Ahead of the International Day for Countering Hate Speech (18 June), UNESCO spoke with Deeyah Khan, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Artistic Freedom and Creativity, Emmy and BAFTA-winning documentary filmmaker, human rights advocate and founder of Fuuse. Through her work engaging with both victims of prejudice and individuals drawn to extremist ideologies, Khan has explored the dynamics of identity, belonging, exclusion and radicalization. In this interview, she reflects on the roots of hate, the dangers of dehumanizing language, and the importance of dialogue, empathy, and media and information literacy in building more inclusive societies.
You have spent years speaking with both victims of hatred and people who have embraced extremist ideologies. What have these encounters taught you about the roots of hate?
In all the work I have done with people who have committed violence, people who have experienced violence, people who dehumanize and people who have been dehumanized, I have found that beneath hatred there are often very basic human needs that are not being met.
There are of course broader social and political factors that can create conditions for radicalization, but underneath those are deep human needs: the need for dignity, belonging, recognition and the feeling that your voice matters.
When people feel unseen, unheard or stripped of their humanity, they can become vulnerable to movements that promise significance and purpose. Extremist groups, gangs and other violent movements often exploit precisely those wounds. They weaponize people’s pain, anger and sense of exclusion.
What I have learned is that hatred often begins where humanity has been damaged. When people are disconnected from their own humanity, it becomes easier to deny the humanity of others.
Many people view hate speech as simply offensive language. Why should we be concerned about it?
Hate speech is never just words.
It is targeted dehumanization based on race, religion, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality or other aspects of identity. When left unchallenged, it becomes the infrastructure for violence.
If we dismiss hateful language as merely offensive opinions, we allow something dangerous to spread. Hate speech plants the seeds that make discrimination, exclusion and eventually violence appear acceptable.
We can see this online. For many years people argued that hateful content on social media was “just words” or “just trolls.” But we now know that online hatred can translate into real-world threats and physical violence. It also has profound consequences for mental health, particularly among young people, contributing to loneliness, distress and a diminished sense of self-worth.
History repeatedly shows us that unchecked hate speech can lead to devastating consequences. We see it today in racist, antisemitic, anti-Muslim, misogynistic and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. The emotional and psychological harm is profound, but so too is the physical harm that often follows.
Has social media changed the way hate speech spread?
Social media has certainly contributed to the spread of hate speech. It allows people to communicate from behind screens and anonymity, with far less face-to-face interaction and accountability.
It has created an environment in which exceptionally dehumanizing language can circulate widely and quickly. But it is important to remember that social media did not invent hate speech. Hate speech has existed throughout history and has been used by political leaders, movements and institutions long before the internet.
What social media has done is create another powerful venue for it.
One of the things we are losing is meaningful engagement across differences. It is much easier to dehumanize someone when you see an icon on a screen rather than a human face. We need more opportunities for genuine dialogue and human connection.
Countering hate speech cannot be only about removing content. We also need to offer something more compelling than hatred: our shared humanity, our shared struggles, our shared hopes and our shared capacity to understand one another.
UNESCO promotes Media and Information Literacy as a way of helping people navigate information critically and meaningfully. What skills are most important for resisting manipulation and hateful narratives?
The first step is recognizing that we are being manipulated.
Many people are aware of algorithms, but not fully aware of how deeply they shape what we see and how we understand the world. Our information environment is increasingly curated for us, especially for young people. We need greater awareness of these influences and stronger abilities to recognize manipulation when it occurs.
At the same time, we must learn to examine our own responses. What happens inside me when I encounter certain ideas or groups of people? What assumptions am I making? What emotional triggers are being activated?
That moment between receiving information and forming a judgment is where critical thinking belongs.
We also need to develop the ability to manage differences. Hate is often rooted in our inability to understand perspectives different from our own. The goal is not that everyone must agree. The goal is to learn to understand one another.
Empathy, perspective-taking and storytelling are essential skills. Stories allow us to step into experiences different from our own. They help us recognize the humanity of people we may otherwise dismiss or fear.
Ultimately, all these skills are about learning to humanize one another. And that comes through engagement, not distance. It comes through dialogue.
As we mark the International Day for Countering Hate Speech, what message would you like to share with people around the world?
What gives me hope is the very idea at the heart of UNESCO: that peace must be built in the minds of women and men.
That message feels just as important today as it did when UNESCO was founded. The antidote to hate speech is not more dehumanization. It is dialogue, understanding, empathy and the willingness to see one another as human beings.
I have seen the possibility of change firsthand. After I made a documentary about neo-Nazis and white supremacists in the United States, one of the leaders of a major neo-Nazi organization contacted me years later. He told me he could no longer carry that level of hatred and wanted to make amends. Today, he is a vocal anti-racist and peace activist.
That experience reminded me that people can change. It is not easy, and it does not always happen. But transformation becomes possible when we are willing to engage rather than simply push people away.
We all have a role to play in breaking cycles of dehumanization and contempt. Countering hate speech begins with recognizing our shared humanity and choosing to engage with one another with dignity, curiosity and compassion.
READ MORE: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/hate-speech-never-just-words?hub=701
