Racism

One of the most significant forms of hate speech that OHPI combats is online racism. The Macquarie Dictionary (Sixth Edition, 2013) defines racism as:

noun 1.  the belief that human races have distinctive characteristics which determine their respective cultures, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule or dominate others.

2.  a policy or system of government and society based upon such a belief.

3.  behaviour or language based on this kind of belief in relation to a person or persons of a particular race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin, either demonstrating an inherent prejudice without specific hostile intent or, alternatively, intended to offend, insult, humiliate, or intimidate.

Our reports, briefings and campaigns have covered online expressions of both supremacist speech (speech claiming the superiority of one race over all others, for example, white supremacy) and racist speech directed against a specific group (for example, antisemitic speech (attacking Jews) and speech denigrating Indigenous Australians).

Australian federal law makes racism unlawful under section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act (see our video explaining section 18C). Each Australian state has further laws prohibiting racism. Racism is defined under the legislation to include race, nationality and ethnic origin. In Victoria, religious vilification (for example Anti-Muslim hate) is treated in similar terms to racism (for example Antisemitism).

CAMPAIGN (SEPTEMBER 2020) – COMBATING ONLINE RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA

During the month of September we will be running a special campaign to combat online Racism and Xenophobia.  The campaign aims to increase the focus on preventing this particular area of online hate. Special donations can be made to support this specific campaign and are welcome at any time.

Below is a list of our publications documenting, reporting and highlighting instances of online racist speech.

REPORTS

OHPI produces detailed reports documenting and analysing online hate. The reports are produced over a number of months addressing a theme in a systematic and in-depth manner. These reports are published by OHPI and made freely available to the public.

January 17, 2020: Submission on Anti-Vilification Protections

January 17, 2020: Andre Oboler, Mark Civitella, Nasya Bahfen, “Submission on Anti-Vilification Protections”

December, 2019: Andre Oboler, William Allington and Patrick Scolyer-Gray, “Hate and Violent Extremism from an Online Sub-Culture: The Yom Kippur Terrorist Attack in Halle, Germany

November, 2018: Andre Oboler, “After the Charlie Hebdo Attack: The Line between Freedom of Expression and Hate Speech” in Mikael Shainkman (Ed) Antisemitisms Today and Tomorrow: Global Perspectives on the Many Faces or Contemporary Antisemitism

November, 2017, Jakubowicz, Dunn, Mason, Paradies, Bliuc, Bahfen, Oboler, Atie and Connelly, Cyber Racism and Community Resilience (Palgrave, 2017)

May 31, 2017: “Zionism through the Internet’s looking glass” in Eunice G. Pollack (Ed)  Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism: Past & Present

Jan 27, 2016: Measuring the Hate: The State of Antisemitism on Social Media

December 10, 2015: Spotlight on Anti-Muslim Internet Hate Interim Report

July 13, 2015: After the Charlie Hebdo Attack: The line between Freedom of Expression and Hate Speech

July 1, 2015: How to Combat Online Antisemitism (eBook)

Feb 6, 2014: The Antisemitic Meme of the Jew

June 23, 2013: OHPI: Addressing the 2013 Global Forum to Combat Antisemitism

October 11, 2012: Aboriginal Memes and Online Hate

 

BRIEFINGS

OHPI briefings tackle specific instances of online hate and are produced rapidly to respond to emerging problems.

March 25, 2022: Anti-Asian Hate on Facebook

January 24, 2022: Basic Online Safety Expectations

November 21, 2020: Address to the United Nations Forum on Minority Issues

September 16, 2020:  Xenophobia 2020: COVID-19 Anti-Asian Attitudes

September 9, 2020:  Australian racism targeting Black Lives Matter

September 2, 2020:  More Racist and Anti-Chinese Sentiments on Twitter During COVID-19

June 1, 2020:  Islamophobic Pages and the Targeting of Mosques

May 26, 2020:  Framing China: Different Names for COVID-19

May 24, 2020:  Islamophobic Pages and COVID-19

May 18, 2020:  Coronavirus Used to Fuel Sinophobia

May 13, 2020: Right Winged or Racist?  What Do You Think?

