Donate the Hate
In 2014, an organization facetiously called Hass Hilft (“Hate Helps” in English) chose an unusual way of protesting an annual neo-Nazi march held in the Bavarian town of Wunsiedel where Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess was once buried. Neo-Nazis had made so many pilgrimages to the grave that in 2011, to discourage them, Hess’ body was exhumed and his remains cremated, but Hess’ admirers persisted in gathering there.
So Hass Hilft organized an “involuntary walkathon.” Unbeknownst to the 250 marchers, townspeople and activists “sponsored” each of them, pledging that for each meter that one of the neo-Nazis walked, they would donate a particular amount of money to a cause working to counter the Neo-Nazis. By the end of the march, the campaign had raised 10,000 Euros for EXIT Deutschland, a group that helps people find their way out of extremist groups in Germany, and form new social ties.
After the success of the walkathon, Hass Hilft decided to move their efforts online, using a similar strategy. They called the program “Donate the Hate.” When people saw a hateful comment on Facebook, they could send the URL to Donate the Hate, sometimes along with a donation of 1 Euro. Donate the Hate would then check the comment and the context in which it was posted, to make sure that it conformed to their definition of hate comments: those that “humiliate, denigrate or belittle human dignity, or incite or threaten violence, based on their actual or presumed affiliation to a social group, political views, social status or simply because of external characteristics.” If the comment met their definition, they sent a direct reply to its author.
The replies were often sarcastic, such as “Right, extremely generous. Thanks Dirk W., you have automatically donated 1€ to a refugee project and EXIT Germany with your hate comment!” They were posted as images, all brightly colored with polka dots, adding to the lighthearted, sardonic feel. The campaign then posted a screenshot of the reply to its own Facebook page, making sure to first remove the profile picture and the author’s last name.
For Fabian Wichmann, founder of Donate the Hate, the point of the effort has always been to “troll the haters” while also supporting communities targeted by hatred and helping to educate the audience reading the exchanges. As he said, “The comments that we are replying to are very hard comments. Some haters say things like, ‘Let’s open the doors of Auschwitz.’ The guy who comments in that way knows what he writes. So I don’t think I interact for changes. I want to act to irritate - to make the hate visible. To say ‘I recognize the hate and I laugh at it.’”
(Translation: “Exemmmplary buddy! With your hate comment, you, Diana A., automatically donated 1€ to refugees and EXIT-Germany.”)
