In a New Edition, Maat Discusses the Role of Drama in Combating Hate Speech
Okeil: Drama and artwork are a key weapon to fight hate speech
Mukhtar: Dramas that counter hate speech face considerable limitations
Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights issued a new report entitled “An effective tool... the role of dramas in combating hate speech and violent extremismto discuss the role of dramatic and artistic works in combating hate speech and incitement to violence. The report believes that dramas play a very important role in shaping awareness and influencing public opinion. Therefore, it is a very important weapon that can be used to fight extremism and religion-based hate.
The report highlighted the most prominent Egyptian dramas that had approached relevant topics such as combating hatred and violent extremism. Some dramas discussed socialization in Egyptian society to accept or reject the other on the basis of religion and its role in instilling tolerance or extremism in future generations. In addition, some other works discussed the inter-religious coexistence and its role in the stability of society. On the other hand, other works focused on the role of intellectuals in confronting hate speeches and the destructive ideas based on which those discourses are based. Some dramatic works highlighted the structure and ideas of extremist groups and the danger of their ideas on societies in order to warn against them. Other dramatic works approached the role of security services in combating societal hatred that amounts to acts of violence and exposing their intellectual confrontations during investigations of many ideas based on discourses that reject the other.
It is worth noting that this report came as a main output of the discussion panel held by Maat to discuss the role of art in combating hate speech in the name of religion, which was attended by a group of Egyptian intellectuals, writers and journalists interested in human rights issues, led by writer and scriptwriter Baher Dowidar and international human rights expert Ayman Okeil.
In this context, Ayman Okeil, president of Maat, said that dramas and art works have a major role in promoting interfaith coexistence, as the absence of this coexistence will lead to many sectarian incidents and violent crimes. Okeil added that many of these dramas shed light on the problems facing the upbringing process in the Egyptian society, and stressed the importance of dramas in shaping youth’s character and combating hate speeches, calling for the continuation of producing dramas that discuss this phenomenon despite the challenges facing drama makers, including the high cost of these works in exchange for the low financial returns because it is not a commercial business, stressing that the cost of producing a dramatic work does not match the results of the brutal and deadly terrorism.
For his part, Muhammad Mukhtar, a researcher at Maat, said that hate speech countering dramas face considerable limitations, including the ability of producers to promote it and attract viewers in light of the multiplicity of platforms that present other artworks, as well as the failure of dramas to discuss all aspects of hate topics, especially those related to the role of Social media in promoting hatred.
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