2. Umati Project
o Monitor dangerous speech online
o The influence online hate speech had on the 2007
elections encouraged the birth of Umati.
o Also, growing internet use in Kenya:
- 82.7% increase over 12 months between
June 2011 and June 2012.
- Half the internet users are on Facebook.
3. Umati Project : Goals
o To set a definition of hate/dangerous speech that
can be incorporated into the constitution.
o To forward incidences of dangerous speech to
Uchaguzi to limit further harm.
o To define a process for election monitoring that can
be replicated elsewhere.
o To further civic education on hate /dangerous
speech
4. Why dangerous speech?
o Incomprehensive definition of hate speech under
the National Cohesion and Integration Act, 2008.
(sections 13 and 52)
o Ethnicity, nationality or race
o Intent or likelihood
Source: http://www.cohesion.or.ke/images/downloads/unpacking%20hate%20speech.pdf
5. Tenets of dangerous speech
o Powerful speaker with influence over an
audience.
o An audience vulnerable to incitement. e.g.
fearfulness
o Meaning of the speech act
o Conducive social and historical context
o Influential medium of dissemination.
(Prof Susan Benesch, American University)
6. Umati : Methodology
o Use of human monitors
o Scan blogs, forums, online newspapers and social media
pages
o Record : speaker, influence, inflammatory, platform, content
o Group into 3 categories:
• Offensive speech
• Moderately Dangerous speech
• Extremely Dangerous speech
o Critical incidents (calls for help) are forwarded to Uchaguzi
www.research.ihub.co.ke
7. Interesting findings
1. Prominence of moderately dangerous speech
35% 52%
43%
OCT NOV DEC
N= 774 N = 792 N = 432
34% 33%
31% 27% 21%
24%
Offensive speech
Moderately Dangerous speech
Extremely Dangerous speech
8. Interesting findings
2. Dominance of identifiable commenters
NOVEMBE 91%
R 6%
( n= 792)
3%
0.2% DECEMBER ( n= 432)
0.2% 5% 1%
53% 6% 1%
0%
2%
0.005%
39%
92%
1%
OCTOBER ( n=769)
9. Interesting findings
3. The call to discriminate is the main call to action
1%
12% 2%
NOVEMBER 6%
79%
1%
10% DECEMBER
1% 5%
87%
1% 84% 8% 1%
2%
OCTOBER
Discriminate Kill Riot Beat Forcefully evict
10. Future Work
o Project runs until the end of April
o Hosting more media events to promote
civic education
o Adding another monitor to represent the
Somali community + weekend monitoring
o Sharing the reports: media events, mailing
lists, iHub Research blog
We hope that the work of this project will lead to the inclusion of a more elaborate definition of illegal speech in the current constitution of Kenya, and that findings will be used to educate the Kenyan public on what type of speech has the potential to disrupt peace and security in the country. Eg for elections and referenda
We hope that the work of this project will lead to the inclusion of a more elaborate definition of illegal speech in the current constitution of Kenya, and that findings will be used to educate the Kenyan public on what type of speech has the potential to disrupt peace and security in the country. Eg for elections and referenda
Wrong Doer: Actor:‘Any person’ may be an individual human being or a juristicperson can be guilty of hate speech.Offending Act: Utterances. There has to be an utterance or spoken word. The wordsmay also be written in a book, a newspaper, a pamphlet, a brochure, or expressed ina public performance. Character of the utterances: the words, publication or form of expression has to beor involve threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior.Intent or likelihood: Not all abuses and insults are hate speech. Words only becomehate speech if the intention of the maker of the statement is to stir up hatred. Theintention of the person can be construed from the context, circumstances,environment and audience. When the maker of the statement did not have theintention to stir up ethnic hatred, but having regard of the circumstances, it is likelythat ethnic hatred is stirred up, then the person in question still committed a crimeunder section 13.Envisioned or likely effect: it concerns hatred against a group of persons on thebasis of colour, race, nationality (including citizenship), ethnicity or national origin.
