At the initiative of the deputy of the Front of All Victoria Montenegrin A work table was formed this Monday in the Buenos Aires Legislature in which officials and organizations participated in order to implement strategies against hate speech suffered by various groups, such as people on the streets, survivors of State terrorism and non-binary gender identities, among many others.
“Hate speech is advancing and harming democracy,” Montenegro said upon opening the work table, adding that “every day, in the City of Buenos Aires, someone is a victim of violence due to their sexual condition, their ideology or their religious belief,” among other causes.
Then, he mentioned a study carried out by the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (Conicet), which indicates that 26.6% of citizens accept hate speech, while another 17% are indifferent.
“This gives us that 43% of our population accompanies hate speech, this means that we have a problem, but we are here to stop them,” emphasized the legislator.
The first to speak was Miriam Lewin, journalist and head of the Public Defender’s Office, who invited to work on the regulation of digital areas.
“Most of the threats do not circulate through the traditional media, which is where the Ombudsman can act, but rather on digital platforms whose content is often exclusively hate speech,” Lewin warned.
Cristina Núñez, from the Argentine Union of Private Teachers (Sadop), then intervened, warning that in many schools “the Comprehensive Sex Education Law is not implemented,” which “is not a minor issue, because free thought depends on that.” our girls and boys”.
In her turn, Alicia Graziano, a health worker, member of the Human Rights Interunion and of the group of workers who survived torture, spoke.
“Hate speech is advancing and damaging democracy” Victoria Montenegrin
“We seek to legislate regarding the hate speech that exists in health towards survivors who go to consult about its consequences, whom professionals often make invisible by saying ‘that happened to him a long time ago’ or ‘for something he happened’ and they don’t record it in the medical record,” Graziano said.
On behalf of the Health Union, Paola Ayala intervened, who spoke of the “persecution of union leaders“During the government of former president Mauricio Macri and the “repression of their demonstrations.”
Sasa Testa also participated in the debate, who is a teacher and member of the Equality Foundation, which works for the Human Rights of the LGBTIQ+ group, who asked “Include hate speech in the protocols against violence of all institutions.”
Testa said that she is in conflict with one of the establishments where she works because she denounced a colleague who made fun of her gender identity “in front of the students.”
Then several members of organizations that assist people on the streets spoke, including Bárbara Alegre, from Sopa de Letras, who recounted some acts of violence against this population, which have occurred from 2019 to date in the city of Buenos Aires.
“In 2019, Alberto, his wife and their seven children lived in a very precarious house on the street, which was set on fire after they made two complaints. In 2020 Vero was killed on Virrey Ceballos street, under the highway, and some Months later, Graciela was beaten and died after a week of agony,” she said.
Ariel Seidler, from the Latin American Jewish Congress, also participated in the meeting, who spoke about the circulation of hate speech on “little-known and unregulated digital platforms”, Therefore, he considered that Internet companies “should be part of this conversation, as an important actor.”
These were some of the presentations that were made at the first meeting of the work table against hate speech constituted this Monday in the Buenos Aires Legislature, which will hold monthly meetings at least throughout this year.
“Unfortunately, hate speech and attacks have been growing in our city, so it is important to share the different strategies to stop them,” Montenegro told Télam.
He added that these acts of violence “began as isolated events, a swastika that appeared on some mural for memory, but they became systematic and also advanced against the group of women or the LGBT group. Unfortunately, every week we have complaints of some homophobic attack or discrimination based on political affiliation or ideology”.
And he called for working “above political and partisan affiliation, to understand that we all have to fight hate.”
