Anjum Rahman
Anjum Rahman is the Project Lead of the Inclusive Aotearoa Collective Tāhono.
She also commits to various community volunteer roles. She was a founding member of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand, and is currently the media spokesperson. She has been a founding member and trustee of Shama, Ethnic Women’s Trust, which supports ethnic minority women through its social work service, life-skills classes and community development. She worked in sexual violence prevention as a volunteer and as part of Government working groups. Anjum is a Trustee of Trust Waikato, a major funder in the Waikato Region.
Anjum is a trustee of the Trust governing Hamilton’s community access broadcaster, Free FM. She is a member of international committees dealing with violent extremist content online, being the co-chair of the Christchurch Call Advisory Network and a member of the Independent Advisory Committee of the Global Internet Forum for Countering Terrorism.
The dark psychology of dehumanization and Islamophobia
Social media platforms have become online hate factories that dehumanise fellow human beings, spread hate, prejudice, incitement to violence and atrocities against minorities and social discord.
In some countries more than three-quarters of the cases involving dehumanisation and hate speech target minorities, yet efforts to combat on-line hate speech seldom recognise dehumanisation and it contribution to social discord and violent extremism.
The consequences of the lack of effective legal and other responses by public authorities and social media platforms continue to be tragic to the point of being lethal, leading to massive atrocities and violations of human rights and the creation of conditions for potential conflict.
This highlights an urgent need for civil society and public authorities to recognise and effectively address the dangers posed by online dehumanisation and hate speech.
