The Online Intersection among Islamophobia, Populism, and Hate Speech: An Italian Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-114
Author(s):  
Alessandra Vitullo
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Hate Speech ◽  
The United States ◽  
Exceptional Case ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Islamic Fundamentalism ◽  
Amnesty International ◽  
Muslim People ◽  
Real Importance

Abstract Online radical Islam is a topic widely studied by scholars and notoriously discussed among non- experts as well (Awan, 2007; Von Behr et al. 2013; Gray & Head 2009). Because of its intrinsic characteristics (i.e. accessibility, anonymity, or users’ identity dissimulation), the internet has always been a useful tool for propagandists of Islamic fundamentalism (Fighel, 2007; Stenersen, 2008; Koehler, 2014). However, in the last decade, studies have questioned the real importance and magnitude of Islamic radicalization online (Gill et al., 2017). In fact, while scholars were focused on observing digital Islamic radicalization, a galaxy of new forms of extremism was growing online (Silva et al., 2017; Roversi, 2008) that no longer made Islam an exceptional case study. Today, Muslim people are one of the groups most aggressively targeted by extremist, intolerant, violent, and radical discourses (Elahi & Khan, 2017; Amnesty International, 2019). Anti-Muslim hate speech has spread online throughout Europe and the United States, reinforced by the propaganda and political discourse of populist right-wing parties (Hafez, 2014; Bakali 2016). This paper introduces some large-scale action-research projects developed in Europe and Italy in the last three years (2016–2019) and aims to reconstruct the most updated Islamophobia state of the art in terms of numbers, characteristics, and phenomenology from the offline to the online context.

Renewed Activism for the Labor Movement: The Urgency of Young Worker Engagement

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 391-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maite Tapia ◽  
Lowell Turner
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Development ◽  
Labor Movement ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Labor Movements ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Young Workers ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Movement Building

In this article, the authors consider the findings of a multi-year, case study-based research project on young workers and the labor movement in four countries: France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The authors examine the conditions under which young workers actively engage in contemporary labor movements. Although the industrial relations context matters, the authors find the most persuasive explanations to be agency-based. Especially important are the relative openness and active encouragement of unions to the leadership development of young workers, and the persistence and creativity of groups of young workers in promoting their own engagement. Embodying labor’s potential for movement building and resistance to authoritarianism and right-wing populism, young workers offer hope for the future if unions can bring them aboard.

“How dare you call her a pig, I know several pigs who would be upset if they knew”

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleonora Esposito ◽  
Sole Alba Zollo
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Hate Speech ◽  
Gender Based Violence ◽  
Amnesty International ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Discourse Studies ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
Online Misogyny

Abstract On the occasion of the 2017 UK election campaign, Amnesty International conducted a large-scale, sentiment-based analysis of online hate speech against women MPs on Twitter (Dhrodia 2018), identifying the “Top 5” most attacked women MPs as Diane Abbott, Joanna Cherry, Emily Thornberry, Jess Phillips and Anna Soubry. Taking Amnesty International’s results as a starting point, this paper investigates online misogyny against the “Top 5” women MPs, with a specific focus on the video-sharing platform YouΤube, whose loosely censored cyberspace is known as a breeding ground for antagonism, impunity and disinhibition (Pihlaja 2014), and, therefore, merits investigation. By collecting and analysing a corpus of YouTube multimodal data we explore, critique and contextualize online misogyny as a techno-social phenomenon applying a Social Media Critical Discourse Studies (SM-CDS) approach (KhosraviNik and Esposito 2018). Mapping a vast array of discursive strategies, this study offers an in-depth analysis on how technology-facilitated gender-based violence contributes to discursively constructing the political arena as a fundamentally male-oriented space, and reinforces stereotypical and sexist representation of women in politics and beyond.

scholarly journals Engaging Adults Experiencing Homelessness in Smoking Cessation Through Large-Scale Community Service Events

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya Vijayaraghavan ◽  
Dorie E. Apollonio
Keyword(s):  
Smoking Cessation ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Community Service ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Service Delivery Model ◽  
Smoking Cessation Counseling ◽  
Health Related

