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Campaign to tackle hate speech

By AT News |

A social media user ad activist Saket Gokhale has been fearlessly taking on the establishment with his legal interventions and campaigning.

Gokhle now seeks support in taking on the hate machinery.

What's the problem?

Over the past many years, there's one important lesson I've learnt. And that lesson is you never appeal to the conscience of a fascist.

We are today at the precipice of our democratic future. The foundation of our freedom & our secularism stands at a fork in the road. We are amidst an existential crisis.

The rise of the Modi regime has been fuelled by a propaganda machine. And the foundation of this machine is HATE.

This hate has gone unchecked over the past 5 years. Why? Because it enjoys support right from the top. The hate speech ecosystem, through platforms like Whatsapp, has pervaded down to even small villages. Today, an Indian is pitted against an Indian.

Hate speech has become so normalized that people don't even bat an eyelid while saying the vilest things.

There is no point in going behind the small trolls. Because that's like whack-a-mole. For every little egg-picture-profile you shut down, 10 more will appear.

What's important is to put a spanner in the machine that keeps it running.

And here's the important bit - this hate ecosystem isn't restricted to platforms like Twitter or Facebook. In fact, the hate content and fake news created by this ecosystem percolates down from Whatsapp to every Indian by the might of the BJP's machine that spends crores on this.

Mainstream news channels also get crores to pump this hate speech narrative. It's a fire that keeps burning and consuming everything that lies in its wake.

 

How will I fight it?

We, as individuals, will never have the money or resources to control the narrative. But what we still have is the power of law and means to invoke it where needed.

The system is not as broken as we think. It works - although it's incredibly slow - but it works if you push it to work.

What we need urgently is to ensure that the cheerleaders and the "mafia bosses" of hate speech face the consequences for their actions.

What we need is to invoke the fear of law in these people to the extent that they think 100 times before putting out a single word of hate.

What we need is to ensure that peddlers of hate speech are jailed for their actions to disrupt the fabric of our society.

I have dedicated myself to doing this full-time. I'll pursue these hate-mongers right down to the field and ensure they face the legal consequences for their actions.

I want a hate-monger to travel to courts across India - one day in Manipur, the next day in Odisha, and the next day in Kerala - for every content piece they make that breaks the law and disturbs the communal harmony of India.

I will tire them out until the point they realize that this isn't worth it. I'll exhaust them till they realize what the fear of God means.

This includes not just BJP/RSS social-media "influencers" but also media channels that have become agents of the ruling party.

How can you help?

I am but just one person. While I fervently hope that this caravan grows, I'll keep fighting even if I have to do it alone.

But for me to dedicate my entire time to this, I need your support.

Until now, I've been funding my battles on my own dime. I've worked with my meager savings but I can't continue to do what I do forever on that.

And this is why your support means the world to me. It is impossible for me to do what I do/intend to do without it.

Here are some of the battles I've initiated and I'm currently fighting. While a lot of these are against hate speech, there's other things I do as well:

  • I have traced massive evidence of embezzlement and money laundering at a major BJP-sponsored fake news rag. I'll soon be going to court ensuring they get raided under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and face the heat
  • I've secured an order from a Delhi Magistrate Court to the Delhi Police ordering a preliminary enquiry into a very famous cheerleader of the hate-speech ecosystem
  • I have a pending case in the NBSA against a major Hindi news channel for communally-charged programming on the Ram Janmabhoomi issue. Post this hearing, I intend to take them to the Magistrate Court under hate speech laws
  • I have a file on a major hate-mongering IAS officer who does it with impunity. I'm lobbying and working hard with the State to ensure that this officer faces the heat for his actions. I have promised myself that he will NOT retire honorable in June next year with a pension
  • I'm pursuing the re-opening of a rape case which was filed against a major hate-news channel chief who had successfully gotten it buried with the support of the ruling party
  • I'm pursuing and gathering evidence on 3 MAJOR hate-speech cheerleaders who have violated Indian immigration norms
  • I'm investigating and pursuing a major defense scam (possibly the biggest in 2 decades) which the Ministry of Defense is trying hard to bury. I know it'll see some success by January.
  • I'm actively leading a battle to get state High Courts to ensure that police personnel do not file sedition charges in frivolous cases of social media posts. I'm also pursuing exemplary punishment for police officers who do that

These are just some of the many things I've taken up - there's more but I specifically want to focus on my goal against hate-mongers in this appeal.

As I said, your support would mean the difference between winning and losing. And Heaven knows we need a victory right now very badly.

Every contribution (small or big) will help me sustain this fight and continue to do what I do. Without your support, I'm but just an ordinary person looking over his shoulder constantly.

If you think what I do has any worth, then please do lend your support. Every penny that you contribute will go towards fighting the monster with every ounce of my sweat and blood.

Support this campaign now.

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Assam Times Staff. editor@assamtimes.org
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