OSCE Meeting in Paris on the relationship between racist, xenophobic
and anti-Semitic propaganda on the Internet and hate crimes
The discussion should not aim on
what is morally desirable, but should instead focus on what can
actually be done
17
June 2004 - Session 4 - David Gall, haGalil onLine
Mr. Ferraris, Ladies and
Gentlemen, haGalil onLine is a German-Israeli webmagazine, published
since 1995, and since then holding a central position in the fight
against hate-speech.
Many speakers already
mentioned the tension between freedom of speech and control of
incitement. I think it became clear, that we cannot perceive the
internet primarily as a threat, but much more should use the chance
it offers to promote understanding and dialogue in a pluralistic and
global society.
Of course it is true, anti-Semitism holds a more and more dominant
and aggressive position on the internet, and the World Wide Web is
the most effective tool of distribution of such propaganda. Since it
reaches not only those in search for incitement, but also those in
search of neutral information, it is the most dangerous tool to
articulate and inseminate resentment, prejudice and hate. But it is
the fact, that most people (at least in Germany) know so very little
on Jewish life and Judaism, that makes it quiet easy for
anti-Semites to spread their message of hate.
Anti-Semitism is the distinguishing feature of fundamentalist and
nationalistic ideology, and as such is linking rather different
movements, such as Pamjat in Russia, the Ku-Klux-Klan in America,
Christian Arian Alliances and Islamistic fanatics.
It took nearly ten years, until the danger became recognized by a
broader audience, and we are very happy, that this OSCE-Conference
focuses especially on hate and incitement in the Internet. I do
hope, that it will not take another ten years, from recognizing the
problem to not only understanding but also supporting effective ways
of solution.
It is understandable, that demands for a worldwide binding consensus
of values and legislative efforts to strengthen such consensus are
often made. These demands might even be praiseworthy initiatives,
but they are not realistic.
They presume, that it could be established what can be said and
circulated about Jews and Israel and this not only in Germany or
Europe, but also in Malaysia, in Durban, in Riad and Teheran.
With regard to the oldest and most aggressive stereotype of human
history, combined with an international and constantly developing
decentralized and open media, strategies mainly trusting on
controllability are not only illusive, but in regard to the
seriousness of the problem we are dealing with, even dangerous.
They are a threat to contemporary European society, which depends on
mutual respect for the cultural and religious diversity of it's
inhabitants. Thus the discussion should not aim on what is morally
desirable, but should instead focus on what can actually be done.
Since 1995 we developed a rather simple model, which can be used in
various manners and in different countries. Possibly it is this
successful, for it has been created for
something and not against something. We have worked much less
against the lies, as for the truth.
Our major strategy is to create a massive counterbalance of detailed
information. If we publish 100 of our pages on let's say the Jewish
holiday of Purim, the chance that a student in search for
information on this subject will end up at our site is a hundred
times higher then coming up at a site promoting anti-Semitic
slander. The continuing improvement results in high positions in
search engines.
Our second approach uses the communicative means of an active and
lively online service. Anti-Semitism is often the stronger the less
Jews are present. For many teenagers for ex. in East-Germany, the
first and only option to establish contact with Jews is through
haGalil onLine.
Out of a total of 220.000 readers a month, we receive numerous
e-mails or phone-calls with queries from journalists, pupils and
teachers everyday. Boards and chat rooms offer the possibility for
further communication and discussion. Here it has not been a
surprise, when a Nazi dropout met the chairwomen of a Jewish
community in Bavaria. They created a series of lectures at schools
and youth centres.
We do not solely trust on legislative measures, but our third
approach uses juridical means as another effective way in the battle
against hate speech. In 1997 after massive attacks on our
discussion-boards, we introduced the first form to electronically
report on hate-incidents. About 1000 charges are being reported
yearly. We do not only pass on the observations of our readers, but
conduct our own investigations. One of these investigations led to
the exposure of an anti-Semitic speech held by Martin Hohmann,
member of the German Parliament, the Bundestag in Berlin. Since we
made this finding public in November 2003, he is not a member of his
former fraction anymore.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Ce qu'on peut faire doit enfin être
soutenu :
Des contre-mesures contre l'antisémitisme sur Internet
Was getan werden kann, muss endlich unterstützt werden:
Gegenmaßnahmen zum Antisemitismus im
Internet
17
June 2004 - Session 4 |