Cigarette smoking contributes substantially to the increased financial- and health-related burdens among adults experiencing homelessness. We describe findings from a case study of a model to increase access to cessation services among adults experiencing homelessness. In partnership with Project Homeless Connect (PHC), we piloted a unique service delivery model that involved providing brief cessation counseling and pharmacotherapy to smokers from this population attending large-scale service events in San Francisco, with the goal of connecting them to long-term smoking cessation care. We participated in three service events between October 2017 and March 2018. We offered brief smoking cessation counseling to 45 individuals, and smoking cessation counseling and pharmacotherapy to 7 individuals experiencing homelessness. This model could improve public health if expanded to other cities, particularly the 200 other cities in the United States offering PHC service events.

scholarly journals Hate Speeches on Twitter and Facebook in South Asia: A Case Study Of Malala Yousufzai

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saba Naz, Dr. Muhammad Osama Shafiq
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Hate Speech ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Quantitative Research Methods ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Media Platform

Nowadays social media platforms have become a medium that allows people to post anything they wish. Since the time internet grew, a radical change has been discerned in society. With the emergence of social media sites, many challenges also thrived in the society that took the society into interesting and alarming ways altogether. As time is passing as technology is intensifying new forms of hate, abuse, bullying, and discrimination are also increasing in society. It can be said that digital technology is reshaping coercion based on caste, color, gender, race, culture, likes, dislikes. Many societies are concerned with this problem of growing hate speeches on social media but no proper barrier on these sites has been seen to prevent hate discourses. This study examined the attitudes of social media users including Facebook and Twitter over the incident of Noble Prize laureate Malala Yousufzai, a young activist who worked and spoke for the educational rights of girls who were born in Swat valley. She spoke against this erroneous system that didn’t allow girls to gain education and became a prominent member of society at the little age of 14. She was shot by Taliban and then a controversy started against her, some people admired her and she became a celebrity all over South Asia while an extreme amount of criticism was also seen against her incident. Through this study, we aim to understand the abundance of hate speech on Facebook and Twitter in South Asia by using Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods. For that purpose we took the case study method and provide a large-scale measurement and analysis of different hashtags used during the case of Malala on the social media platform. To achieve the objective of our research, we amassed Tweets and Facebook posts posted since the year 2011 till now related to this case. This article identifies numerous forms of hate speeches on social media that are arising in South Asia and altering the minds of people using social media, it is also guiding how to abate hate speeches that are delivered on social media with particular hashtags on various incidents and matters. The collected data revealed that hate speech has become a social problem with substantial inimical effects in societies. This study explains that social media should be utilized to benefit mankind positively and gently.

scholarly journals Case Study: Mr. Gabriel Marshal Nylowa Yak

Refuge ◽  
2000 ◽  
pp. 15-19
Author(s):  
James A. Rice
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
The United States ◽  
Amnesty International ◽  
Religious Persecution ◽  
Entire Time ◽  
High Commissioner

In the following case, a refugee and victim of torture, fled religious persecution in Sudan. He first arrived in Syria where he made a claim to asylum to the UNHCR. His claim was initially refused and he fled to Hong Kong. The High Commissioner ruled that Gabriel was an "irregular mover" and that his appeal could not be considered in Hong Kong. He was sent against his will, back to Syria, without any of the documentation that substantiated his claim. During the entire time that his case was being considered, it was closely followed by Amnesty International. Gabriel was ultimately successful in his appeal and was granted protection as a refugee. He was resettled in the United States, where he lives today.

Right-Wing YouTube: A Supply and Demand Perspective

2020 ◽  
pp. 194016122096476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Munger ◽  
Joseph Phillips
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
The United States ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Descriptive Information ◽  
Technological Affordances

YouTube is the most used social network in the United States and the only major platform that is more popular among right-leaning users. We propose the “Supply and Demand” framework for analyzing politics on YouTube, with an eye toward understanding dynamics among right-wing video producers and consumers. We discuss a number of novel technological affordances of YouTube as a platform and as a collection of videos, and how each might drive supply of or demand for extreme content. We then provide large-scale longitudinal descriptive information about the supply of and demand for conservative political content on YouTube. We demonstrate that viewership of far-right videos peaked in 2017.

scholarly journals The Philippines as a Case Study—Populism and Institutional Activism in Transformation Processes Towards Sustainability

