No Hate Fest

About the Fest:

After the success of our campaigns #SafetySeptember and #OnlineOctober, we dived deep into the niches of online hate with our campaign #NoHateNovember. With our #NoHate fest, we started a discourse on the evolving nature, the new challenges in the digital world’s dark side, namely Online Hate. Students, colleges, and eminent activists, experts on the subject matter of Online Hate, came together to participate and engage in this fest. Their diverse backgrounds, expertise, and experience that this fest brought together provided us with a kaleidoscopic understanding of the newest digital challenges and probable solutions to them. With its webinars, panel discussions, mental health workshop, and competitions, this fest was one of a kind event that emphasized the growing importance of online safety in the face of online hate. We also conducted YOLO Talks in multiple regional languages to raise awareness of Online Hate by the following individuals:

Marathi

Mr. Harsh Ankalikar, Maharashtra

Bengali

Mr. Shoham Sanyal, West Bengal

Malayalam

Ms. Nanditha Pillai, Kerala

Assamese

Mr. Digvijay, Assam

We are hosting the following events under the #NoHate Fest:

Two Webinars by eminent speakers and luminaries focusing on Online Hate
Panel Discussion involving esteemed activists discussing Online Hate
Countering Online Hate: A Mental Health Perspective
Slam the Hate: Spoken Word Poetry Competition
Spill the Paint on Hate: Poster Making Competition

Keynote Speaker:

Ms. Samridhi Bharadwaj is an entrepreneur and a media & communications expert. She started her career with The New York Times & went on to become the sole corporate representative of the company in India. Thereafter, she worked closely with faculty at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, the USA on the Social Change Media project and to enhance a unique course that became the most popular offering on-campus - The Arts of Communication. The course was taken by students from Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Business School, Tufts University, and other schools in the area. Carrying the learnings from her experiences forward, in 2017, she began working on her entrepreneurial venture. Samridhi is now the founder of India’s premier peer to peer shipping platform - Kvest eShipping Private Limited.

Speakers for Webinar:

Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha, PVSM, AVSM, NM & Bar, ADC is a former Three-star Admiral of the Indian Navy. He joined the Navy in 1974 in the Executive Branch of the Indian Navy. He was a Naval aviator. In 2012, Mr. Sinha was appointed Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command.

Speakers for Webinar:

Sakshi Gulati is a Filmmaker & Media Educator. An Alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India, she has actively worked with grass-root initiatives, fiction, and non-fiction films, documentation of Folk Cultures & Media literacy initiatives. She has been involved in producing documentaries & a series of short films made by children & young adults before joining film school. Her films have been screened at various prestigious platforms over her career.

Panelist

Mr. Bharat Nayak is the Founding Editor at The Logical Indian and verification trainer of the Google News Initiative Trainer Network in India. He currently heads the fact-check division at The Logical Indian. He conducts training at journalism colleges and newsrooms to fight online misinformation and trains journalists on tools that can help them do better reports on fake news. He is also an active member of the NGO “Make Love Not Scars.”

Panelist

Ms. Meenu Mehta is the Chairperson of the Child Welfare Committee in Delhi. She has also worked as an Expert in NCPCR and handled sexual abuse cases under POCSO Act, 2012 in the Grievances cell, providing professional, technical support to the Commission on overall functioning and program support related to the Commission on all child rights issues.

Panelist

Ms. Sabika Muzaffar is a former Mirchi 98.3 RJ, is better known as ‘The Shayari Teller’ for her first of two Hubhopper Original podcasts, which recently crossed 95k listens. She is also the judge for our Slam the Hate: Spoken Word Poetry Competition.

Judge - Art Competition:

Ms. Supriti Chauhan is the Brand Ambassador at Nevapalette (India). She is also an Art Guru at Sitaram Stationers.

Judge - Art Competition:

Mr. Pradeep Halder is a senior Painting teacher in The Union Academy Sr. Sec. School. He has experience of over 20 years in the field of art. Mr. Halder has exhibited his paintings on the National and International Level. Currently, he is experimenting with “forms” and “Colours.”

Judge - Slam Poetry:

Samriddhi Duggal She is a volunteer at SOFOSH and ‘Jeevan se Jeevan’ Development Trust, which is aimed towards women upliftment and protection and helping underprivileged children. She is well known in the Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra Circle for her research, writing, and speaking skills. Having performed at various national and international events, she wishes that her words make a difference and give perspective to her audience.

Judge - Slam Poetry:

Ms. Ahendrila studies Masters in English Literature at Jadavpur University, Kolkata. She has been actively associated with writing and editorial work for various college publications and social media organizations. Recently, Ahendrila worked to develop a section on feminist poets for a developing organization, The Femme Eye and is currently working as the Head of Content for The Bleed Eco Project. An otherwise busy bee found mostly glued to the laptop screen, Ahendrila is most likely to be found in cozy nooks with cups of tea and a book of poems. She loves to engage in conversations about everything rhyme, meter, thought, and poets.

Judge - Slam Poetry:

Sabika Muzaffar She is a former Mirchi 98.3 RJ, is better known as ‘The Shayari Teller’ for her first of two Hubhopper Original podcasts, which recently crossed 95k listens. Listeners’ love led to the birth of ‘The Shayari Teller Master e-Classes’ for Poetry Writing and Voice Modulation. She comes with 13 years of experience as a voice artist, 8 years as a Workshop Facilitator, having taught at Srishti Institute of Art, Design, and Technology, apart from offering workshops at IIT Delhi, Chandigarh University, State Institute of Film and Television, Haryana, among others.

Countering Online Hate - A Mental Health Perspective Session:

Ms. Roseline Gomes is a mental health consultant, professor, and a Project Associate at YOLO. She has been the central resource for the mental health sessions conducted by YOLO. In the #NoHate Fest, Ms. Gomes took a session on countering online hate - a mental health perspective. This session emphasized the need to maintain a positive outlook towards life and not be anchored down by trolls and hate-spewing in the online community. Ms. Gomes believes that a positive mindset would not only help in tackling the hate around us but also make us a better version of ourselves.

Gala Evening:

Ms. Amruta Nair and Ms. Harshini Iyengar For the Gala Evening at the #NoHate Fest, we had the pleasure of hosting Ms. Amruta Nair and Ms. Harshini Iyengar, who gave out the message of peace and non-violence through their prolific performances. With songs such as Imagine by John Lennon and Aashayein from the movie Iqbal, the performers asserted their belief in bringing a positive change in ourselves to counter the hate in the world.

Painting Competition

Youth Online learning Organisation (YOLO) organized a competition on the theme of Online Hate titled ‘Spill the Paint on Hate: Poster Making Competition.’ Artists from all across the country came together in this fight against Online Hate and exhibited their skills through some impeccable renditions. Their creativity opened new horizons for us and made us see hate from an artistic lens.