A seminar was held in St. Petersburg on the effectiveness of information influence in the prevention of xenophobia

In St. Petersburg, the Museum of Political History hosted a seminar "Effectiveness of means of informational influence in the formation of tolerance and prevention of xenophobia", organized by the Consulate General of Sweden with the support of the Swedish Institute and held as part of the exhibition "Raoul Wallenberg - And One Warrior in the Field".

Vladimir Sobolev, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Press and Interaction with the Media of the Government of St. Petersburg, in his speech emphasized the key role of the media in the development of ideas of tolerance in society.

The seminar participants made presentations on current trends in the activities of the ultra-right, as well as possible ways to counter xenophobia and racism. Thus, Lisa Bjurval from the Swedish anti-fascist public organization Expo spoke about the tendencies of the transformation of the Swedish "old" Nazis into new neo-Nazis, striving to become more respectable (this trend is also observed in Russia, we can give an example of DPNI).

Another side of the activities of the ultra-right was noted - the active use of the Internet for propaganda and coordination of their actions. Lisa Bjurval believes that in order to successfully prevent xenophobia, first of all, it is necessary to have an idea about the activities of adolescents on the Internet - and in fact, parents and teachers often do not know at all what children are doing on the World Wide Web.

Another method of combating xenophobia, Bjurval says, is to create a fashion for anti-fascism among young people.

The event ended with a round table on the topic "What are the effective means of informational influence in order to prevent intolerance and xenophobia." The participants agreed that it is most promising to convey the ideas of tolerance to the younger generation, first of all, at school, and not in the final grades, but much earlier. But this is the most difficult way.

Sources

• Kuznetsov M. Mass media and tolerance // ZAKS.Ru. 2008. February 3.