Thursday, January 7, 2016

Nigerians, Taking A Stance Against Hate Speech on Social Media! #ToleranceClass

7th January 2016
For Immediate Release
Lagos, Nigeria

On the 3rd of January 2016, Nigerian social media took a turn for the better with the ushering in of #ToleranceClass, a social movement that aims to curb tribal, gender and religious hate speech on Nigerian blogs and social media.

The large West African country has been battling against the Islamic insurgents, Boko Haram, for almost a decade, and whilst the war undoubtedly opened the gates to some religious and tribe based hostilities, the actions of bigoted fanatics hiding behind the anonymity of the internet, continue to fuel and propagate the lingering animosity left behind from several coups and civil wars.

The increasingly derogatory and inciteful comments and opinions inspired Alex Orakwusi, Executive Creative Director at Dolorem & Ipsum, a creative solutions agency in Nigeria, to start #ToleranceClass, with the purpose of not only rehabilitating the country’s cyberspace, but curbing continued prevalence by spreading the idea of ‘tolerance’.

“#ToleranceClass works with the guiding principle that what if ‘Tolerance’ was a subject taught in schools to children during their formative years? Would the next generation not grow up to understand each other better and know that religion, tribe and gender are not reasons to fight?” he said.

The campaign was kicked off by a documentary titled ‘Let’s Talk’ that featured a few of the nation’s well known personalities giving their support to the novel cause.


For further information, please contact:
Twitter/Instagram: @ToleranceClass

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