Around the world, hatred and polarisation are on the rise, dividing communities, threatening democracy, challenging human rights and undermining peace.
No longer a phenomenon on the political margins, dehumanisation of communities has been mainstreamed, supported by powerful political, corporate and militant actors, and amplified by digital technologies. The scale and speed at which hate is ‘manufactured’ and mobilised within and across borders, and the intensity of the violent and other harmful impacts that hate produces, are deeply alarming. At the same time, communities around the world are incubating, developing, and deploying several counter-responses to polarisation. Current trends make it necessary and urgent to examine, pursue and realise the full promise of these initiatives.
The Essex Human Rights Centre’s Human Rights 30 Forum is pleased to host Professor Cherian George for a talk on effective strategies in building social cohesion and strengthening community resilience against polarisation. Drawing on his extensive research, his publications have documented and highlighted a range of successful and promising initiatives, drawing on good practices from around the world. His most recent research maps initiatives in 12 countries.
Iman Atta OBE, a member of the Human Rights 30 Forum and Executive Director of Tell MAMA UK, will join Professor George at the seminar. She will draw on her extensive and impressive work in countering anti-Muslim hate and Islamophobia in the UK, including the experiences of Muslim communities in the riots in the summer of 2024, gendered impacts of hate, and the ongoing effects of the current surge in politicised Islamophobia in the UK. Not only does Tell MAMA hold the largest database on anti-Muslim hate crimes in the UK, but the organisation also has the most extensive expertise on responding to anti-Muslim hate incidents in the UK. A hallmark of Iman Atta’s work is allyship across diverse communities and fostering social cohesion. The extensive archives and current data held by Tell MAMA highlight both the limits and promise of various strategies in countering hate in the UK context. Iman has shared her expertise with many intergovernmental bodies focused on countering hate, including the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the United Nations.
Professor Ahmed Shaheed of the Essex Law School will chair the seminar. He is the Founder and Director of the Human Rights 30 Forum established by the Essex Human Rights Centre’s grant-funded Countering Islamophobia Project.
This event marks the 35th anniversary of the pioneering two-day “Consultation on Incitement to Hatred” co-hosted by the Human Rights Centre and ARTICLE 19, in April 1991, bringing together experts from over 30 countries from around the world. Speaker bios:
Cherian George is Professor of Media Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University. He is a world-renowned expert on countering hate and protecting freedom of expression for all. He has made outstanding and empowering contributions to challenging hate and division and protecting human rights. These provide unique conceptual insights, highlight good practices and offer guidance to policy makers and practitioners. His most recent publication is
Fighting Polarisation: Shared Communicative Spaces in Divided Democracies (Polity, 2025). Guided by insights from deliberative democracy, social psychology, memory studies and other fields, Cherian takes readers on a global, multi-sectoral tour of the fight against polarisation. His other books include
Hate Spin: The Manufacture of Religious Offense and its Threat to Democracy (MIT Press, 2016), which Publishers’ Weekly named one of the best 100 books of the year; and
Red Lines: Political Cartoons and the Struggle against Censorship (MIT Press, 2021), honoured by the Association of American Publishers as one of the year’s three top scholarly books in both the Media & Cultural Studies and Graphic Nonfiction categories. His best-selling books of essays on Singapore include
Air-Conditioned Nation Revisited (2020). Cherian is the author of UNESCO’s “Covering Hate Speech: A Guide for Journalists” (2025)
Iman Atta OBE is the Executive Director of the Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) project in the UK, serving in that capacity for over 10 years. She has worked on numerous international and national projects that have spanned advancing interfaith engagement, combatting hate crime and supporting developmental aid. Iman has advised central and local government, as well as police forces and local authorities on measuring anti-Muslim prejudice through cases, and assisted victims of anti-Muslim bigotry through a range of ‘one-stop-shop’ services. She also has extensive experience in building the capacity and skills of young people, women, civil society and political leaders across Europe and the Middle East to promote inclusive, participatory and cohesive societies. Iman is also a director of Faith Matters UK, an organization that fosters interfaith and intercultural engagement and supports conflict resolution and inclusion. A member of Essex Human Rights 30 Forum, Iman is a co-founder and director of an international coalition to counter Islamophobia and other forms of hate by highlighting and promoting a human rights approach to countering all forms of hate.