Overcoming Hate through Dialogue

How a TED Talk Speaker Learned to Successfully Confront Bigotry, Prejudice, and Racism

“This brilliant and well-researched book ought to be required reading for anyone interested in conflict resolution; it gives nuance to an otherwise stale-mated debate.” ―Journalisten

Winner 2020 Indie Book Award for Social Change
2021 International Book Awards finalist in Social Change
Highlighted in Publisher´s Weekly list of New Social Justice Books

TED talk speaker Özlem Cekic offers a blueprint for confronting racism, prejudice and hatred. She calls her conflict resolution process “Dialogue Coffee”.

Familiarity and dialogue is the antidote to intolerance and prejudice. Özlems method of having coffee with people who send her hate mail has been recognized around the world and inspires listening, understanding and an end to blind hatred.

When Özlem Cekic became the first Muslim MP in the Danish Parliament, her email inbox started flooding with hate mail and threats, and her first reaction was to delete and ignore each abusive message. But eventually, she decided to take a risk. She started replying to messages and inviting the senders to meet and engage in dialogue over coffee. What she discovered was that she could create change in the people who sent her hate mail, understand where their anger came from, and build friendships through finding common ground.

It is possible to have a conversation with anyone if you:

• Listen and focus on what you have in common instead of your differences
• Praise your counterpart for having the courage to have this conversation
• Recognize the other person´s emotions and feelings even if you don´t agree with them
• Distance yourself from the other person´s attitude, but never the human and their humanity

Readers of books on activism, racism and social change like How to Be an Antiracist, The Racial Healing Handbook, or Rising Out of Hatred will be inspired and encouraged by Özlem Cekic’s Overcoming Hate Through Dialogue.