SAY IT TO MY FACE Campaign

9.07.2015 hate speech, Povedz mi to do očí

The Open Society Foundation continues its campaign against hatred in cyberspace. You can now visit the web site www.povedzmitodooci.sk and share videos designed to raise awareness of the harmfulness of hatred.

Hates are everywhere. Especially in cyberspace. You can find them in article discussions, social networks, anywhere where haters can shelter behind the anonymity of their nicknames. Haters create fake identities. They write hateful commentaries, blogs, they hurt others with spitting hatred, lies and half-truths. Anonymity and a fake identity protect them.

“That is why we decided to bring haters under the spotlight and show people model situations. What would happen if the hater was confronted with his target? What if he had to face the person that he hurt with his hateful words? Hater is a person with a very low self-esteem, usually afraid of real confrontation. That is why we decided to use our model haters and explain that even real haters can be confronted with their targets who come knocking on their door,” said Ľubica Stanek from the Open Society Foundation.

Povedz mi to do očí (Say It To My Face) Campaign warns of the harshness of Internet hate. Haters in our campaign are not real, but the hates we used are true and existing accusations

towards artists who take part in the campaign. They are taken from Internet discussions, written by people living among us who do not think twice about writing terrible things about a National Theatre actor or a successful singer.

The first part of the campaign was launched on 9 July 2015 and it was also presented to the participants of Bažant Pohoda festival with specific activities related to the campaign. Participants could attend two discussions and get a pin badge of the campaign, as well as obtain more information in the Open, Free, Mind info points.

We want to use the campaign to show that hates are not opinions, they are stupid and insensitive insults. Hates offend specific people and even groups of people who live in our country. Hates are built on prejudice and they reinforce prejudice. They create barriers in online and offline communication.

The project is supported by Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway within the Accompanying activities of the Democracy and Human Rights Program realized by the Open Society Foundation.

The campaign was created in cooperation with Mayer/McCann Erickson agency.