EUJS COMPLAINT LETTER TO DOORBRAAK
Our partner, EUJS, has written to Doorbraak.be about a recent anti-Islam article on their website as well as to highlight other incidents from the last few months:
“Dear members of the editorial team of Doorbraak.be,
My name is Idann, I work as a Media Monitor for EUJS (European Union of Jewish Students). I am writing this letter because I have come across articles several times over the past few months that have been published by your website and which I believe spread hatred about Muslim communities in Flanders and Belgium.
Below I have collected some articles that I think spread hate, which were previously published on the Get The Trolls Out website! (GTTO) - a project focused on reducing anti-religious hate speech in Europe - as serious instances of hate speech (for more info http://www.getthetrollsout.org/what-we-do/media-monitoring/item/623 -april-media-monitoring-highlights.html).
On 25/08/2019, “Flanders Flemish, Europe European” was published. This article is problematic because Doorbraak.be framed the article in a way that supports Wim de Wit’s Islamophobic and racist comments on that day.
On 11/02/2020, “Tournée Minérale? Okay, as long as it doesn’t become a Tournée Halal ”. In this article, Doorbraak.be creates a causal link between practices related to Islam and terrorist activities in Europe.
On 21/04/2020, “Bernard Daelemans and Sam Van Rooy: ethnic component of Anderlecht riots” was published. This article supports comments from Sam van Rooy, a politician who is proud to be called a racist who hates Islam.
With my team at GTTO, we believe that these kinds of articles can really become a threat to the Muslim communities in Flanders and Belgium.
I myself am a Jewish student and therefore I can see in a private way the danger of the content that you publish. Indeed, eighty years ago, Jewish communities were prosecuted for hate speech against Jews spread across the European continent.
My goal here is not to chase you in any way, but rather to make you aware of the danger of the story spreading your articles. I don’t want to criticize someone’s political preferences. On behalf of the Get The Trolls Out team, we would like to advise you to change the way your articles are written and to ensure that it does not legitimize a speech that can cause violence and hatred.
I hope you understand our concern. We hope to offer you our help to ensure that Doorbraak.be does not exceed the limits of hate spread in the future.
Sincerely, Idann, in the name of Get The Trolls Out !.”
