How are ordinary young people drawn into extremism? Why would someone whose future could be bright turn toward terrorism and violence? When we look at extremist groups we often see only hatred and irrational violence. But if this is all there is to it, how are we to understand the appeal of extremism and develop ways to prevent recruitment? In the video below, psychologist Jocelyn Belanger, (whose work is applied at the Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization leading to Violence in Montreal), discusses The Psychology of Martyrdom and sheds light on the why extremist groups are able to co-opt the normal quest for significance that every young person goes on. Key to understanding the success of extremist groups are what Belanger refers to as the 3 N’s: need, network, and narrative.
To sum up: “People transition from wanting significance, to joining a powerful social network to which they become fused, which leads them to adhere to sacred narratives or sacred values. So what does this mean for extremism prevention or de-radicalization? Belanger claims that the same ingredients – the power of the 3 Ns – can also be harnessed for peace building and conciliation. In other words, the ingredients that fuel radicalization toward violence and self-sacrifice are the same as those that produce movement toward moderation. He urges that “we need to keep investing in our youth, otherwise terrorist groups will, because they need the youth in order to carry out their gruesome agendas.” Indeed, we must take this advice seriously if we want to build a safe and healthy society free of violent extremism. Parents for Peace aims to help families concerned about a loved one becoming involved in extremism in addressing these 3 Ns. Family, friends and other community members can help to form a healthy social network to replace the dangerous influence of an extremist network. By working together and communicating respectfully with the individual of concern, this network can begin to uncover why the need for significance was going unfulfilled and how it became an opening for extremist recruitment. With this understanding, the personalized network can begin to guide the individual toward a healthy significance quest. Instead of buying in to a black-and-white narrative which prescribes violence against an out-group, the individual can be empowered to do the difficult work of attaining genuine knowledge about our complex world and charting a constructive course toward positive, fulfilling goals. The post How the Search for Significance is Exploited by Extremists appeared first on Parents For Peace. via Blog – Parents For Peace https://parents4peace.org/blog/search-significance-exploited-extremists/
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Challenging ExtremismInkblot, a challenging extremism initiative of Boston University students that Parents for Peace worked with this spring, has produced a toolkit aimed at helping young people engage in a productive way with a peer who may be turning toward extremism. Though it focuses on the scenario of helping a friend, many of the strategies and suggestions contained in the guide are equally relevant for a parent or anyone else concerned that a loved one is involved in extremism. Our shared approach is based on the understanding that the appeal of any form of extremism for many people lies in the illusion it presents of explaining and resolving all of their personal struggles: “Extremist ideas and groups become something people value, love and feel proud of. It gives them a sense of purpose, meaning, and belonging. Your loved one may be dealing with an internal crisis that the extremists claim they alone can fix. Your goal is to be a friend to them, and hopefully help them see that they don’t have to cling to extremist ideologies in order to find validation and support.” A Conversation About RadicalizationThe toolkit tells us that “the pathway to radicalization is different for every person.” This is why family and friends are often in the best position to notice something is wrong. Their concerns arise organically – not by checking a list of supposed warning signs, but by noticing shifts in attitudes, associations, and actions. The toolkit emphasizes a patient, calm, non-confrontational approach: “Remember, you are trying to engage with your friend and figure out what’s going on with them, not make assumptions and judgments right away.” “You don’t want to turn the conversation into an interrogation. You want to build trust and that means having a two-way conversation by sharing your own perspective and opening up about your own struggles, goals, and ideas.” “Try to get them to share their own personal perspective and feelings. In doing so, you want to sympathize with and respect their thought process without rationalizing, validating or supporting their destructive behavior or ideas.” It also suggests not going it alone: “Talk to others who may share your concerns and help you connect with your friend. They can help you clarify how unusual your friend’s behaviors are, how long this has been going on, and what might have influenced these changes.” Check the rest of the toolkit here. If you need need more support, consider calling the Parents for Peace Helpline. The post Guide for People Concerned about Extremism in a Friend or Family Member appeared first on Parents For Peace. via Blog – Parents For Peace https://parents4peace.org/blog/guide-for-people-concerned-about-extremism-in-a-friend-or-family-member/ The Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence (CPRLV) in Montreal published a new radicalization prevention guide titled ‘Strengthening Our Resilience to Agents of Radicalization and Their Rhetoric.’ According to this guide, an agent of radicalization is:“… a person who uses extremist rhetoric to attract individuals with different degrees of vulnerability and who may exhibit feelings of victimization or rejection, identity malaise, or certain personal or social vulnerabilities.” In response to the questions such individuals may have about their place in society, agents of radicalization offer a simplistic, black-and-white worldview that portrays certain beliefs as irreconcilable and diametrically opposed to one another. As a result, the agents rhetoric encourages listeners to progressively adopt an extremist logic incompatible with the principles of social togetherness, generating the sorts of rifts that lay the groundwork for the process of radicalization leading to violence. Agents of radicalization, whether in the real or the virtual world (i.e. over the Internet), seek to manipulate the thoughts and legitimate perceptions of people in order to further a particular set of ideological concerns or a political agenda. Little by little, they get their audience to draw direct connections between tragedies or personal situations and broader social, economic, cultural or identity issues.” Agents of radicalization play various roles and exist across the ideological spectrum. The guide notes that agents of radicalization may not directly incite audiences to engage in violent action, but “through their rhetoric they help create an insurmountable gulf between certain individuals and the rest of society which may, under certain conditions, lead to violent radicalization.” Check out more prevention tools and guides from CPRLV here. The post Strengthening Resilience to Agents of Radicalization appeared first on Parents For Peace. via Blog – Parents For Peace https://parents4peace.org/blog/strengthening-resilience-to-agents-of-radicalization/ What Can Be Done To Address Online RadicalizationPeter Neumann of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) recently talked about the myths and realities of online radicalization and what can be done to address it. In the video, Neumann focuses on jihadist radicalization because that is his area of expertise, but also says:
Neumann focuses on 5 important points for understanding and addressing online radicalization.
Terrorists or violent extremists aren’t as exceptional as we always think they are. In the media they are often portrayed almost as if they are people from mars, but in reality, of course, they are people in a way like us, and they are using the internet for exactly the same purposes that all of us are using the internet for, which is to communicate, to create networks, to exchange information and of course to convince other people of their ideas. Their ideas, of course, are different, the content of what they are doing is different, but the ways that they interact with people are not fundamentally different.
Click here to view more videos from ICSR, or check out some of their publications. The post Myths and Realities of Online Radicalization appeared first on Parents For Peace. via Parents For Peace https://parents4peace.org/blog/myths-realities-online-radicalization/ On April 28th, Parents for Peace collaborated with the Inkblot Project from Boston University for an event featuring former white supremacist Arno Michaelis and former jihadi-sympathizer turned undercover operative Mubin Shaikh. A main focus of the discussion was explorng commonalities in the radicalization process across extremist movements. In introducing the speakers, Parents for Peace program coordinator David Phillippi made the following remarks: The word extremism brings up some very natural negative reactions: confusion, fear, anger, disgust. After each act of violence here at home, or when we hear about people leaving behind material comforts to travel overseas to a warzone, we ask How? How could anyone do that? Why? Why would anyone believe those things? We know that this issue is complicated, but we believe that there are answers to these questions. When we listen to the families whose loved ones took that path, when we listen to people who lived that life, and then left it behind, like the two men well hear from today, the previously incomprehensible begins to make some sense. Now, were not making excuses for violence. But in many of these cases, before the acceptance of violence, there was a void waiting to be filled, a problem in need of a solution. Across the ideological spectrum, groups trafficking in extremist ideas exploit identity crises and other pain points in young peoples lives, by offering:
Understanding, belonging,purpose – what young person is not looking for those things? So as we begin to see that this seemingly alien phenomenon – extremism – is not as far from our own experience as we might have thought, we can start to imagine how we might be part of the solution to this puzzle, how we might have a role to play in helping others find a healthy path through the struggles that we all inevitably face as we try to form our identities. Here is recorded video from a live stream of the event. (The panel discussion begins around 12:30). Check back soon for more video content of Arno Michaelisand Mubin. The post Video from Event: Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why? appeared first on Parents For Peace. via Parents For Peace https://parents4peace.org/blog/video-event-becomes-terrorist/ The article, ‘For Families of