May 12, 2020: Anti-Muslim Groups Turn Their Focus to Chinese and Asian Australians

April 30, 2020: Campaign Launch Incites Anti-Muslim Comments

April 22, 2020: Coronavirus incident sparks Islamophobia

April 15, 2020: Anxiety, Fear, Misinformation & Xenophobia During the Coronavirus

April 15, 2020: Coronavirus and the Trolls

April 15, 2020: Using Twitter for Hate

April 15, 2020: From Food to Hate

March 31, 2020: Coronavirus and Fake News

March 30, 2020:  More Racism on Twitter

March 29, 2020:  Racism against Indigenous Australians on Twitter

March 29, 2020: Racism against Indigenous Australians on Twitter

March 9, 2020:  Racism Against Indigenous Australians on Instagram

March 7, 2020: Tackling racism against Indigenous Australians must be a priority

January 18, 2020: Instagram needs help

November 18, 2019: Will.i.am and sunlight

January 26, 2019:  Being Australian

January 15, 2019:  Senator Anning’s Hate Machine

January 9, 2019:  She’ll be right mate

December 26, 2018: Hate on the Rise in Victoria

January 23, 2018:  Australia Day, African Youth and the Far-Right

January 15, 2018: The Far-Right on African Youth

March 4, 2017: OHPI response to the Freedom of Speech / S18C Report

March 3, 2017: The battle against rising antisemitism online

February 14, 2017: Neo-Nazi Group’s Poster Campaign in Melbourne

January 31, 2017: Evidence given when appearing before the Freedom of Speech / S18C Inquiry

December 19, 2016: Freedom of Speech Inquiry – what people said

September 28, 2016: Racism Against Indigenous Australians on Twitter

September 25, 2016: An interview with Triple J 

June 23, 2016: Update on AFL Memes

June 3, 2016: NRL memes

June 1, 2016: Trolling the AFL with racism and misogyny

June 1, 2016: Responses to the EU agreement

May 31, 2016: European Union agreement with Social Media Platforms on tackling Hate Speech

May 28, 2016: Responding to Racism and Vigilante Justice

January 18, 2015: Survivor Island 3: What can we learn from the incident 

January 7, 2016: Report antisemitic YouTube video “History of Multiculturalism” 

January 14, 2015: Report “EVOLVEFEST 2016” Event Page as Homophobic & Antisemitic

January 12, 2016: Report Hate against Indigenous Australians on Twitter

December 15, 2015: Recap 2015: OHPI’s government engagement

December 14, 2015: Recap 2015: How to Combat Online Antisemitism (e-book / book)

December 9, 2015: Recap 2015: Spotlight on Antisemitism

December 9, 2015: Recap 2015: Je Suis Humain report & paper

December 8, 2015: Report racist video “Flubba Bubba noonga”

November 27, 2015: Criminal investigations launched against Facebook in Germany for racist speech

November 24, 2015: Crossing the line on political speech

November 18, 2015: OHPI represented at a national conference on multiculturalism

September 11, 2015: Sept 11 and today’s rising anti-Muslim hate

September 2, 2015: Report “The Holocaust Fraud Exposed” YouTube video

August 25, 2015: Don’t open doors to hate

August 23, 2015: Bigots target OHPI

August 21, 2015: Report “Restore Australia” community page

August 18, 2015: Report YouTube video “Noonga Talk”

August 6, 2015: The danger of the Australian Far-Right

August 5, 2015: How to respond to online racism

August 4, 2015: Report “Adam Goodes for the Flog of the Year” Page

July 28, 2015: E-mail with a Reclaimer

July 10, 2015: Europe acknowledges online hate speech as a serious threat

June 23, 2015: Reporting the Google + community “Jew Watch”

June 20, 2015: Facebook Fails to Protect Free Speech Against Hate

June 21, 2015: Promoting Dylann Roof’s Extremism on Facebook

June 5, 2015: Restore Australia’s cyberbullying of Mariam Veiszadeh

May 22, 2015: Prof. Wistrich on Antisemitism in 2015

May 11, 2015: Holocaust denial and YouTube

April 16, 2015: Right Honourable Useful Idiots

March 24, 2015: Success! OHPI gets hate removed

March 20, 2015: “BlackFulla RevoltingLution”: Anti-Aboriginal Hate reappears on Facebook

