Countering hate speech against the friends in Iran
In recent years, the government-sponsored campaign of hatred against the Bahá'ís in Iran has been on the rise in all media platforms, including radio, newspapers, television and social media. Every month, hundreds of anti-Bahá’í articles and videos are published in Iran.
Since 2017, more than 33,000 pieces of anti-Bahá’í content have been published or broadcast. In recent years, hundreds of websites and dozens of social media accounts have systematically attacked the Bahá’í Faith.
History shows that persecution can escalate to the most grievous crimes in a climate of propaganda, disinformation and hatred.
The purpose of spreading and disseminating this false information and hateful propaganda is to demonise and vilify Bahá’ís with the aim of provoking public hatred against them on a daily basis.
Bahá’ís in Iran are not given the right to reply to any of these baseless accusations, either in the media or via any other outlet.
Because of this, there is a coordinated campaign to bring this to the attention of governments, civil society and the general public.
There are two ways that Bahá’ís in New Zealand can contribute to the campaign.
Through social media, by Liking and Sharing posts on Facebook and Instagram and tweets on Twitter that are highlighting the campaign, which will build up over the coming weeks
By letting the Office of Public Affairs know of any prominent people you have a relationship with who we can approach for support, particularly those in Auckland where we are planning to hold an event. Please contact Lida Rowhani lida.rowhani@gmail.com who is leading this initiative.
The Office is also looking for Bahá’ís who are active on Twitter and have a sizeable following, to participate in a Twitter storm next Friday 16 July. If this is you, please contact Kat Eghdamian k.eghdamian@gmail.com who is coordinating this line of action.
