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News & Events Event Reports

Fifth Global Summit: Mayoral Conversation — Preventing and Responding to Hate Speech

Publication Date:
21/12/2024
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Cape TownCity-Led Preventiondigital literacyFifth Global SummitHate Speechpublic safety

— 11 minutes reading time

Introduction

On 3 – 5 December 2024, the Strong Cities Network held its Fifth Global Summit in Cape Town (South Africa), bringing together more than 140 participants, including 60 mayors and governors, as well as city officials, practitioners and partners from more than 90 cities and 40 countries around the world. The Summit included mayoral conversations, thematic parallel sessions and tabletop exercises – providing city officials from diverse contexts with opportunities to share and learn from city-led innovations and approaches to prevent and respond to hate, extremism and polarisation, and maintain social cohesion amid global crises.

The Summit agenda included a Mayoral Conversation on Preventing and Responding to Hate Speech; an opportunity for city leaders to share strategies for addressing both online and offline hate speech, its impact on communities and approaches for fostering social cohesion. The session was convened in response to growing concerns among mayors and local governments across the Strong Cities Network about the rising prevalence of hate speech, its potential to divide communities and incite violence, and the challenges posed by its rapid dissemination via social media, often fuelled by dis/misinformation.

Featured Speakers

Key Takeaways

Understanding the Threat

Mayors and local government representatives agreed that hate speech remains a pervasive and escalating challenge for communities worldwide, creating divisions, inciting violence and eroding social cohesion and civic engagement. Advances in technology and the proliferation of digital platforms have amplified its reach, making its impacts more immediate and severe, with marginalised and other vulnerable groups often primary targets.

Ras Baraka, Mayor of Newark (New Jersey, USA), shared the various forms of hate he is seeing targeting communities in Newark, including Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and xenophobia. He emphasised the importance of addressing the root causes of this phenomenon. He said this includes social stratification and economic disparities, which extremist groups seek to exploit by sowing division and inciting violence.

Harkirat Singh, Deputy Mayor of Brampton (Ontario, Canada) echoed this point. He noted that in Brampton, one of the most diverse cities in Canada with a significant South Asian population and a growing Nigerian community, many residents come from conflict or post-conflict regions, bringing with them trauma that contributes to divisions along racial, ethnic and religious lines. This diversity, while a strength, has led to some incidents of hate, such as anti-immigrant rhetoric, Islamophobia, anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment and nationalist extremism. These incidents often escalate quickly, garnering national attention and adding complexity to Brampton’s response strategies. He further shared that community leaders, including elected officials, have been increasingly targeted by hate speech, introducing new challenges in recent years.

Florence Namayanja, Mayor of Masaka (Uganda), highlighted how unemployment and lack of opportunities leave many youth vulnerable to exploitation by political factions seeking to spread hateful narratives, particularly during the election periods, which often leads to violence. She emphasised the need for community-driven initiatives to engage these young people constructively, offering them alternatives that promote social cohesion and resilience against divisive ideologies.

Maksim Dimitrievski, Mayor of Kumanovo (North Macedonia), shared insights from his city’s experience with ethnic tensions, most recently reflected in the burning of flags of different ethnic groups. He highlighted how hate speech can fuel conflict, with people tapping into historical grievances between the Municipality’s two main ethnic groups – Albanians and Macedonians – to cause further division, including along religious lines, with most of the municipality’s Albanian community being Muslim, and most of the Macedonian community being Orthodox Christian.

Local Government Responses

City leaders agreed that mayors and local governments play a vital role in preventing and responding to these challenges as a result of their proximity to communities and often-unique understanding of local dynamics and contexts, and the ability to foster inter-communal and other dialogue that can reduce tensions and build social cohesion, provide protection to targeted groups, and model for their communities – through words and actions – the values of inclusivity, tolerance and co-existence.

City leaders shared a range of inspiring city-led strategies for mitigating the effects of hate speech. They focused particularly on community engagement and education, multi-actor collaboration and providing support to victims of hate. For example, Mayor Baraka described how Newark is working with interfaith and community-based organisations to foster social cohesion and address root causes of hate. For example, the city is deploying information campaigns to counter dis/misinformation about migrants by sharing accurate data through trusted community channels, challenging stereotypes and reducing fear.

In response to rising incidents of hate and discrimination, Brampton established an Equity Office. Its mission is to engage in respectful dialogue with community partners and residents about bias, racism and systemic barriers, and collaborate on solutions that address community needs, celebrate diversity and foster respect. The city has also prioritised cultivating close working relationships with its local police and community agencies. This longstanding collaboration has been pivotal in responding to and managing high-profile incidents effectively. Brampton’s approach also includes fostering trust across different levels of government – local, provincial and federal – to ensure coordinated action. This multi-level, trust-based strategy has helped the city navigate the growing complexity of hate speech incidents while strengthening community resilience.

