The World is Going Digital

Dear Supporter, 

I'd like to open with a sincere and well deserved thank you to Martin Splitter who has just stepped down from the role of Chairman of OHPI's Board of Directors. Martin has held that role since May 2014, which is most of OHPI's existence. What we have achieved, and the fact we have continued our work in the face difficult circumstances, is a testament to his leadership. Martin remains a Director of OHPI and continued to lend his expertise and experience to the Board. 

I also wish to welcome our new Chairman, Mark Civitella. Appointed to the OHPI Board in December 2018, Mark is an experts in crisis management, strategic communications, and countering violent extremism. He is a Lecturer at La Trobe University, a communications consultant, and a Fellow of the Public Relations Institute of Australia. I congratulate him on his appointment and wish him well in this new role.

As the situation with the Coronavirus CORVID-19 develops, organisations around the world are moving to online work, more people on social media and online games, companies are spamming anyone they can with details of the changes they are making or service they are offering, and some online services are struggling under the load.

Our work was already almost entirely online. One exception is our Tackling Hate Speech program in partnership with CCJ(Vic). We are exploring whether there is sufficient demand to convert it into an online program. The program is funded by the Victorian Government and offers Victorian organisations a free 2 hour session learning to identify and safely respond to racial and religious vilification. If it goes online, it could be a great way for communities to engage together online during this crisis. We can, for a small cost, potentially extend the program beyond Victoria and beyond community groups (e.g. for businesses, local government, professional development for teachers, etc). Please reply to this e-mail if you are interested in gathering a group together for such a session. You can also https://us5.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=9e75f7a03255a82b79dbbc9a6&id=bd199d9b21&e=[UNIQID] this e-mail to others who might be interested.

Our campaign tackling racism against Indigenous Australians is going well. Sharing a briefing from the campaign with the Legal and Social Issues Committee of the Victorian Parliament was a highlight. We also had a major win shutting down terrorist content and raised concerns over the sale of certain versions of Hitler's Mein Kampf with lack commentary or annotations that would make them useful for study, rather than simply spreading Nazi ideology. This work and more is outlined below. 

At this time we hope you are all well and we encourage you to stay up to date on information from reputable sources, and to avoid spreading any misinformation through social media. We wish you and your families all the best through this crisis.

Regards,

Dr Andre Oboler
CEO, Online Hate Prevention Institute