The following 10th and 11th of April, the Mediterranean Observatory of Communication (OMEC) will organize the VI International Seminar on Communication, Development and Human Rights: Towards the promotion of egalitarian and intercultural societies, which will take place at the UAB Faculty of Sciences of Communication.
The year 2019 has been proclaimed the International Year of Moderation by the UN, and it is precisely in this context that this international seminar will analyze hate speech and the role of the media, in turn, to review the initiatives of different organizations to contribute to social change.
This seminar, along with other activities, is part of the project Education for Development: “Communication as a tool for social cohesion against racism and intolerance“, which has the support of the Solidarity Fund of the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona and the Fundació Autònoma Solidària (FAS).
The first day, which will take place on April 10th, will have two speakers. The first one, Francisco Martín, journalist and secretary of the Darna Social Center, in Barcelona, will explain communication as a tool for change: the experience of prevention with minors. The second presentation will make a reflection on civilization and monstrous technologies, led by Adriano Messias, professor, and researcher at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, Brazil.
The second day which will take place on the 11th of April will feature different round table discussions.
The first one will analyze the role of the university in the processes of change by Teresa Velázquez, President of the Mediterranean Observatory of Communication (OMEC) and Jordi Prat, director of FAS. Likewise, Laura Riba, from the cooperation and education area for the Justice of FAS will present the program for the reception of migrants and refugees (#UABRefugi).
The next round table discussion will examine hate speech in the media by discussing the radicalization of intolerance, discourse and hate crimes with Esteban Ibarra, President of the Movement Against Intolerance in Spain, as well as Lurdes Vidal, coordinator of the Observatory of Islamophobia in media and director of the Àrea de Mundo Árabe of the IEMed will analyze the Islamophobia in the media. Ana Garcñia Juantey, co-founder of the Observatory PROXI against Xenophobia and Intolerance in Digital Media and a postdoctoral researcher at the Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacional, will share her experience of approaching and responding to the phenomenon of hate speech on the Internet.
The last round table will deal with Communication for Social Change and Human Rights and will be attended by Patria Román-Velázquez, urban communication researcher at Loughborough University and founder and director of Latin Elephant, to analyze the role of participatory communication to combat the displacement of migrant groups in the city of London through the case of Latin Elephant. Yuly Jara, head of the Maldita Migración project (madita.es), will discuss the importance of Fact-checking against hoaxes, and finally, Pascale Coissard, incident and project coordinator of the Catalan refugee aid commission ( CCAR) will focus on the reality of people fleeing Central America.
The seminar has free entry until full capacity and will take place in the Sala de Juntas of the UAB Faculty of Sciences of the Communication.
For more information, find the programme here.