On 29 October, Sumy hosted the final event of Open Lab as part of the project ‘Hate’s off: young people speak differently’, which brought together active young people from different parts of Ukraine. Participants presented their own initiatives, shared the results of their work and ideas on how to change the culture of communication in society through awareness of the power of words.
The programme is implemented by the public organization ‘Centre for European Initiatives’ in partnership with the youth centre “Romantyka” with financial support from the European Union and the Council of Europe within the framework of the project ‘Combating Language of Hate in Ukraine’. Its goal is to increase media literacy among young people, develop critical thinking, and foster a culture of non-violent communication. Participants analysed the language of hate nature, created counter-narratives and artworks, and conducted quests and creative activities.
Sumy National Agrarian University was represented by Victoria Tokar, a student of the Faculty of Law, who joined the final meeting and took part in the presentation of her own group project.
Victoria’s team’s project was called ‘Language of Hate as a weapon of society.’ The participants created an art installation that showed an imaginary world where language of hate had become the official language of communication. The aim was to draw attention to how words can destroy trust, generate fear and alienate people from one another, as well as to show that violence begins with inappropriate statements — invisible at first, but real nonetheless.
‘During my participation, I realized that hate speech is not only about different languages of communication, but also about the inability to express one’s thoughts correctly. Many people do not think about how words can hurt, cause misunderstanding, or even hostility. It was nice to see young participants who were exploring such a profound topic for the first time with enthusiasm and genuine interest. It was a valuable experience to get to know them, see their perspective on problems, and learn about their ways of solving them’, – shared Viktoria Tokar.
Sumy National Agrarian University expresses its gratitude to the project organizers for creating a platform where young people can learn to speak differently — with respect, responsibility and empathy. Such initiatives are extremely important, because it is from the culture of speech that the culture of peace begins.
