The Europe House hosted a panel discussion “Changing political culture and communication in order to establish dialogue and tolerance” on the topic of hate speech in politics. The panel was a part of the “REfocus” project, which is being implemented by the NGO Phiren Amenca with the financial support of the Centre for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CINCG). The goal of the project is to combat hate speech, primarily against members of the Roma community.
The panel brought together young representatives of political parties represented in the Montenegrin parliament who spoke about the ever-present hate speech on the political scene. The panelists included: Andrija Klikovac (Democratic Party of Socialists), Adel Omeragic (Bosniak Party), Boban Stanisic (Movement for Changes), Nikola Zirojevic (Social Democrats), Samir Skijelj (Social Democratic Party of Montenegro), Miodrag Bulatovic (Socialist People’s Party), and Stefan Vukmirovic (Civic movement URA).
As stated, the use of hate speech on the political scene produces very serious consequences for the stability and democratic development of society. Political leaders often resort to hate speech as a means of mobilising citizens to pursue their political interests. This kind of communication devoid of dialogue and tolerance represents a great danger and a step towards concrete violence and conflicts between those who think differently.
The young politicians emphasised the unique position that understanding and tolerance for diversity is necessary not only in politics but in society in general, and that it is also wrong to stifle the differences that inevitably exist. Differences in opinion are inevitable, but in order to achieve the necessary consensus in society, different communication models must be established that respect different opinions.
Among other things, the panelists agreed that hate speech must be more severely sanctioned, that is, it must have its own judicial epilogue. In this way, a clear message would be sent to the public that such a method of communication is not allowed.
Much of the responsibility for suppressing hate speech rests with the citizens’ representatives in parliament, from where messages that cause conflicts are often generated.
Some of the panelists pointed out that the cause of hate speech lies in the ideologies that are directed against the civic organisation of society. As claimed, some ideologies cannot create a tolerant society based on dialogue.
There was a discussion about political elites being the ones who are responsible for the increase in hate speech and the deepening of divisions because they failed to deal with the suppression of deep divisions that burden society.
The aim of the panel was to seek answers on how to change the political culture and communication in order to establish dialogue and tolerance among different political actors.