Supporting Organisations

 

Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia

Online hate has no place in our community. For Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, online racism and hate leads to social isolation and breaks down community cohesion. We encourage all online users to report hate and racism wherever you see it. FECCA is proud to work with the Online Hate Prevention Institute to combat online racism and hate speech. Congratulations OHPI on the launch of this remarkable tool.

~ Joe Caputo OAM, Chair

Executive Council of Australian Jewry

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) welcomes the launch of the Online Hate Prevention Institute’s new tool for reporting and collecting data about online hate. ECAJ have produced an annual report on antisemitism in Australia for many years and we know the importance of accurate data as a basis for setting policies and action that minimising the risk of hate crimes and increase the safety of the community. The Internet plays an ever increasing role in daily life, and with this we see a corresponding increase in the prevalence of incidents of antisemitism online. It is vital that accurate data about online hate in general, and online antisemitism in particular, is gathered. The ECAJ looks forward to using data from the new OHPI tool in our work monitoring and reporting on antisemitic incidents in Australia.

~ Peter Wertheim AM, Executive Director

B’nai B’rith Australia / New Zealand

B’nai B’rith is pleased to support the launch of the Online Hate Prevention Institute’s software for reporting online hate, including online antisemitism. Having provided support for the development of this project, we are pleased to host this launch event.be hosting this launch event. Antisemitism remains a real threat to the Jewish community, as does racism and bigotry remain a real threat to the wider Australian population and to the cohesion of the community. The Online Hate Prevention Institute is tackling an old threat which has re-emerged in new ways.

~ Ivan Kaplan, Vice-President

Cyber-Racism and Community Resilience Project

The Cyber Racism and Community Resilience research group, a partnership of academics from five universities and major NGOs, strongly supports the initiative of OHPI to develop and launch the Combatting Racism web project. OHPI has been a key initiator of cyber ideas about how communities can engage with racism in cyberspace, one of the faster growing locations for the spread of hate. We recognise the important role that OHPI has already played in contributing to the research data needed for informed public policy and sustained community network building to resist hate. We look forward to our continuing partnership and collaboration and the important next stage in building community resilience against race hate.

~ Prof Andrew Jakubowicz, lead Chief Investigator
(University of Technology Sydney)

Faith Matters

Tackling on-line hate is fast becoming a major problem and which we have highlighted in a number of reports on anti-Muslim bigotry. We believe that a network of activists countering anti-Muslim hate is required and this toolkit can help to upskill a range of practitioners

~ Fiyaz Mughal, Director

Collective Shout

In our work campaigning against the sexual objectification of women, harassment and abuse online has become part of the territory. For campaigning against sexual violence, men threaten to rape us. It seems the greatest risk factor for being targeted online is being a woman with an opinion.

Law enforcement and social media platforms have failed to address the misogynistic abuse directed to vocal women online. We are heartened by the implementation of OHPI’s new tool and pleased to support their efforts. We look forward to moving forward and working towards creating online spaces that are safe for women.

~ Caitlin Roper, Campaigns Manager

Embassy of Israel in Australia

I congratulate the Online Hate Prevention Institute on the release of their ‘Fight Against Hate’ software for monitoring anti-Semitism and other forms of hate in social media.

This new software has been designed to meet the need for specific information about online hate which was first identified by the Online Anti-Semitism Working Group of the Global Forum to Combat Anti-Semitism at a conference held by the Israeli Foreign Ministry and Ministry for Diaspora Affairs in Jerusalem in 2009.

I am very pleased to see the results of this work and the cooperation between Israel and Australia which is making this possible.

I look forward to the impact it will have not only in the fight against online anti-Semitism, but in efforts to protect human rights and combat bigotry and racism directed against minority groups around the world.

I commend the Online Hate Prevention Institute on this important work.

~ H.E. Shmuel Ben Shmuel, Ambassador of Israel to Australia 

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies

The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies welcomes the Sydney launch of the Online Hate Prevention Institute’s software for reporting hate speech in social media. We have monitored the rise of online antisemitism in recent years and responded to numerous incidents, and this tool is an important component in combating online hate in general and antisemitism on the internet specifically.

