At the initiative of the United Nations (UN), 18 June every year has been declared the International Day for Countering Hate Speech. According to the UN, hate speech is “any kind of communication in speech, writing or behaviour that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of who they are – in other words, based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, color, descent, gender or other identity factor.” The UN also notes: “If left unchecked, hate speech can even harm peace and development, as it lays the ground for conflicts and tensions, wide scale human rights violations.”
The following 3 October, 2021 message from a British-Iranian puts the issue in clearer perspective: “I’m Christiane Amanpour, and in all my years as CNN’s chief international correspondent and anchor, I have learned that no one is born to hate. People are taught to hate. The seed is cultivated and it spreads; it mutates through lies, and disinformation, and propaganda. … Digital platforms and social media still all too often act as havens for hate, agents for hate. … To break the circle, we need the tools to decode disinformation and to challenge those who seek to propagate lies. We need to learn – and re-learn – respect for human rights, diversity, social justice and equality.”
Moreover, the UN declared: “Online hate speech might seem like an unstoppable tide, but strategies are being employed by governments, civil society, and individuals, to fight back.” For example, one key organisation declared: “The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), guided by the teachings of Islam and the principles of peace, tolerance, and moderation, has become a key partner in the international community’s efforts to promote peace and combat hate speech. … The OIC emphasizes its ongoing efforts in coordination with member states to combat hate speech and to formulate appropriate legislation that helps curb the spread of this phenomenon and its serious implications for global peace and security.”
At the inter-naation level, the antagonistic and mutually-derogating relationship between Iran and America is particularly noteworthy. Interestingly, they were very friendly nations in the past. Serious friction developed when, in 1953, the United States and Britain engineered a coup to oust the democratically-elected, internationally-popular Prime Minister of Iran Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh who studied in France, and earned a PhD in Law from the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. According to a biography from The Mossadegh Project, “As leader of Iran, Mossadegh sponsored laws for a ‘clean government’ and independent court systems, defended freedom of religion and political affiliations, and promoted free elections. He implemented many social reforms and fought for the rights of women, workers, and peasants.” He became a target of Western conspiracy because he nationalised the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in 1951 when he assumed office.
In a 19 August, 2013 DW article, by Thomas Latschan, titled “Iran’s stolen democracy”, it is reported as follows: “‘For decades the British literally robbed Iran of its oil,’ said Iranian author Bahman Nirumand … ‘Iran got a small percentage – a pittance – for the oil that the British extracted.’” America also feared that Mossadegh could lead Iran into the warm embrace of the Communist Soviet Union. He was therefore replaced by the monarchical Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi who gave America and the West free reign for 25 years. By subordinating Iranian interests to foreign ones and introducing policies which threatened the interests of powerful forces within the country, the seeds of discontent were sown; and government crack-down intensified.
As the entry for “Iranian Revolution [1978–1979]”, written by Janet Afary and last updated on 8 June, 2024, in Encyclopaedia Britannica notes, a prominent figure in the developing anti-government group was the activist Islamic cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a former professor of philosophy in Qom, north-central Iran. He was sent into exile, but the challenge to the government did not abate. From exile, Ayatollah Khomeini, was sending fiery speeches and anti-government rhetoric to Iran through cassette tapes and other media. The opponents of the government’s policies, consisting of clerics, landowners, intellectuals, and merchants, among others, who were coordinated from exile by Ayatollah Khomeini, organised sustained massive protests which culminated in the fall of the government of the Shah on 11 February, 1979, and led to the declaration of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In relation to this sequence of events, Latschan quoted the following observation by Jürgen Martschukat, a professor for North American history at the University of Erfurt, Germany: “‘As a country that freed itself from a European colonial power, the USA set an example.’” Latschan then remarked: “That was the case until it decided its business interests dictated replacing a democracy with a dictator. ‘That’s when the USA really gambled something away,’ Martschukat said.” In Iran, America replaced a 2-year-old US-friendly liberal democracy with an obsequious and tyrannical dictatorship which lasted for 25 years, and was itself replaced by a US-denigrating and US-defying theocracy which has endured for the past 45 years. In relation to this ironical twist, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was reported to have said, in a 26 October, 2011 BBC Persia interview: “We’ve expressed regret about what was done in 1953.”
