Erasmus+ KA2 Strategic Partnership project, which includes 7 partners ranging from educational institutions to youth organizations, to ensure the cross-sectorial aim of the project:
- Youthnet Hellas (Greece, coordinator);
- YOUTH SOCIAL RIGHTS NETWORK (Denmark);
- KOINOFELIS EPICHEIRISI IPIRESION DIMOY NEAPOLIS-SYKEON – K.E.Y.N.S(Greece);
- GENIKO LYKEIO GOUVON (Greece);
- 10th Primary School of Sykies (Greece);
- Centro per lo Sviluppo Creativo Danilo Dolci(Italy).
For further information, please contact Irene Ippolito, irene.ippolito@danilodolci.org.