Defusing Hate: A Strategic Communication Guide to Counteract Dangerous Speech

Genocide and mass atrocities are commonly preceded and accompanied by “dangerous speech”—hate speech that has the potential to influence people to accept, condone, or commit violence against targeted groups. Dangerous speech is consequently considered both a warning sign and an instrument of group-targeted violence. Counteracting its dissemination provides us with one avenue for preventing this type of violence from occurring.

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide worked with former Genocide Prevention Fellow Rachel Brown to produce Defusing Hate: A Strategic Guide to Counteract Dangerous Speech. Informed by history and drawing from a range of disciplines—including political science, communications, marketing, and neuropsychology—the guide offers activists, religious and civil society leaders, and their supporters the strategies and tools they need to prevent dangerous speech from influencing audiences.

The guide is organized into a reference book and three workbooks, which are designed for use in workshops or with small groups. Download them the USHMM website.