March 10, 2015: A Recap on OHPI at 12,000

Feb 16, 2015: Modern antisemitism: The Holocaust and other genocides

Feb 8, 2015: The why of rising antisemitism

January 27, 2015: Holocaust Denial & Social Media

December 19, 2014: Facebook Experiments with Australia

December 11, 2014: WIN: Hate page Take Back Australia CLOSED

October 16, 2014: Racism in Australia has a history

October 15, 2014: OHPI endorses Take Back Australia from the Racists

October 8, 2014: Holocaust Denial on Facebook

September 27, 2014: Squadron 88 Returns

September 10, 2014: Golden Dawn, Holocaust Denial & Facebook

August 18, 2014: Aboriginal Memes still doing the rounds on Facebook

August 4, 2014: Calls to Kill on Facebook

July 26, 2014: 60 Minutes Unholy War

July 22, 2014: An Antisemitic Response to Hamas-Israel War

July 15, 2014: Hate, Humour and Social Media

May 10, 2014: Golden Dawn Australia Update

May 7, 2014: Golden Dawn, Social Media and Australia’s far right

April 23, 2014: Wrongful unpublishing – The Alex Levin Art Page

April 2, 2014: Reporting Proud Holocaust Deniers

March 31, 2014: RDA campaigning resources

March 26, 2014: Racial Discrimination Act and Freedom of Speech

January 27, 2014: Aboriginal Memes 2014

January 31, 2014: The Merchant – An Antisemitic Facebook page

November 13, 2013: Using Facebook to Fight Hate

November 8, 2013: Centrelink Memes and Anti-aboriginal racism

September 25, 2013: Facebook discourages reporting

September 21, 2013: Video Briefing: Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial

September 8, 2013: Facebook Fails Review

August 23, 2013: OHPI presentation over Aboriginal Memes

August 11, 2013: Holocaust Denial on Facebook – An Untold Story

August 8, 2013: Facebook gets it wrong on Aboriginal Memes

 

Books

July 1, 2015: How to Combat Online Antisemitism (eBook)

August 8, 2014: Facebook Reporting Guide

 

Government Submissions & Engagement

OHPI also produces submissions for governments and white papers for the industry.

January 31, 2017: Evidence given when appearing before the Freedom of Speech / S18C Inquiry

December 9, 2016: Submission to Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Right’s Inquiry into Freedom of Speech (and S18C)

December 14, 2015: OHPI joins All Together Now for #silencetheracists campaign 

December 2, 2015: Presentation in the UN (New York)

November 25, 2015: OHPI at the JCCV Award Night

November 25, 2015: OHPI attends JCCV AGM

October 14, 2015: Minister Robin Scott commends OHPI’s work

August 31, 2015: OHPI attends the ADC Gandel annual oration

August 30, 2015: OHPI invites you to a guided tour of Anne Frank Exhibition

August 13, 2015: Governance of NGOs conference

August 9, 2015: OHPI attends Community Leadership Conference

August 4, 2015: Talk on Online Hate to B’nai B’rith’s Raoul Wallenberg Unit

July 8, 2015: OHPI participates in ASLA panel discussion

July 16 & 17, 2015: Attending the Advancing Community Cohesion conference

June 7, 2015: OHPI presents at Limmud Oz

May 12-14, 2015: 12th biennial Seminar on antisemitism

April 20, 2015: Talk at La Trobe University

April 13, 2015: OHPI’s CEO wins Jewish Changemakers Award

March 10, 2014: OHPI’s Submission to the Australian government on Online Safety

April 30, 2014: RDA and Freedom of Speech

April 17, 2015: Victorian Minister for Multicultural Affairs responds to OHPI Report

March 23, 2015: OHPI at the first Official Jewish-Muslim Dinner in Victoria

March 20, 2015: Attorney-General Responds to OHPI Report

 

Videos

August 19, 2014: What does Online Hate Prevention Institute (OHPI) Do?

July 14, 2014: Lady Diamond explains what Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act really means

June 16, 2014: Meet Lady Diamond, anti-Hate campaigner at the Online Hate Prevention Institute

September 2, 2013: Stop Racism & Online Hate with OHPI

 

Community Engagement

November 30, 2015: OHPI at the Executive Council of Australian Jewry’s AGM

November 25, 2015: OHPI at FWD 2015

November 25, 2015: OHPI at the JCCV Award Night

November 25, 2015: OHPI attends JCCV AGM

November 18, 2015: OHPI represented at a national conference on multiculturalism

November 16, 2015: OHPI interviewed by SBS Urdu

August 9. 2015: OHPI attends the Community Leadership Conference

August 4, 2015: Talk on Online Hate to B’nai B’rith’s Raoul Wallenberg Unit 

July 16, 2015: Attending the Advancing Community Cohesion conference 

July 28, 2015: OHPI at the IREA Eid Dinner

June 26, 2015: OHPI attends the Iftar Dinner at the Victorian State Parliament

June 7, 2015: OHPI presents at Limmud Oz

June 5, 2015: 12th biennial Seminar on antisemitism

May 10, 2015: OHPI presents FightAgainstHate.com at conference on antisemitism at the Tel Aviv University

