Required: Zero-Tolerance For Hate Speech

by Eze Eluchie

There ought to be zero-tolerance for 'hate speech' and literature promoting hatred of identifiable peoples.

Episodes of mass atrocities are first conceptualized in devious minds, broadcast either in writing or verbally via hate-speech, before the actual vile acts manifest.

From the negatively enchanting oratorical skills of Adolf Hitler leading to the Holocaust, to the broadcasts of the Rwanda’s Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLMC) leading to the Rwandan genocide, the power of hate-filled spoken words or written texts to stoke up tension amongst peoples and extract the vilest of actions from mankind has never been in doubt.

Of recent, mere hints on the need for African immigrants residing in South Africa to be made to go back to their respective home countries, from the Zulu King in South Africa, Goodwill Zwelithini, as contained in an address calling for ‘all foreigners to carry their bags and go to where they come from’, was sufficient to unleash an orgy of xenophobic violence which led to several deaths, forever scaring the Rainbow Country, creating divides amongst lifelong friends and destroying assets built over decades.

The rise in xenophobic utterances against the Igbo people of South Eastern Nigeria (the ethnic nationality who had suffered tremendous losses during the Biafran genocide 1967 - 1970) in the course of the past few months is quite worrisome.

From a Dallas, Texas, USA based medical doctor, Dr Adeniran Abraham Ariyo, who called on his Facebook page for the mass slaughter of Igbo's, to the monarch in Lagos (Mr. Rilwan Akiolu) who called for death for Igbo's by drowning if they failed to vote for his preferred candidate in a domestic election (https://youtu.be/TYkS3C4Y1cY), there appears to be a rise in hate speech against the Igbo’s.

When one recollects that similar trends in Nigeria, rise in hate speech, had been instrumental to a vicious pogrom and the accompanying Biafran genocide of the late 1960’s, the need to ensure zero-tolerance for hate speeches or whatever communication that has the potential to breed genocidal dispositions becomes paramount.

As the incoming administration of General Muhammadu Buhari assumes political power by May 29th 2015, considering the paucity of votes the General’s party garnered from the South East region, all eyes will be on the regime to gauge reaction to incitements to commit mass atrocities and whether it deploys a rapid response mechanisms to frontally confront and nip hate speech in the bud. Or, God forbids, condones and encourages same.

The world will be watching. We simply must ensure Never Again, Anywhere!

Picture: Dallas, Texas-based Dr. Abraham Ariyo and his offensive hate-posts against the Igbo race on his Facebook page.