Radicalizing U.S. Youth, a Helpline‘ touches on the story of Parents for Peace founder Melvin Bledsoe and why he was motivated to find a way to assist others struggling to reach loved ones being drawn into extremism. His own family’s experience, as they watched Carlos slip away from them, was one of isolation. He tells the reporter: “I didn’t have any help. I didn’t have no one to turn to, no one to lean on but my other family members. Out of the pain of this experience grew the desire to make a difference: Bledsoe, hoping to give parents in similar situations and fearful of calling the police more options than he had, founded the nonprofit Parents for Peace and launched what it bills as the first citizen-run U.S. telephone help line to counter the ideologies that lead to violent extremism. Carole Mansfield, whose granddaughter Nicole died in Syria in 2013, has also found solace in trying to serve others: “I’m battling cancer and I just hope and pray that I can live long enough to help at least one family save their loved one,” Mansfield said in a recent phone interview. “That’s the mission that I have in my life.” Parents for Peace staff Myriam Nadri and David Phillippi were also interviewed about the helpline. They made clear that it is available to callers struggling to deal with any form of extremism: The Parents for Peace help line – +1-844-49-PEACE (+1-844-487-3223) – models itself on suicide help lines and other groups addressing such issues, and is open not only to those dealing with militant Islamist ideologies but also white supremacist and other radicalizations. “It should be about any extremist,” [Bledsoe] said. “Parents for Peace is willing to talk to anyone who feels there is a threat.” Click here to read the full story. The post Reuters Story about Parents for Peace Helpline appeared first on Parents For Peace. via Parents For Peace https://parents4peace.org/blog/reuters-story-parents-peace-helpline/ What Can Be Done To Address Online RadicalizationPeter Neumann of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR) recently talked about the myths and realities of online radicalization and what can be done to address it. In the video, Neumann focuses on jihadist radicalization because that is his area of expertise, but also says:
Neumann focuses on 5 important points for understanding and addressing online radicalization.
Terrorists or violent extremists aren’t as exceptional as we always think they are. In the media they are often portrayed almost as if they are people from mars, but in reality, of course, they are people in a way like us, and they are using the internet for exactly the same purposes that all of us are using the internet for, which is to communicate, to create networks, to exchange information and of course to convince other people of their ideas. Their ideas, of course, are different, the content of what they are doing is different, but the ways that they interact with people are not fundamentally different.
Click here to view more videos from ICSR, or check out some of their publications. The post Myths and Realities of Online Radicalization appeared first on Parents For Peace. via Blog – Parents For Peace https://parents4peace.org/blog/myths-and-realities-of-online-radicalization/ On April 28th, Parents for Peace collaborated with the Inkblot Project from Boston University for an event featuring former white supremacist Arno Michaelis and former jihadi-sympathizer turned undercover operative Mubin Shaikh. A main focus of the discussion was explorng commonalities in the radicalization process across extremist movements. In introducing the speakers, Parents for Peace program coordinator David Phillippi made the following remarks: The word extremism brings up some very natural negative reactions: confusion, fear, anger, disgust. After each act of violence here at home, or when we hear about people leaving behind material comforts to travel overseas to a warzone, we ask How? How could anyone do that? Why? Why would anyone believe those things? We know that this issue is complicated, but we believe that there are answers to these questions. When we listen to the families whose loved ones took that path, when we listen to people who lived that life, and then left it behind, like the two men well hear from today, the previously incomprehensible begins to make some sense. Now, were not making excuses for violence. But in many of these cases, before the acceptance of violence, there was a void waiting to be filled, a problem in need of a solution. Across the ideological spectrum, groups trafficking in extremist ideas exploit identity crises and other pain points in young peoples lives, by offering:
Understanding, belonging,purpose – what young person is not looking for those things? So as we begin to see that this seemingly alien phenomenon – extremism – is not as far from our own experience as we might have thought, we can start to imagine how we might be part of the solution to this puzzle, how we might have a role to play in helping others find a healthy path through the struggles that we all inevitably face as we try to form our identities. Here is recorded video from a live stream of the event. (The panel discussion begins around 12:30). Check back soon for more video content of Arno Michaelisand Mubin. The post Video from Event: Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why? appeared first on Parents For Peace. via Blog – Parents For Peace https://parents4peace.org/blog/video-from-event-who-becomes-a-terrorist-and-why/ |
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