May 4, 2015: OHPI offers its assistance to the Victorian government to tackle threats and strengthen harmony

April 20, 2015: Talk at La Trobe University

April 13, 2015: OHPI’s CEO wins Jewish Changemaker Award

March 23, 2015: OHPI at the first Official Jewish-Muslim Dinner in Victoria

March 15, 2015: OHPI attends RDA@40

February 19&20, 2015: Community Consultation on RDA

Feb 9, 2015: OHPI attends the World Interfaith Harmony Week at the Victorian Parliament

Feb 9, 2015: Talk at the Council of Christians and Jews

Feb 9, 2015: Talk at North Eastern Jewish Centre

February 5, 2015: World Interfaith Harmony Week at the Victorian Parliament

November 24, 2014: OHPI participates in the AGM of JCCV

October 29, 2015: OHPI in a seminar on social media and the law

Oct 26, 27, 2014: OHPI at the Facing Today’s Reality Seminar in New Zealand 

September 6, 2014: Presenting Fight Against Hate to FECCA

August 21, 2015: Talk on Cyber-Racism & Social Media

 

Commentary & Media Coverage

16 July 16, 2020: Facebook ‘failing miserably’ on hate speech, Australian Jewish News

July 3, 2020: Indigenous Australians face sexual racism on dating apps: ‘The second he found out about my heritage, he was gone‘, ABC

June 11, 2020: Radio interview discussing calls for a new anti-racism strategy, SBS World News Radio

May 9, 2020: COVID-19 has prompted a spike in racist attacks. We need to start tracking them better, ABC News

April 17, 2020:  Victims of coronavirus-fuelled racism in Australia are speaking out about its impact, SBS News

March 15, 2020: ‘Governments advertising was supporting the hosting of terrorist manifesto’, J-Wire

February 29, 2020: ‘Why is Instagram still hosting ‘Black Lives Don’t Matter’ accounts?’, The Daily Dot

February 6, 2020: ‘’Playing Into The Hysteria’: How Racism Has ‘Mobilised Fear And Hostility’ Over Coronavirus’, 10 Daily

August 26, 2019: ‘Blocking 8Chan just ‘baby steps’ in fighting racist extremism, Experts Say’, 10 Daily

August 6, 2019: El Paso terrorist attack and 8Chan, ABC News

March 25, 2019: ‘Christchurch shootings fuel politics of race in NZ, Australia‘ China Daily Global

November 6, 2018: “Why you should argue with racists”, The Sydney Morning Herald

March 3, 2017: The battle against rising antisemitism online, Australian Jewish News

February 17, 2017: Nazi posters in Melbourne, Australian Jewish News

February 16, 2017: Neo-Nazi Group Covers Melbourne In Vile Racist Posters, Huffington Post

February 15, 2017: Neo-Nazis posters and stickers plaster Melbourne, J-Wire

February 3, 2017: How neo-Nazis exploit Instagram to spread antisemitic memes

September 22, 2016: It’s Actually Illegal To Be Racist On The Internet, Huffington Post

August 15, 2016: Anti-Muslim hate speech ‘fuels extremism’, experts say

June 9, 2016: Twitter Fails to Confront Vicious anti-Semites, Jewish Journalists Say, Haaretz

June 7, 2016: Online anti-Semitism: Difficult to Fight, but Even Harder to Quantify, Haaretz

December 30, 2015: BBC reflects with OHPI on rising online hate in 2015

November 23, 2015: OHPI featured in an ABC Radio National documentary

November 18, 2015: OHPI represented at a national conference on multiculturalism

September 22, 2015: OHPI featured in BBC News

September 18, 2015: Campaign to stop Online Hate against Islam – SBS Radio Interview

September 3, 2015: Radio interview about OHPI’s work combating online hate (K-Rock FM)

July 18, 2015: Melbourne Rally Against Racism

July 14, 2015: Don’t give in to extremism

June 10, 2015: Countering Violent Extremism Summit

June 3, 2015: OHPI at Limmud Oz 2015

May 11, 2015: Online Hate (J-Wire)

