In bid to tackle racism at its roots, anti-hate speech expert finds way in children’s book – eNews Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 — Lecturer Murni Wan Mohd Nor professed to be a long-time activist preventing in opposition to hate speech and discrimination, however that has not stopped her from dealing with the brunt of bigotry.

Murni associated that even at a current human rights regional assembly, she was at the top of a number of racist feedback from some who didn’t even realise they had been uttering them. She counted at least 5 completely different feedback in only a span of 20 minutes.

“For a very long time, I’ve been a sufferer of hate speech and racism, from after I was younger till I used to be an grownup, whether or not I’m in Malaysia or overseas,” she informed the viewers whereas launching her book which she hopes may help kickstart conversations on the matter, titled When Love Heals Hate.

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The book aimed at kids from age 5 to 12 was private to her and was impressed by real-life occasions, she stated. The two characters in it had been additionally impressed by her daughter and son.

It tells the story of a lady named Afiya who went to a brand new faculty and to her shock, noticed one other child getting bullied. Together along with her buddies, they get up to the bully.

“The book tackles a problem we don’t need to discuss,” stated the senior lecturer at the school of human ecology at Universiti Putra Malaysia.

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Murni lists her focus as freedom of expression, hate speech and its influence on social cohesion, and media illustration on racial and spiritual points.

Although the story has been saved inside her for a few years, she stated she solely started engaged on the book for the previous 12 months and a half.

“Children at a younger age have gotten racist due to the values that they’re gaining from different individuals, whether or not or not it’s their buddies or from dwelling. More typically than not, members of the family with out realising it, say racist issues, however they suppose their children will not be observing it.

“They say it at the dinner desk, for informal dialog not realising that this shapes the notion of kids, they’re going to exit to the world and reinforce these stereotypes,” she stated.

Vowing to be part of the answer, Murni hopes that folks will open up and educate their kids after they ask questions on why sure individuals are completely different from them by highlighting the sweetness in variety.

“All kids have the flexibility to perceive these items, we simply want to actively and deliberately educate them persistently,” she stated.

Murni additionally stated she yearns for anti-racism initiatives in colleges the place academics are educated how to educate kids about humanitarian points and the way to go about mingling with completely different races which she acknowledges would take greater than two years to bear fruit.

“We will not be obliged to agree on each single factor, however how can we study to disagree respectfully? That’s one thing we’re not taught,” she stated.

She pointed to the current controversy attributable to the Palestine Solidarity Week, which had as an alternative seen some colleges happening the route of glorifying violence.

“When we would like to educate kids to care in regards to the plight of Palestinians, we don’t need them to be anti-Semitic both, to criticise Jewish individuals and the faith of Judaism however that is the type of nuance that’s not taught, and this can be a actually massive drawback,” she stated.