'Urgent solutions' to a 'grave terrorist threat' are called for in today's Home Affairs Select Committee report on counter-terrorism. These urgent solutions exist, have been tested and are ready to scale up; all that's needed now is the political will to make this happen.
A society wide effort to counter the narratives of violent extremists is needed if we have any chance of stemming the tide of violent extremism.
This is all the more relevant in the digital age. There is an increasing drive within the extremist fraternity to actively and often very successfully communicate not only ideas but also potential actions within the confines of the online domain. Far right extremists such as Anders Behring Breivik and Jihadists such as Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev have all used the internet to spread their message and plan their attacks. Given the on-going conflict in Syria and the thousands of young westerners traveling to fight, the question has to be asked; how does society begin to counter the messaging and motivations of those determined to create a world in their hateful image?
There is little doubt that in order to attempt to claw back some of the ground that has been lost to extremism online, at some stage, something practical will have to be done. The question asked by many risk averse academics and government agencies over the past number of years, is what? This is the question that has stumped many agencies, community organisations and activists, often keen to commission more research and avoid actually testing differing approaches in the politically sensitive area of counter narratives.
The constant discussions around trying to conceptualise areas of work in this field have blighted the often fleeting opportunities to be pro-active as well as robust in challenging extremist narratives when they are most needed. Rather than focus on discussions around what the perfect counter-narrative should look like or where it is most needed, we should take a leaf from those who have created this situation in the first place. Extremists don't sit around waiting for consensus on what a good communication strategy is; they create thousands of videos, blogs and tweets every day based on their core values, and learn by trial and error about what's most effective.
An example of this approach can be found in Syria. The omnipresent discourse around the Islamic concept of Jihad has been used to recruit and mobilise somewhere in the region of 15,000 foreign fighters to Syria. What if content and narrative existed online that engaged with these same concepts but instead of trying to create Jihadis, it sought to build the set of skills needed to make informed choices on what type of information is being presented, how to verify its authenticity and reliability? In other words, why don't we place ourselves at the centre of the age of 'search engine Islam' in order to engender and foster a critical awareness of the issues, rights and responsibilities of both individuals and communities in such circumstances?
Research suggests that providing often difficult subject matter content in relatable and sharable chunks of information can create a window of opportunity to safeguard against subjective and emotionally driven responses to issues like Syria. The use of creative mediums and more personalised messaging platforms can help to create a reasonable doubt strong enough to prompt further enquiry into matters that are generating interest. This approach is an abstract method to not talk to the subject matter but actually to address the emotional and social sentiment that conflict generates.
This approach has been piloted in the form of the Abdullah-X campaign by Cypher7 A.D media, recognised by the Home Affairs Committee as a model which needs to be replicated and scaled up. Abdullah-X is a fictional cartoon character whose journey is intended to counter extremism and hate by posing difficult questions to those seeking answers online, questions such as what is the real meaning of jihad, and what five things a young Muslim should consider before travelling to Syria. Using targeted ads, Abdullah-X's videos show up the searches of those seeking to travel to Syria, or curious about Jihad.
Of course, a cartoon will not deter a fervent Jihadi but it will engage someone who is just starting out on the search engine 'road to Damascus' early enough to prompt critical self-reflection on motives, desire and possible actions. This effort is about creating interlocutors and insight as opposed to creating new world views or lack of action on genuine situations where suffering is occurring. In simple terms, counter-extremism is not about making people not care about Syria, it's about empowering the kind of care that safeguards the intent and the individual.
A casual interest in the Syria conflict can easily turn into a genuine stimulus at which point an alternative narrative is needed to counter such effects. The broad aims of counter narrative work should be to build resilience to extremism by challenging the rationale behind its actions. This is not about winning hearts and minds. It is about understanding what makes hearts and minds turn to negatively against accepted human norms and values of freedom, expression and civil liberties.
Today's report commends the work done by the creators of Abdullah-X and recognises the desperate need for more resources to be made available to replicate and scale up this type of work; Research by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue points to the potential effectiveness of counter-narratives. The time for research, reports, recommendations and pilot projects is over. It's time to take back the internet and to turn the trickle of counter-narratives into a flood. Now is the time to finally win the war of ideas online.