An open letter by the faculty members of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), is making the rounds these days. The letter addressed to the corporate leaders of the country is asking them to “de-fund the spread of misinformation and hate speech through news channels and social media.”
The letter was signed by 17 IIM-B professors, 11 present and six retired, including Anubha Dhasmana, Arpita Chatterjee, B K Chandrashekar, Deepak Malghan, Hema Swaminathan, Krishna T Kumar, Malay Bhattacharyya, Mira Bakhru, P D Jose, Prateek Raj, Raghavan Srinivasan, Rajluxmi V Murthy, Ritwik Banerjee, Shalique M S, Soham Sahoo, Srinivasan Murali, and Vinod Vyasulu.
What Did The Letter Say?
The letter addressed to the corporate India leaders was written by current and retired professors and faculty members of IIM Bangalore.
The aim of the letter was to bring “attention to the fragile state of internal security with an increasing risk of violent conflicts in the country, and appealing that they de-fund the spread of misinformation and hate speech through news channels and social media.”
It further said how in the last few years there has been an “open and public exhibit of hatred towards minorities in public discourse has become common practice in India.”
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“The usage of othering, dehumanizing and demonizing language while referring to minorities has reached alarming levels, and acts of violent hate crimes, often by organized and radicalized groups, against minorities have seen a rise.”
They further called out the lack of action taken against such people and groups by authorities saying “The inaction of police and security forces during recent communal riots, as well as the acquittal or pardoning of culprits involved in rape and mass murder during previous instances of riots, coupled with the silence of authorities, has signalled a glaring level of complacency in place of urgency by the government.”
The letter added how “In the worst case, such acts of violence could culminate into a genocide, which would annihilate the social fabric as well as the economy of the country, casting a long dark shadow over India’s future. Corporate India, which hopes to reach new frontiers of international growth and innovation in the 21st century, cannot afford to live with even a small possibility of such a scenario.”
It finally gave a 4 step plan that the corporate leaders should go by in order to bring down the hate speech and essentially stop funding the creation of more of it.
1. STOP FUNDING HATE: Stop funding any and all news and social media organizations that publicly air hateful or genocidal content against a community of people.
2. SUPPORT RESPONSIBLE STAKEHOLDERS: Conduct an internal audit to ensure that their funds, in forms like advertising or donations, go to only such stakeholders, like news and social media organizations that conduct themselves responsibly, and not fan the flames of hate and misinformation.
3. CURATE A WELCOMING WORK CULTURE: Mandatorily conduct timely diversity and inclusion sensitization events within their organizations to ensure their work culture remains welcoming to people of a variety of faiths and social backgrounds.
4. USE YOUR VOICE FOR FRATERNITY: Vocally ensure that India’s diverse social fabric, public discourse, and democratic institutions remain strong.
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature Image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: The Indian Express, Livemint, Hindustan Times
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This post is tagged under: Supreme Court, nuh clashes, nu violence, IIM, IIMB, IIMB faculty, IIM Bangalore, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, hate speech, hate speech india, corporate india
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