2020 ◽  
pp. 205-224
Author(s):  
Ariel Macaspac Hernandez
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Finance Minister ◽  
Institutional Activism ◽  
Divide And Rule ◽  
The University ◽  
Transformation Processes

AbstractThe current resurgence and reinforcement of populists in many countries has profited not only from various real or imagined crises (e.g., 2015-present refugee crisis in Europe or the caravan of migrants in Latin America heading to the United States), but also from how established political parties and polities have addressed these crises, which have disenfranchised, in a de facto manner, a significant portion of the population. Former Greek finance minister and Professor of Economics at the University of Athens, Yanis Varoufakis, notes that President Trump’s election, Brexit, and the resurgence of right-wing political parties in Germany, Austria & other countries are not new in history, but merely “a post-modern variant of the 1930s, complete with deflation, xenophobia, and divide-and-rule politics” (Varoufakis 2016). Populist movements have found and instrumentalized compelling issues, such as emission reduction, to gain political importance.

The Economics of Biomass Logistics and Conversion Facility Mobility: An Oregon Case Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael David Berry ◽  
John Sessions
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Biomass Conversion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mixed Integer ◽  
Modular System ◽  
Base Case ◽  
Biomass Availability ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. This article presents an analysis of transportable biomass conversion facilities to evaluate the conceptual and economic viability of a highly mobile and modular biomass conversion supply chain in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The goal of this work is to support a broader effort to more effectively and sustainably use residual biomass from commercial harvesting operations that are currently piled and burned as part of site preparation. A structural representation is first developed to include sources of biomass feedstock, distributed preprocessing hubs (centralized landings), and centralized processing facilities (biomass to product conversion sites) to produce desired products and byproducts. A facility costing model was developed to evaluate potential economics of scale, which then informed the optimization study. A mixed integer linear programming model was developed to characterize, evaluate, and optimize biomass collection, extraction, logistics, and facility placement over a regional landscape from a strategic level to evaluate the mobility concept. The objective was to minimize supply chain operational costs in order to quantify financial advantages and identify challenges of the proposed system modularity and mobility. A Lakeview, Oregon case study was evaluated with an assumed modular biochar facility servicing the region. In particular, we review economies of scale, mobility, energy costs, and biomass availability tradeoffs. This analysis points towards a modular system design of movement frequency between 1 to 2 years being most viable in the conditions evaluated. It was found that the impact of plant movement, scale, and biomass availability can increase supply chain costs by $11/BDMT ($10/BDT), $33/BDMT ($30/BDT), and $22/BDMT ($20/BDT) above the base case cost of $182/BDMT ($165/BDT) for a large-scale facility [45,000 BDMT yr-1(50,000 BDT yr-1)]in the conditions evaluated. Additionally, potential energy cost savings of a non-mobile modular stationary site as compared to one which utilizes off-grid electrical powers about $11/BDMT ($10/BDT) for a biochar facility. From the cases evaluated, a large-scale plant with limited mobility would be preferred under low availability of biomass conditions, whereas a stationary grid-connected plant would be more cost effective under higher availability conditions. Results depend greatly on the region, assumed harvest schedule, biomass composition, and governing biomass plant assumptions. Keywords: Biomass products, Biomass supply, Facility location, Mixed integer programming, Strategic planning, Transportable plants.

scholarly journals Ethical and technical challenges of AI in tackling hate speech

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diogo Cortiz ◽  
Arkaitz Zubiaga
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Information Overload ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Hate Speech ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Speech Detection ◽  
Detection Algorithms ◽  
Technical Challenges

In this paper, we discuss some of the ethical and technical challenges of using Artificial Intelligence for online content moderation. As a case study, we used an AI model developed to detect hate speech on social networks, a concept for which varying definitions are given in the scientific literature and consensus is lacking. We argue that while AI can play a central role in dealing with information overload on social media, it could cause risks of violating freedom of expression (if the project is not well conducted). We present some ethical and technical challenges involved in the entire pipeline of an AI project - from data collection to model evaluation - that hinder the large-scale use of hate speech detection algorithms. Finally, we argue that AI can assist with the detection of hate speech in social media, provided that the final judgment about the content has to be made through a process with human involvement.

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