The media discourse throughout the past years of the war in Yemen since 2015, has greatly contributed to fueling and proliferating hate speech and increasing the division in society caused by the parties to the war and conflict in the country.
Various political powers and the parties to the conflict targeted the media and the press in Yemen and worked to frame it according to their own agenda, which they carried, feeding their approach to war and the ongoing conflict. In addition, they have been using media to promote their propaganda messages that caused huge damage to society, its stability and coexistence.
The expansion and spread of this inflammatory media discourse, which many see as one of the reasons that contributed to the prolongation of the war, distance and discord, and the failure to contribute to creating a conducive atmosphere to dialogue and achieving peace in the country.
The Secretary-General of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, Mohammad Shbeita, confirmed in this regard that the Syndicate has warned from the beginning about such speeches. It had to confront it in the journalistic field, as several meetings were organized with journalists to confront hate speech, and emphasized on the need for journalists to stay away from involving in favor of any of the conflicting forces which stems from their respect to their profession and working ethics.
Moreover, Shbeita added that these events and meetings demanded journalists to adhere to professionalism and moral and patriotic responsibility, making the language of discourse a tool for healing wounds, curative rifts and spreading peace and harmony within society.
Escalation of inflammatory discourse
Hate speech is defined as any type of communication, verbally, in writing, or in action, that uses discriminatory, pejorative, or offensive language when referring to a person or group on the basis of their identity; In other words: on the basis of his religion, race, nationality, colour, gender, or any other factor that determines his identity.
Mansour Al-Qudsi, a professor of media at the University of Hodeidah, told Khuyut that the hate speech dominated due to the political, sectarian and religious affiliations of the media. Besides, this hate speech has grown-up as a result of the ongoing conflict in the country, where the media was used as a tool to inflame the conflict by the warring parties to horribly undermine the image of each other.
Experts in the field of communication and media believe that there should be an observatory body that specializes in monitoring all forms of hate speech promoted by the means of the parties to the conflict, as there are international standards that must be respected and followed to control the media discourse so that in these circumstances in Yemen it follows the approach of peace journalism instead of violence and hatred.
Hate speech is witnessing a steady growth in the various Yemeni media, TV, radio and press, as well as on social media, where this discourse has been characterized by incitement and rejection of the other.
Mrs. Thurya Dammaj, head of the "Yemen Future" platform confirmed to Khuyut that hate speech has found a large and expansive space during the past years, especially with the absence of law enforcement authorities and the expansion of war throughout the country. Therefore, we have found many signs of public speeches threatening social peace, dividing society and leading to the consolidation of racist practices.
Damage concluded that hatred language found space and champions for it to escalate and dominate through social media and traditional media affiliated with certain parties, which increased the challenges of addressing or controlling it.
For his part, Adel Abdul-Mughni, director of the Project on Confronting Hate Speech and Incitement in the Yemeni Media, said in an interview with "Khuyut" that hate speech and incitement have grown in Yemen at an accelerating and frightening manner, which is one of the worst outcomes of the war that has been raging in the country for nearly eight years.
During the past few years, hate speech turned into a media culture that prevailed among the majority of Yemeni media and spread like wildfire in various social media, which have become platforms for nurturing hatred and inciting violence. Abdel-Mughni added that the diversity of hate speech on regional, sectarian and racist grounds, all of which are dangerous and destructive weapons unless its spread is put to an end.
Among the most prominent reasons for the spread of hate discourse, according to Adel Abdel-Mughni, is the trenching of the majority of the media behind the parties affiliated with it or working with it, and the adoption of its hostile or condescending discourse on the other. The same thing happens in social media, which operates without professional or ethical controls.
While al-Qudsi believes that there is a problem for Yemeni media professionals, as many of them do not differentiate between freedom of opinion and expression and hate speech that is characterized by international laws. An opinion is to communicate the truth to the public, and an opinion can be expressed, but a journalist has no right to confuse the truth with his personal opinion and try to use it to incite in favor of one party against one party and demonize the other, as is the case now in the media loyal to the parties to the conflict.
Serious consequences
In light of the conditions of war in Yemen, hate speech finds an atmosphere conducive to expansion and spread due to the economic, social and political conditions and other factors of disintegration and rift in society, while media openness has not helped reduce violent speech and many media outlets have moved away from their real role in awareness and education. and communicate the facts to the public.
The continuation of hate speech leads to more cracks in the social fabric, and leads to the commission of violent acts and crimes that may amount to identity killing.
According to Mansour al-Qudsi, there is a sharp polarization from the parties to prolong the war. If the promoters of this discourse, such as racial incitement, are not prosecuted, it will destroy groups and components, and regional incitement will lead to threatening the lives of individuals and minorities. Therefore, - according to his statement - those responsible for incitement must be held accountable so that to prevent the critical consequences that may eventually turn Yemen to a failure country, such as Rwanda, in which a million people were killed due to hate speech adopted by the media.
He added that: "The parties to the conflict will reach a political settlement, but the supporters of the conflict parties who have been wrongly mobilized, it is difficult to convince them to accept the other opinion, as the parties to the conflict - as Al-Qudsi asserted - will bring their interests together according to a political settlement, while the members of society who have been victims of the incitement practiced by media means affiliated to these parties.
Solutions and treatments
Hate speech is a natural reflection of the complexities of the situation, the political narrowness of the horizon, and the resorting of parties and forces to regional and political mobilization to target and demonize the other, instead of rapprochement with him and trying to bridge the national rift and coexistence away from any other accounts.
Journalist Majid Al-Daari, in an interview with "Khuyut", pointed out that the culture of hatred is one of the consequences and scourge of war and military conflict, and it can only be overcome by a comprehensive national consensus solution based on a true partnership between all parties.
Furthermore, experts in the field of communication and media believe that there should be an observatory body that specializes in monitoring all forms of hate speech promoted by the means of the parties to the conflict, as there are international standards that must be respected and followed to control the media discourse so that in these circumstances in Yemen it follows the approach of peace journalism instead of violence and hatred.
However, this cannot be achieved without the solidarity of society, civil society organizations, opinion leaders and cultural elites to confront hate speech, and to confront everything that could provoke and fuel violence and division of the social fabric.
Abdel-Mughni concluded his statement by warning of the repercussions of this language on the present and future of Yemen, stressing the need to put an end to hate speech, and work to contain and address this worrying and dangerous phenomenon before it turns into a general culture and extremist tendencies, especially in light of the negative use of social media and modern communication means that contribute to the rapid and prevalence of this destructive type of discourse.