May 11, 2015: “Online Antisemitism: Meeting the Challenge” in The Big Smoke

April 16, 2015: Right Honourable Useful Idiots

April 14, 2015: Hackers target Bnei Akiva Facebook Page

April 12, 2015: Changemakers Honoured

April 7, 2015: Press Release: Hackers target Jews online

March 24, 2015: Dr Oboler’s Book Review of “Viral Hate”

March 31, 2015: Spotlight on Antisemitism: Illuminating the nature of hate (The Big Smoke)

March 30, 2015: OHPI’s CEO Dr Andre Oboler interviewed by the NIRS

Feb 16, 2015: OHPI in The Melbourne Jewish Report

Feb 15, 2015: Denmark Attacked (Press Release)

Feb 9, 2015: The hatred sown in the network: digital antisemitism (smarknews.it)

January 21, 2015: Je Suis Humain: Responsible free speech in the shadow of Charlie Hebdo (The Big Smoke)

January 21, 2015: OHPI: Je Suis Humain (hurryupharry.org)

January 21, 2015: OHPI on The Project

January 20, 2015: OHPI releases report on free speech in light of the Charlie Hebdo attacks  (Press Release)

December 15, 2014: New tool in fighting online hate (Australian Jewish News)

December 11, 2014: OHPI: Tracking down the data to combat online hate (The Big Smoke)

December 10, 2014: Hitting Back Against Hate (MX)

December 9, 2014: Fight Against Hate Launched (OHPI Press Release)

May 22, 2014: Leading the fight against Online Hate (The Australian Jewish News)

May 14, 2014: Google and Facebook need your help to police online hate (Times of Israel)

Haaretz.com: N.Z. Jews welcome John Key’s reelection as they sense a shift in anti-Semitism

J-Wire: Hate Mail for Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs

The Algemeiner: Anti-Semitic Flyers Distributed in Sydney Again; Neo-Nazi Group Wants Jews Out of Australia

Jerusalem Post: It is time Facebook Repents

J-Wire: Online Hate to be Countered

J-Wire: Dealing with Online Hate

The Australian: Rise of Anti-Semitism From This War is No Accident

Australian Jewish News: The battle against online hate

Australian Jewish News, Australian Jewish Jews: Loving Nazis, Hating Muslims

The Australian Jewish News: 18C helped beat Facebook hate page

theage.com.au: Bendigo mosque a cause celebre for right-wing outsiders

J-Wire: Social Media Connects Far Right Groups

News.com.au: Facebook shuts vile Aboriginal memes page, despite earlier claiming it didn’t constitute ‘hate speech

National Indigenous Radio: OHPI on National Indigenous Radio Service

The Louis D. Brandeis Center Blog: If you can’t recognize hate speech, the sunlight can’t penetrate

Deadly Vibe Magazine: Hate speech ‘not OK’

News and Views from Jews Down Under: Aussie Jews leading the fight against hate

Israel National News (Arutz Sheva): Anti-Semitism in Social Media Includes Twitter: Interview with Andre Oboler of Online Hate Prevention

Australian Jewish News: Social media is the message

SBS World News Australia: Racial abuse caught on smartphone

Jerusalem Post Blogs: Facebook sanctions Antisemitic content

The Algemeiner: YouTube, Google and Apple Take Steps Towards Combating Online Anti-Semitism

The Jewish Press: YouTube Removes Hundreds of Videos in Response to New Report on Online Anti-Semitism

JWire: Hate Prevention Institute meets with Success

The Australia Jewish News: YouTube ‘too slow’ on hate videos

Arutz Sheva: YouTube ‘Too Slow’ Taking Action Against Hate Videos

SBS News: Racist Memes spark calls for online ombudsman

The Jewish Press: Charge: Facebook Pages Spew Blood Libels, Attack Jews and Aborigines, Mock Anne Frank

Australian Jewish News: Facebook Forced to Pull Hate Page

Polskie Radio: Poland fights against xenophobia

SBS World News: Racial abuse caught on smartphone

Australian Jewish News: The social media is the message

Arutz Sheva: Anti-Semitism in Social Media Includes Twitter

The Algemeiner: Algemeiner reports on Companies Action in response to OHPI and ADL

 

Newsletters

July 28, 2015 – Reclaiming Australia from bigots