Tools to fight hate speech
Courage to Care and cool.org have launched a nation-wide online education resource for teachers and students to fight against the alarming increase in hate speech in Australia.
The free, online resources will equip teachers to tackle issues of racism, discrimination, antisemitism and stereotyping with their year 9 and 10 students, whilst also giving them the tools to stand up and take action against hate speech in their schools and communities. There is a set of six digital lesson plans in the resource.
Serious incidents of anti-Semitism across Australia since the Hamas terror attack on Israel of October 7 have surged a staggering 738 per cent, a figure that Jewish leaders warn is “only the tip of the iceberg”. This follows reports from a range of cultural organisations noting that the rise in hate speech and racist incidents across a range of communities is alarming.
Reports show that Multiculturalism in Australia is at a tipping point. The Scanlon Foundation’s 2023 Mapping Social Cohesion survey’s findings show that contentious debates over local and geopolitical issues have created challenging national and global circumstances for social cohesion. It shows that social cohesion is declining on several fronts, straining the fabric of our communities.
Courage to Care Victoria CEO, Mike Zervos said today that Courage to Care was now “more determined than ever to forge ahead with our mission to create a generation of Upstanders against prejudice and discrimination. Our commitment to offering face-to-face programs is unwavering and adding this online resource with nationwide access for teachers and students is wonderful added bonus.”
The Not-For-Profit organisation Courage to Care has been educating and empowering school students to be Upstanders against all forms of discrimination for more than 30 years.
Courage to Care was created as an initiative of global Jewish service organisation B’nai B’rith and is proudly universal, remaining steadfast in their mission to make ALL racism, antisemitism and discrimination a thing of the past.
Cool.org education specialist Mahnee Cooke said: “I was fortunate to have seen the impact that Courage to Care’s face-to-face program had with a group of Year 9 students. I knew that being able to spread their message to more teachers and students through these freely available lesson plans was only going to increase that impact.”
Mike Zervos said: “In our 30-year history, we have impacted the lives of more than 175,000 Victorian students, with volunteers delivering face-to-face facilitated Upstander Program workshops in the school setting.
“Taking our Upstander Education online in partnership with Cool.org allows us a natural next step in the current climate – the need for proactive response is greater than ever before, and these online resources will allow us to reach a far greater, broader and diverse range of teachers and students than ever before.”
Mahnee Cooke added: “I believe it is so important to not only educate young people about the dangers of racism, prejudice, discrimination and bullying, but also to provide them with skills and strategies to be Upstanders in their communities. I think they are going to create a lot of impact.’”
Teachers and parents can access the ‘How to be an Upstander Resource free of charge through the following LINK
