Counter-Radicalization: Tackling Emotions to Tackle Terrorism

“Preventing Criminal Radicalization through Youth Empowerment”
chosen as theme for the Calgary Muslim Summit 2014

Calgary, Alberta, Canada – September 1st, 2014 – Preventing criminal radicalization through youth empowerment has been chosen as the main theme for the 2014 Calgary Muslim Summit being held on September 11, 2014. The summit`s organizers consist of a coalition of various Muslim organizations that represent and serve Calgary’s 60,000 diverse Muslims. The objective is to enhance working alliances with law enforcement, intelligence agencies, government, and media. The summit marks the first day of a multiday experience that aims to build true partnerships in empowering young Muslims to become authentic actors in preventing criminal radicalization.

“We are working with Muslim youth experts, law enforcement, and other parties to prevent criminal radicalization in young people. We plan to go beyond primary prevention and focus on how to interrupt criminal acts of violence and even find solutions to worst-case scenarios of violent radicals returning from foreign theatres” says Mahdi Qasqas, founder of 3OWN Muslim Youth and Family Services. “To do this, we need to train and support the many existing authentic actors in the community, that is to say, those hard working and effective role models in the diverse Muslim community"

“Cooperation with our partners in law enforcement and government at all levels will assist us in obtaining the resources our community requires to empower our youth” added Qasqas, noting that government, media, law enforcement, academics, and intelligence agencies have been invited to the summit, taking place at the Calgary Islamic Center in Southwest Calgary.
http://www.muslimsofcalgary.ca/data.php?s=5&&ts=14&action=3&id=2253

Minnesota delegation to Obama: We want clarity on how to handle ISIL
(ALLISON SHERRY , Star Tribune, September 8, 2014)

WASHINGTON – Climbing off planes Monday after five weeks of recess, Minnesota members of Congress say they are pressing the Obama administration for more information about plans to battle ISIL, a growing Islamist terrorist army in the Middle East actively recruiting soldiers from Minnesota.

Both Democratic Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar have called on the Justice Department to fortify resources in Minnesota as details emerge that between 20 and 30 Minnesotans have been actively recruited by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a group intent on restoring Islamic rule to a region that stretches from southern Turkey through Syria and includes Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories.

GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann on Monday introduced a bill that would revoke passports and re-entry privileges of those fighting against the United States. Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison, who represents an area heavily populated by Somalis, asked that the administration continue engaging with the state’s local Muslim community. GOP Rep. John Kline called for a coherent military strategy that could include more American air power and the arming of Kurdish forces.
http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/274421071.html

Fight fanaticism with freedom
(Katrina Lantos Swett, Boston Herald Op-Ed, September 13, 2014)

As America marked the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks earlier this week, ISIS’s atrocities highlight the fact that the Middle East remains unstable and an incubator of future threats. But as we learned through last year’s Boston Marathon attack, allegedly perpetrated by two half-Chechen brothers, threats can come from people from any region plagued by violent religious extremism. While it remains uncertain where or when they were radicalized, both came from Russia’s North Caucasus area, a bastion for such extremism.

How can nations combat extremism that fuels terrorism? Russia provides a textbook example of what not to do — repress and restrict a large Muslim population, targeting an entire group for a violent minority’s actions, thereby creating potential new recruits for extremism and triggering more violence. The government then responds to this violence with more repression leading to more radicalization and strife. The way to break this vicious cycle or prevent it in the first place is this: Protect religious freedom — the right of people to practice their beliefs nonviolently, without fear of official reprisal.

Partly due to this vicious cycle, the European Court of Human Rights has cited Russia more than 200 times, mostly for its conduct in the North Caucasus, where Muslims remain the majority. There, Chechnya’s Kremlin-appointed president, Ramzan Kadyrov, has instituted a repressive rule responsible for massive human rights and religious freedom violations. Kadyrov and his men stand accused of torture, murder, and the disappearances of opponents in Russia and abroad.
http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/opinion/op_ed/2014/09/as_you_were_sayingfight_fanaticism_with_freedom

what does emotion has to do with terrorism???

Wandel's thread is about understanding what causes some young people to embrace terrorist ideology and how to counter it.

Don't confuse understanding with supporting. Nobody is saying anything in support of IS.

This isn't about those fighting with IS at the moment, it's about stopping those at home right now who are thinking about joining them. If you don't understand what motivates them, you won't stop it.

Nobody is saying anything in support of IS.

I thought I knew what is was; maybe not.

Holder unveils program to counter recruiting by extremist groups
(By Evan Pérez, CNN, September 15, 2014)

Washington (CNN) -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday announced a Justice Department program to try to thwart recruitment by extremist groups such as ISIS, attempting to involve social and mental health workers as well as religious leaders and police to spot radicalization early.

This effort is an outgrowth of existing community outreach programs that in recent years have linked Justice Department prosecutors, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security with imams and local organizations hoping to prevent young people from joining terror groups.

Despite those efforts, authorities say more than 100 Americans have traveled in recent years to join groups involved in the Syrian civil war. More than a dozen are believed to have joined ISIS, which calls itself the Islamic State.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/15/politics/holder-program-combat-extremists/

Aren't we moving towards policing people political ideas here?

In some cases,
it might be treason.

In some cases,
it might be treason.

Bush was a traitor.

He lied to the nation to start a useless war.

And rescued the princess, and climbed the beanstalk...