As Officials Look Away, Hate Speech in India Nears Dangerous Levels

That's the headline of an article from the New York Times dated February 8, 2022, which Peter Griswold '68 brought to the attention of the Class of 1968's reunion website. The article quotes Gregory Stanton '68, pictured here.  Greg has long been active in fighting genocide in Rwanda and Cambodia through his service in the State Department and international organizations. He founded Genocide Watch in 1999 and a related organization, Alliance against Genocide.

Gregory Stanton, the founder of Genocide Watch, a nonprofit group, who raised similar warnings ahead of the massacres in Rwanda in the 1990s, told a U.S. congressional briefing that the demonizing and discriminatory “processes” that lead to genocide have been well underway in India.

In an interview, he said Myanmar was an example of how the easy dissemination of misinformation and hate speech on social media prepares the ground for violence. The difference in India, he said, is that it would be the mobs taking action instead of the military.

“You have to stop it now,” he said, “because once the mobs take over it could really turn deadly.”