Block the Hatred and Share the Love

That’s the new message that is sweeping across Montenegro, following on from the public launch of the official campaign in Podgorica yesterday. Designed to combat various forms of hate speech ...

That’s the new message that is sweeping across Montenegro, following on from the public launch of the official campaign in Podgorica yesterday. Designed to combat various forms of hate speech against specific communities and individuals, there will be a series of public events and activities organised through the press and social media which will promote diversity, equality and the exchange of good practices.

Attended by a range of signatories including the Prime Minister and the Head of the European Union delegation to Montenegro one of the key messages of the event and of future events is that every one of us has a moral duty to respond to hate speech with positive language and mutual respect, including reporting hate speech to the authorities to make sure it is dealt with appropriately and stamped out of society.

Prime Minister Krivokapic spoke during the event and said ‘This is why the old saying ‘Do nothing you wouldn’t want others to do to you’ should be the golden rule and measure of our lives everywhere - from family, through school, to university and beyond. And we should always have three characteristics in front of us. These are: tolerance - which, unfortunately, we do not have much today; respect - which has always been the greatest value in Montenegro and in the family and beyond, and, of course, understanding. An initiative such as this campaign should make us aware of the moment we live in and to more or less awaken our need to understand others’

Some of Montenegro’s most prominent public figures also attended the launch of the campaign and has actively engaged with the movement now and in the future, they were duly appointed ‘The No-Hate Speech Ambassadors. Famous faces included the tennis player Danka Kovinic, Paralympic Bronze Medal Winner Filip Radovic and the opera singer Tamara Radenovic.

Oana Popa who is the Ambassador of the European Union in Montenegro was particularly pleased to have heard about the event, and to have attended it in person, given that the EU is dedicating their utmost attention to a reduction of Hate Speech across member countries and the wider world. She said ‘There are too few role models spreading tolerance and love, and too many spreading hate. Our differences should stimulate love and empathy, rather than trigger hate and this is why this campaign is very much needed’.

13.12.2021