Society & Culture
Freedom of expression is the principle that fosters democratic societies. It is very important to protect it because it allows pluralism of ideas and free communication. Interestingly enough, many Western societies rediscovered the importance of this principle after experiencing strong regimes and consequently included it in their Constitution. However, the downside is represented by the concept of “hate speech”. This term covers any kind of hatred based on intolerance expressed online and offline against groups of people or individuals. We talked about this with Ana Rodrigues Afonso, Psychologist and Human Rights Trainer for the Council of Europe. Together we discussed the impact of Hate speech on society and what can we all do in order to promote tolerance in any kind of public and private debate.