A manifestation of the deeply hostile relationship between America and the theocratic leaders was in tagging America as “the Great Satan” by Ayatollah Khomeini. To elucidate the reference to the US as “the Great Satan”, in a 20 September, 2015 article in Aljazeera, titled “Who is the ‘Great Satan’?”, Hamid Dabashi quotes Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as follows: “This ‘Great Satan’ is a very meaningful expression. Chief among all satans in the world is Iblis. But as the Quran specifies, Iblis can only seduce people … he beguiles people. The US, however, both seduces and murders people. It seduces people, and then it imposes sanctions against them; it raises the flag of human rights, and yet, every day an innocent, harmless person is murdered by the police on the streets of the US … all the warmongering in Syria, Iraq, and elsewhere, are all the US’ doing.”
America too has had unkind words for Iran and countries which the US believed were in the same league with it. In “President Bush’s 2002 State of the Union Address”, delivered on 29 January, 2002, he was reported, by Washington Post, as saying: “North Korea is a regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while starving its citizens. Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people’s hope for freedom. Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax and nerve gas and nuclear weapons for over a decade. … States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world.”
Britain has also been derogatorily referred to in Iran as “Little Satan”, to underscore the belief that Britain had an obsequious and servile relationship with America. In a 30 November 2011 Sky News report by Emma Hurd, titled “Iran lashes out at ‘little satan’ Britain”, the author notes: “For Iran, Britain is the ‘Little Satan’, second only as an irritant to the ‘Great Satan’ of the United States.” In a 28 March, 2010 story titled, “Special relationship between UK and US is over, MPs say”, BBC NEWS carried the following report of the Commons Foreign Affairs committee: “The perception that the British government was a subservient ‘poodle’ to the US administration leading up to the period of the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath is widespread both among the British public and overseas … This perception, whatever its relation to reality, is deeply damaging to the reputation and interests of the UK.” The same story by The Guardian (UK) is titled, “Special relationship is over, MPs say. Now stop calling us America’s poodle.”
But a British Prime Minister David Cameron also targeted hate speech at Nigeria and Afghanistan. A 10 May, 2016 BBC NEWS report states: “David Cameron has described Nigeria and Afghanistan as “fantastically corrupt” in a conversation with the Queen. The PM was talking about this week’s anti-corruption summit in London. ‘We’ve got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain… Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world,’ he was overheard saying.”
As President of the United States, Donald Trump, the avatar of hate speech, also derogatorily described African countries as “shithole countries.” A 12 January, 2018 report by Josh Dawsey, titled “Trump derides protections for immigrants from ‘shithole’ countries” states in this regard: “President Trump grew frustrated with lawmakers Thursday in the Oval Office when they discussed protecting immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries as part of a bipartisan immigration deal, according to several people briefed on the meeting. ‘Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?’ Trump said, … referring to countries mentioned by the lawmakers. … Why do we need more Haitians? … Take them out.’”
In an 8 December, 2015 article titled “The 15 most offensive things that have come out of Trump’s mouth”, in Politico.eu, the following is cited by Nick Gass from Trump’s campaign announcement: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
China has also been the butt of President Trump’s hate speech. He stigmatisingly called the Covid-19 virus “Chinese virus”, and denigratingly punned the Chinese word “Kung-fu” – for the Chinese martial art – by referring to the dreaded virus as “Kung flu”. Incidentally, on 25 September, 2019, the following question was asked on the Quora.com platform: “If Trump were Chinese can he be the president of China?” Jonn Mero replied: “Trump’s got the lack of qualities that would ensure that he’d never make it to president anywhere except in USA. In China he would be behind bars, as indeed he’d be in any country where swindle is not tolerated.” Vincent Wang also replied curtly: “LMFAO, how the hell will we let an idiot rule the country?”
As the foregoing shows, hate speech deflects attention away from diplomatic blunders, as is the case with the incessant American denigration of Iran. Moreover, hate speech is reciprocal, and is pressed into the service of both stronger and weaker nations. Furthermore, speech demeaning a nation could emanate from that nation, as calling Britain ‘America’s poodle’ originated from the UK parliament. As Christiane Amanpour aptly notes, hate speech demonises, stigmatises and victimises. All people of goodwill must therefore avoid it and challenge hate speech wherever it occurs.