~ Vic Alhadeff, CEO

All Together Now

All Together Now is the only national charity dedicated to preventing all forms of racism in Australia. In the course of our work we frequently witness online hate. There is currently an urgent need for online hate to be monitored and dealt with consistently over a sustained period. We congratulate OHPI for demonstrating leadership in this area and persisting with the creation of this tool. It is important that all Human Rights organisations use this tool to report online hate so that offenders can be dealt with appropriately and quickly, and that service providers can be held accountable for dealing with hate on their sites.

~ Priscilla Brice, Managing Director

B’nai B’rith Anti Defamation Commission

OHPI is to be congratulated for their work on the new ‘Fight Against Hate’ tool for combating online hate, including anti-Semitism. At the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission we have noted a rise in the prevalence of online anti-Semitism, and through our ‘Click again Hate’ program we have been working to teach students how to recognise and respond to it. We believe the new tool will be a significant asset in our work against online anti-Semitism and look forward to using it.

~ Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman

Hillel

OHPI continues to rise to the challenge of engaging with community and combating hate through innovative programs and resources. We are privileged to be a partner and continue Hillel’s relationship with OHPI as a standout grassroots initiative.

~ Shailee Mendelevich, Assistant Director

Australian Union of Jewish Students

Online hate is a growing problem and a particularly pervasive form of bigoted vilification. AUJS commends the OHPI’s efforts to combat this abhorrent and extremely prevalent trend. No person should fear racial, religious, cultural or ethnic vilification online, and websites which provide the opportunity for such comments to be posted ought to take action. It is too easy to post racist comments online and get away with it, while its negative effects are largely unseen by the perpetrator, but impossible to escape for victims.

The Australasian Union of Jewish Students is committed to fighting anti-Semitism and racism in all its forms, and we welcome the OHPI’s contribution to this fight. We encourage people to use the tool wherever they see online hate.

~ Dean Sherr, National Chairperson

Cyberspace Law and Policy Community

Living in a democratic multi-cultural country demands that the highest level of tolerance towards different values, cultures, languages and religions. This is expressed in the protection of civil liberties such as freedom of expression and freedom of association but these freedoms come with limits. Hate speech is clearly one of those areas that cannot be tolerated in any form. The disconnect between device and speech means that online hate discourse manifests even worse than offline hate speech. Hate speech must not be tolerated. Effective tools might be a hover bubble that pops up on hate sites that gives the user a different version of tolerance and offers a link to a different website (Many NGOs have used this to combat nazi speech and anti-semitism(. We welcome the launch of the OHPI tool and support the work being done on this topic

~ Alana Maurushat 

IEEE Society for the Social Implications of Technology (Australia Chapter)

As a group supporting the development and use of technology for social good, we look forward to the launch of this tool that aims to enhance social inclusion.

~ Lyria Bennett Moses, Vice Chair

Jewish Community Council of Victoria

We see online hate in the form of antisemitism daily, and as a community can attest to the mental, social and emotional harm caused by online hate. The same harm comes from racial or religious hate of all types that are promulgated online and this tool is an important weapon against the proliferation of online hate.

~ David Marlow, Executive Director

 

Islamic Council of Victoria

The Islamic Council of Victoria is please to support the Online Hate Prevention Institute’s ‘Fight Against Hate’ reporting software. We thank the Online Hate Prevention Institute for the work they have done reporting on the growing problem of anti-Muslim hate in social media. This new tool will empower Victorian Muslims, enabling members of our community to play an active role in reporting and monitoring anti-Muslim hate on the Internet. We also look forward to the ability the tool will provide us to monitor trends and incidents that impact on our community. We congratulate the Online Hate Prevention Institute on the mile stone represented by the release of this important tool in the fight against online bigotry and hate which seeks to undermine the multicultural nature of the Australian community.

~ Nail Aykan, General Manager

Zionist Council NSW

The Zionist Council of NSW supports this institute and hopes that it will be successful in combating hatred online. No-one should be able to go online and promote hate and be able to get away with it. Only by education and tolerance can we eradicate such behaviour.

~ Belinda Levy, Executive Director

Zionist Council of Victoria

The Zionist Council of Victoria is pleased to be able to show its support for OHPI. The OHPI works tirelessly trying to combat online hate.
Unfortunately the recent Gaza conflict has brought about an increase in antisemitic incidents and the growing use of personal computers, the internet and wireless devices has changed the face of hate speech providing these people with a much greater reach as well as a mask of anonymity.

The ZCV congratulates OHPI in their endeavors in tackling online hate and their new tool will prove invaluable to individuals and community groups alike.

