Art and culture can both fuel and counter hate, UN discussion hears on Juneteenth
Held online with participants from around the world, the discussion – Art Remembers: Culture as Witness and Prevention – explored how creative expression can either normalize hatred or help defuse it. Participants spoke through their expertise in the trade in enslaved Africans and slavery, the Holocaust, the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica.
United Nations
Chaloka Beyani, Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and Under-Secretary-General, speaks at the event Art Remembers: Culture as Witness and Prevention.
Opening the event, Chaloka Beyani, UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, described hate speech as an “early warning” sign of atrocity crimes. Such rhetoric, he warned, often precedes and accompanies “crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide,” underscoring the need for vigilance and responsibility in how narratives are shaped and shared.
