What YOU can do to stop hate
Peace Vigil works specifically on peace education and our motto is Peace Needs All of Us. We are your peace education partners. We help you become better defenders of peace through trainings and resources designed specially keeping in mind the role of individuals in promoting a world of co-existence.
1. Join an inter-faith group which engages in dialogue and exchange between communities of different faiths on a regular basis. If you have not been exposed to inter-faith work, you can watch this interview to understand what it is: Director of inter-faith Congress of Washington DC,
2. If your place of worship/religious congregation or family/friend circle promotes hatred against any religious community, oppose the bigotry. Remember that promotion of bigotry happens not just through direct words and actions but also through covert messaging on WhatsApp, Facebook and other social media.
What does opposition mean? It means first of all that you clearly express your opposition to the hatred being spread – this can be tricky but it must be done if you are serious about stopping violence done in the name of religion. Be polite but firm and clearly state that you reject the prejudice being promoted. For specific tips, join one of our workshops.
Secondly, introduce alternative narratives into the group – narratives of historical and current examples of co-existence, peace, diversity, syncretism and dialogue. For example, the concept of sulah-e-kul. How these alternative narratives can be introduced and what material can be helpful is something you can learn from our trainings and workshops.
3. Understand how religious hate is spread and violence planned. Contrary to popular belief, most incidents of religious violence are meticulously planned. They appear to be spontaneous but the majority are not and even those that are, result from the planned building of an environment of extreme fear. Join us for a live discussion on this and more to take place at 3:30pm South Africa, 2:30pm UK and 9:30am in Washington DC on Gandhi’s birthday, October 2. Register here.
