Students from Egyptian, Sudanese, and Yemeni universities participate in a Maat workshop on counter-narratives as a scientific approach to combating hate speech!

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Students from Egyptian, Sudanese, and Yemeni universities participate in a Maat workshop on counter-narratives as a scientific approach to combating hate speech!

September 1, 2026

As part of its ongoing efforts to raise youth awareness about the dangers of hate speech and its negative impacts as a growing crisis within Arab societies, Maat Association for Peace, Development, and Human Rights held a virtual training workshop titled "Counter-Narratives: A Scientific Approach to Combating Hate Speech" at the end of August, with the participation of a group of students from Egyptian, Sudanese, and Yemeni universities.

The training workshop in its first session focused on providing an introductory overview of hate speech and its widespread motivations within different social environments, and how it serves as a catalyst for citizens' feelings of hatred. The workshop then shifted to highlight a range of areas where hate speech is reflected. It also introduced the participants to various contexts that have become clear through the severely negative impacts of hate speech, and how these impacts have led to a global trend to combat hate speech through diverse pathways.

While the second session of the training workshop focused on introducing the most prominent ways to formulate counter-narratives to hate speech, which include building empathy and creating educational content as direct means to respond to hate speech in a way that reduces its impact on the most affected audience.

The workshop concluded its activities with an interactive simulation model that focused on practically training participants to employ counter-narratives in confronting hate speech. This was done by analyzing a set of posts that reflect real-life examples of hate speech and working on applying the concepts and tools discussed during the workshop to formulate counter-responses and narratives aimed at dismantling hate speech and reducing its impact.

The workshop is part of Maat Association's project to raise youth awareness about hate speech as a looming threat to society and to build the capacity of young people to combat it. Maat Association has focused on coordinating a series of activities over the past years, with the participation of a diverse group of experts and activists in the field of monitoring and combating hate speech through peaceful expression of opinion and formulating counter-speech.