~ Jane Rapke, Executive Director

Israeli Students Combating Antisemitism

The Israeli Students Combating Antisemitism (ISCA) project of The National Union of Israeli Students welcomes OHPI and the launch of the tool and encourage everyone who wants to take part in the ongoing battle against cyber hate to use it.

~ Ido Daniel, National Program Director

They Can’t

Created 15 months ago, “They Can’t” removed more than 21,000 antisemitic videos and “terminated” more than 600 antisemitic accounts. They Can’t is one of the biggest Facebook groups fighting antisemitism on the internet and coordinates campaigns that enable people to play an active role in getting items of antisemitic content removed. We are glad to show our support to this new OHPI project.

Our Big Kitchen

I am proud to support an organization that sees the internet as a tool to make lives better, safer, and more productive, and to achieve this we must do our very best that this wonderful tool, the internet, is not used badly by anybody who has bad intentions.

~ Rabbi Dr. Dovid Slavin

Anti-Semite Tracker

Racism is spreading rapidly both offline and online. Victims are being abused, stalked, and even at the point of physically harming themselves. Preventing such attacks is hard, but we must do what we can. On April 7th, 2014, the Anti-Semite Tracker, a one-man Antisemitism watchdog was founded to fight Antisemitism on Twitter. The Tracker finds  antisemitic tweets, and reports them. It has become a valuable tool against racism, but more tools are needed and the new OHPI tool will be a valuable contribution bringing people and organizations fighting racism together. I look forward to integrating the Tracker with the new OHPI system when it launches. The OHPI has created a life-changing tool, which will unite organizations and tools. I recommend it to all organizations fighting racism, abuse, and online stalkers.

~ The Antisemite Tracker

 

Mount Scopus Memorial College

Tragically, the tremendous potential that the Internet has to improve all of our lives is too often derailed when Facebook and other social media are used to spread racism and hatred. In particular as Jews we are conscious of the volume of antisemitic abuse that swirls around blogs and other sites. Coming across such material can be confronting, generating feels of disgust, vulnerability and helplessness. We congratulate the Online Hate Prevention Institute on the creation of their reporting tool which empowers people to combat this hate.

~ Rabbi James Kennard, Principal

J-Wire

In the rapidly growing world of social media, the world is vulnerable to uncontrollable attacks which in times gone by could have been contained.

Monitoring of the net and its content is a big problem today and will become a huge problem for tomorrow

~ Henry Benjamin, Publisher

Australian Jewish News

As the voice of the Jewish community in Australia, we are only too aware of the scourge of online hate. Hatred has no place in our society, and the online sphere is an equally important battleground against hate as any other. We look forward to this tool being another weapon in the arsenal against anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, xenophobia and all forms of online hatred.

~ Gareth Narunsky, Senior Journalist

Children with Disability Australia

Children with Disability Australia (CDA) is the national peak body representing children and young people with disability, aged 0-25 years. Discriminatory attitudes towards disability are all too common in the Australian community. CDA is active in drawing attention to language and content that vilifies people with disability, particularly in the Australian media. In doing so, CDA aims to foster cultural and behavioural change to create a public discussion that respects, values and includes children and young people with disability.

Children and young people with disability experience bullying and discrimination at higher rates than peers without disability, including in online spaces. There is a need to make a real change to community understandings of, and attitudes about, disability. CDA therefore welcomes the launch of the ‘Fight Against Hate’ tool, as a key means to identify and remove harmful online content.

B’nai B’rith Courage to Care (Vic.) Inc.

Courage to Care demonstrates the consequences of unchallenged prejudice and racism. We promote the message that “Each Person Cam Make A Difference” to the lives of others and emphasise that one should “Never Be A Bystander”.

This Prevention Program allows everyone who becomes aware of online hate to become an UPSTANDER and combat it.

~ Dr. Tony Weldon, Chairman

Women’s International Zionist Organisation

It is very important to have a tool that can be used to tackle online hate. Unfortunately it is too easy to use the internet to spread undesirable, malicious, racist ideas very quickly. We welcome the launch of this tool to help us combat these hateful lies.

~ Gilla Liberman, President WIZO Australia

Victorian Multicultural Commission

The Victorian Multicultural Commission (VMC) is the peak Victorian agency with responsibility for fostering and promoting multiculturalism in Victoria. It represents the community and provides advice to the Victorian Government on all multicultural issues.

