Parteners: The World of NGOs, Vienna, Austria – consortium coordinator, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, Association Sustainability of Progressive and Open Communication, Sofia, Bulgaria, B.a.B.e. – “Be Active, Be Emancipated” Zagreb, Croatia, and the Făgăraș Research Institute, Făgăraș, Romania
The project aimed at identifying and promoting strategic approaches for civil society to tackle threats and challenges of hate speech, fake news and intimidation, while maintaining a democratic environment and respecting the freedom of speech.
The project was carried out in three work packages:
- Understanding how European societies perceive current threats to the freedom of expression, clarifying how to use this freedom in a responsible way and identify limits, which can still be justified from a democratic point of view.
- Understanding how civil society is affected by the current challenges to freedom of expression and to identify effective counterstrategies.
- Disseminating the findings and a supporting tool-kit across Europe.
Activities: A broad mixture of methods were employed: from desk-research, group discussions, citizen’s interviews, problem analysis, strategy-development, workshops, public and panel discussion, virtual and face-to-face meetings.
Preparatory activities were organised in the partnering countries, reaching citizens of local communities, NGOs, and volunteers working with marginalised groups to share their experiences. The insights gained provide a profound knowledge base to discuss common grounds and national differences of the partner countries.
In Nov. 2018 a public debate with European and national experts took place in Bucharest, followed by national surveys dealing with the questions of democratic limits of the freedom of expression, experiences with hate speech, fake news and intimidation, counterstrategies and best practices.
In spring 2919 a series of public Webinars gathered experts and NGOs from the EU Member States, developing strategies, on how the responsible use of freedom of expression can be promoted as a cross-sectional task in social life.
In June 2019 in a dissemination-conference in Vienna project findings were summarized, presenting the idea of a tool-kit and a glossary of key terms, further linking it to successful counterstrategies towards communication threats.
Details about the implemented activities..
Photos from the organized activities.
Funders: Project co-funded by the European Commission in the Europe for Citizens Programme, Democratic Engagement and Civic Participation
Team: Dr. Stefan Cibian, ICF Research Fellow (project coordinator), Dr. Anca Molnoș, ICF Research Fellow, Ioana Hașu-Georgiev, ICF Research Fellow, Laura Ranca, ICF Researcher, Dr. Silvia Fierăscu, ICF Research Fellow.
Departments: The International Center for Global Affairs and Postdevelopment (IC-GAP), Policy Analysis and Outreach Department, Research Department
Themes: Freedom of Expression, Human Rights
Regions: Europa, Central and Eastern Europe, Romania