Online hate speech in the European Union: a discourse-analytic perspective
ENMigration phenomena characterised by a large influx of populations can question our conception of territories and social relations. Since this conception is part and parcel of our identity, migration has the power to trigger political discourses on identity issues. One such occasion has indeed been unravelling lately, especially since the summer of 2015, with the arrival in the European Union (henceforth EU) of migrants from a variety of places, and in particular from regions in conflict, such as Syria, Libya or Iraq, countries under totalitarian regimes, such as Erythrea, as well as countries with high levels of poverty, such as Pakistan and Bangladesh. As a result, Europe has been politically and socially shaken: photos of thousands of migrants roaming across Europe have made the news, and such media images have been instrumentalised to serve different, often far-right, political agendas. The question of refugees - and more broadly migrants - and their integration in Europe has been in the spotlight, with media discourse being on the whole alarmist, with an iteration of expressions like a ‘huge migration crisis’, ‘waves of migrants flooding the EU’ and a focus on violence and threat as the main outcome of such arrivals (cf. UNHCR 2016). In turn, Europe is witnessing the growth of nationalism, with violent reactions being related to the feelings of insecurity, fear or anger, and several xenophobic political parties, such as Golden Dawn in Greece or AfD (Alternative for Germany) in Germany feeding these feelings of anxiety and resentment to attract voters. Finally, recent reports still indicate that the migration issue continues to be one of the major preoccupations of European citizens (cf. European Commission 2016a).Indeed, the 2016 report of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance observed a sharp increase in hate crime while also noting that “racist insults have become increasingly common and xenophobic hate speech has reached unprecedented levels” (ECRI 2017: 9, italics our own). At the same time, both researchers and NGOs have repeatedly noted how Web 2.0 has facilitated the global spread of hate. For example, the latest Shadow Report by the European Network Against Racism (ENAR 2016) has pointed out a rise in racist discourse both on social media and the internet. In response to the situation, the EU has encouraged several initiatives with a view to containing both hate speech and hate crime within its remit. Legal provisions foresee penalties for those publicly inciting to racial hatred, while the European Agency of Fundamental Rights has defined within the Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia the following priorities: the identification of hate crime, the increasing use of the internet as a tool of hate and propaganda, the under-reporting of hate crime, the rise of extremist groups and political parties in the EU. The C.O.N.T.A.C.T. project (2015–2017), which was co-funded by the Rights, Equality & Citizenship Programme of the European Commission Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (JUST/2014/RRAC/AG), sought to address the above priorities by combining complementary expertise from academics and experienced NGOs working in the area across a number of EU member states, namely Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom. [p. 1-2].