Mayor Dimitrievski described how Kumanovo’s Local Prevention Council, launched in 2019 with Strong Cities support, gathers representatives from various government agencies, civil society and community leaders, enabling the city to respond swiftly to de-escalate conflict and address ethnic tensions.

Nicolas Nordman, Deputy Mayor for Prevention, Security, Municipal Police and Victim’s Support for Paris (France), shared the city’s comprehensive approach to tackling hate speech, which includes police training, community education and victim support services. He underscored the importance of mobilising community resources to provide wrap around support to victims, including counselling, legal assistance and community outreach.

As cities and mayors, we need to sit and make recommendations that can guide us to follow in each decision that we make. In such a meeting, a Global Summit, when we go back, we should be having solutions, because the answers are with us, Mayors.

Florence Namayanja, Mayor of Masaka (Uganda)

Youth Engagement and Digital Literacy

Youth engagement and empowerment emerged as a central theme, with city leaders emphasising their role as both agents of change and primary targets of hate speech. Mayor Baraka described Newark’s efforts to involve young people as ambassadors for peace by integrating them into civic processes, such as school board elections. He underscored how this early engagement cultivates a sense of responsibility and belonging.

We actively go out and recruit young people in the city. To reengage them, to give them skills, to educate them, so they can become ambassadors, so they can go out there, and challenge those ideas.

Ras Baraka, Mayor of Newark (New Jersey, USA)

Deputy Mayor Singh highlighted Brampton’s use of sports programmes and environmental initiatives to keep youth positively engaged. He also emphasised the importance of mentoring and engaging young people to consider careers in politics despite the significant challenges elected officials face, such as threats and harassment via social media. He acknowledged that these difficulties can make politics an unattractive career path for many.  In light of this, he said it was important for cities to look for ways to foster interest in public service and ensure a diverse pipeline of future leaders who are committed to representing their communities. This might include by investing in local government mentorship programmes for aspiring young leaders from all parts of the city.

Mayor Namayanja shared that Masaka has established a dedicated youth desk to engage young people directly and align city actions with their needs. She explained how this initiative has also reduced hostility from young people by involving them in practical activities that contribute to the city’s overall liveability. She further emphasised the importance of including mothers in anti-hate initiatives, recognising the potential for maternal influence in shaping youth attitudes and behaviours, as well as other programmes the city is investing in to foster intergenerational collaboration to counter hate narratives.

The role of social media in fuelling hate speech was a recurring theme. Speakers identified the need for strengthening and expanding digital literacy programmes that can equip both youth and adults with the skills they need to critically evaluate and counter harmful online content. Deputy Mayor Nordman highlighted the need to educate both young people and adults about their actions online, as well as ensuring that adults are equipped with the same understanding and language as young people to foster greater intergenerational communication. He shared that ‘’by speaking the same language, we can bridge the gap and create a more cohesive and informed digital community’’.

Next Steps

The mayoral conversation reaffirmed the critical role of local governments in addressing hate speech and fostering social cohesion. By leveraging community partnerships, engaging and educating youth and supporting the victims of hate – while balancing the obligation to protect free speech with its responsibility to ensure public safety – cities can play a leading role in preventing and countering hate. Strong Cities has published a policy brief outlining key considerations for mayors and local governments on addressing hate speech within a rule of law framework, serving as a resource for understanding the complexities and strategies involved. Building on this, Strong Cities will develop a toolkit to provide detailed, actionable steps for local governments to effectively counter hate speech and foster social cohesion.

The session further highlighted the need for continued global collaboration and resource-sharing to strengthen these initiatives. As hate speech continues to threaten social harmony, the insights and strategies shared during the Fifth Global Summit and more broadly across the Strong Cities Network serve as a call to action for cities to lead by example in building inclusive and resilient communities.

Further Resources

See our new policy brief on this topic: 

Other recent Strong Cities policy briefs and resources:

Additional Resources:

Donors & Partners

The Fifth Global Summit was made possible with generous support from the European Union, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Public Safety Canada, the US Department of State and the City of Cape Town. 

The views expressed in this session report do not necessarily reflect those of all Strong Cities Network members, the Management Unit or Summit sponsors and partners. 

Contact Information 

For more information about the Fifth Global Summit or the Strong Cities Network, please contact [email protected].

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