Online hate is a modern day challenge and unfortunately often targets multicultural communities. We welcome the Fight Against Hate online tool created to combat this issue and help reduce the incidences of online hate and vilification.

Muslim Women Association

The Muslim Women Association (MWA) would like to commend the Online Hate Prevention Institute on the development and launch of the ‘Fight against Hate’ online reporting tool.

At MWA one aspect of our work, is to mitigate the social impacts that are perpetuated by online hate and xenophobia, particularly in relation to Muslim women and their children.

We encourage all to use this tool to report online hate and in doing so help contribute to a more accountable, respectful and harmonious society.

~ Maha Abdo OAM, Executive Officer

Parents Council of NSW

The Parents Council of NSW since 1962 has promoted the interests of parents who choose to educate their children at independent schools. More than 170,000 students and over 690,000 parents, grandparents, staff and contractors across New South Wales are our constituency. Online engagement is at the heart of today’s school education. Cyber bullying, online hate, racial abuse or cultural stereotypes are all factors that impact adversely on student welfare. In this fight we are pleased to be a supporter of OHPI and its effective tool to combat a contemporary problem that is growing. Civil society needs more strategic alliances like this. Parents have been looking for help on this key issue for years.

~ Noel Hadjimichael, CEO

B’nai B’rith Courage to Care (NSW) Inc.

Courage to Care is an educational program supported by a traveling exhibition and social tolerance program. Using Holocaust survivors’ stories as an example, Courage to Care empowers its participants to take positive action in relation to discrimination, harm and bullying in all forms, from the schoolyard to the workplace and beyond – not to be bystanders, to make a difference whenever possible.

The program is positive. It uses examples from the past to plant the seeds of awareness, understanding and empathy for minority groups and for people experiencing harm. It encourages the development of an intelligent, peaceful society, with understanding and respect for all minority groups. Courage to Care inspires visitors to realise that they as individuals, can make a difference. Courage to Care makes viewers feel empowered as people realise the importance of supporting those who experience any form of harm, prejudice and discrimination.

~ Andrew Havas, Chairman

Australasian Centre for Human Rights and Health

ACHRH is a think tank and task force for tackling health and violence related issues in the community, focusing especially on the specific problems of the South East Asian community in Australia. Often with our work in the community we come across cases of online hate which is extremely disturbing and debilitating for the victims. Tackling this kind of abuse is very important as the medium is uncontrolled and dissemination of information is to a very wide audience in a matter of minutes. The tool developed by OPHI will be useful in our research to understand the reasons for the hate and for the kind of hate victims may be subjected to and help us in finding adequate solutions to address the abuse suffered by victims. We congratulate OHPI in its efforts and look forward to working together in developing tools that minimise and eliminate online hate by providing the date necessary to do so.

~ Molina Asthana, Board Member and Secretary

Arab Council Australia

Arab Council Australia congratulates OHPI on its work. We welcome and support this initiative and encourage everyone who reads hate messages online to report it using this tool.

~ Randa Kattan, CEO

Zionist Federation of Australia

 

 

 

Multicultural Communities Council of Illawarra

As more and more of our CALD communities access the World Wide Web they face an increased risk of cyber-racism due to the amount of time they spend online. A significant proportion of non-English speaking Australians and others born overseas, experience racism on a regular basis, especially online. Most perpetrators have limited knowledge or education about the religious or cultural groups they are targeting. For perpetrators there is a sense of remaining anonymous so they are more likely to perpetrate online than in public. MCCI welcomes the launch of the Online Hate Prevention Institute’s new tool for reporting and collecting data about online hate. Through our diverse range of programs and activities we are working with our CALD communities and mainstream communities to provide more education and reduce cyber bullying and racism.

~ Terrie Leoleos, General Manager

 

Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (NSW)

The Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby is honoured to support OHPI and its work to ‘Fight Against Hate’. Online hate speech deeply affects lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) Australians – as it does many other communities. Cyberbullying and expressions of homophobia and transphobia online can have a profound impact upon the physical and emotional health and well-being of individuals and groups affected. For isolated LGBTI young people in particular, the internet is a critical source of information and support, and we must do all we can to make it safe. We welcome the launch of this reporting tool and encourage internet users to take advantage of the ability to report all kinds of online hate speech.

~ Dr Justin Koonin, Convenor