Originally published on the CGS blog on March 27, 2015.
In my previous blog, I mentioned examples of interfaith and intercultural dialogue going on in Europe and emphasized the need for expansion of such efforts and the need for the world public to be more informed about them. In this blog, I will focus on intervention for youth considered to be greatly at risk of going to the religious extreme.
Bishop Michel Dubost (Head of French Bishops Council for Interfaith Relations), says that lots of immigrants, especially teenagers, don’t feel connected with society in France. This is partly because they don’t have roots in French society and don’t have an elder to talk to about their heritage, and this makes them easily influenced by extremists. This is true in Germany as well, where many people (both Muslim and non-Muslim alike) believe that one can’t be German and Muslim at the same time. Environments like these create the conditions for extremist yearning among youth to fester in a cycle of hostility between those who perceive other groups as being different.
The place where disaffected youth tend to become influenced by extremists is usually over the internet via social media sites, not in a mosque. In Europe, certain nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) seek to intervene when they notice young people accessing extremist websites.
Some groups like Against Violent Extremism (AVE), based in London and run by Ross Frenett, tracks people who search for and click on links for extremist websites and seeks to intervene with internet ad space to send messages and turn people away from extremism. In Germany, a group called the Violence Prevention Network (VPN), which has worked in the past and still works to turn young Neo-Nazi’s away from the fascist movement, particularly after the reunification of East and West Germany, also works with Muslim youth considered at risk of joining extremist movements.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-vxdgsdqns
(Courtesy of RTQuestionMore (UK) [April 29, 2013] Interview with Ross Frenett of Against Violent Extremism (AVE))
In France, some social behavioral experts look for strained or broken family and friend relationships, spending lots of time on the internet (particularly looking at extremist websites), a change to a halal diet (after previously eating non-halal foods), and a change in dress style as precursors to extremism.
If parents, friends, and teachers are concerned, perhaps youth who are becoming more religious could be taught that becoming more religious is okay and that they should seek to maintain positive relationships with their families and friends. At the same time, these youth also need to learn that joining or supporting extremist movements or engaging in extremist behavior and action is not all right.
Change of diet and dress should not in and of themselves be considered definitive signs of extremist influence, as many people around the world who devote themselves more to their religion tend to adhere to the dietary and modesty codes without engaging in or supporting violence in the name of their faith.
Europe is becoming more multicultural and multi-religious. Some Europeans want to maintain a sense of cultural homogeny, which never really existed in the first place. Many European countries have had different cultural groups living in them such as Jewish people, albeit these people were marginalized throughout most of Europe’s history.
People need to learn how to get along with each other, to respect each other’s innocuous religious or nonreligious cultural expression (like diet and clothing style), and to learn how to differentiate between this and extremism. In Europe, Muslims and non-Muslims, religious and nonreligious people, need to learn to live in peace and not feel threatened by one another. They must learn to appreciate the contributions to society that everyone, regardless of identity, can give. And all this begins at a young age.
