Stereotypes and negative sentiments exist in the western part of the Silesian Province regarding Polish versus German nationality, descent and customs. There was a major public outcry manifested by abusive and aggressive comments in local social media, covering German names with paint and abusive graffiti etc. and by a storm in the media in the neighbouring community when the community of Krzanowice (County Racibóż) installed German language geographic names along with Polish ones in 2012. Local media and their online portals have been affected by daily portions of hate speech from both sides of the ‚quiet’ conflict. Young people have experienced the effects of verbal aggression and stereotyping at school, in the community and in the online reality.
The objective of the project was to help young journalists and youth develop skills to identify online hate speech and to effectively fight against this phenomenon using both the technology and legal measures. The project trained 5 young journalists and 324 students aged 16-20 on how to recognise hate speech, and how to respond effectively using the technology and legal measures with the aim of eradicating it fully. Furthermore, teachers and police officers were trained to provide support to young people affected by cyber-violence.
The project delivered workshops for 5 youth journalists and 15 workshops for 324 students aged 16-20. An online portal has been establish to monitor hate speech incidents. Eighteen media portals were monitored and 303 hate speech alerts were sentto portal administrators. Two scenarios were developed for hate speech workshops. A Stop Prejudice social campaign was developed and conducted by 303 students from 9 schools; workshops on online hate speech prevention and consequences were held for 35 teachers and police officers.
The project offered benefits to students of secondary schools in Rybnik, Wodzisław Śląski, Żory, Racibórz and Jastrzębie-Zdrój, as well as to youth journalists, teachers, police officers.