Living together, tackling hate speech

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(Why is Norway engaged in the fight against hate speech online?)

We are engaged in this work because we feel that we are responsible for contributing to more awareness about what is a growing problem in today’s Europe. I think we have to recognize that the times we are living in – difficult times for many countries – there is a breeding ground for people's thoughts and activities which are counter to the values of tolerance in Europe.

(How is Norway engaged in this?)

We are engaged in several ways. We work together with the Council of Europe and the European Union, but we also use the Norway Grants – now, in fact, the largest financing of civil society activities in the Central Europe – they are actively helping minorities, training bloggers, assisting civil society organizations who want to engage in this locally – and I think this is a very meaningful use of the financial sources we have with the Norway Grants.

(Given your focus on countries in economic crises, is hate speech most present there?)

We have a very sad experience in Europe; when the economic situation gets tougher, people move away from tolerant approaches and move to nationalist or racist ideology. Also in Norway, one of Europe’s richer countries, with low rate of unemployment, we have seen elements of this – which proves that it is not only countries in trouble that are affected – and the horrific massacres at Utøya Island and in the center of Oslo last year – they were committed by a man who is now convicted as a far right extremist – promoting hate speech and extremist ideology against minorities – so we know that even in our countries this is possible – and of course this makes us more conscious about this problem as a European problem.

(In your view, what is the best way to combat hate speech online?)

I think – that although we can do something on the law side – the main work has to be done on how people think and actually promote values of tolerance, promote values of shared responsibility, of understanding between majorities and minorities, and of people from different backgrounds – and this is something we can do, as politicians – but also as individual citizens. It is everyone’s responsibility to react – but if we allow the "small" expressions of hate speech to continue, they will soon grow strong. And this is something we can do in our community – when we hear people say or do things we cannot tolerate – we should speak up against it – and "bad words" are best met with "better words".

(So law enforcement and legislations cannot handle this alone?)

No, not alone. I definitely think that many European countries have – and should have – some regulations on regulating the most extreme expressions of hate speech, of course – but I think this is also a more "social" challenge – and has to be met by free and independent media, by a strong civil society, by strong organizations representing the minorities, for instance, and people with special needs, and also a society that is generally inclusive in nature.

(How about your responsibility as a political leader as a foreign minister?)

Well, as a foreign minister I have a particularly responsibility to make sure that this is an issue at international conferences – like this one in Budapest – and in the efforts we are doing in relevant international organizations – be it the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the United Nations. But I also think that we – as political leaders – has a responsibility at home speaking up, which is something I do quite often – when I see or listen to hate expressions against minorities in my own country, be they against Jews or Muslims or homosexuals, or whatever minority is in question – for there are some people who want us all to be absolutely similar and have no tolerance for differences.