For Arno Arr Michaelis, anti-social behaviour became a kind of addiction as a kid. “Hate was just another part of the thrill,” he says. “Really what I craved was to repulse civil society and nothing appals people more than a swastika.” He joined a neo-Nazi skinhead group in the US…
The government is investing 3.5 million euros into counter-terrorism measures at six train stations in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht, among others, the Telegraaf reported on Tuesday. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management would not say exactly which train stations are involved, according to the newspaper. “Measures are…
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) presented today in Sarajevo its publication on referral mechanisms for preventing and countering violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism (P/CVERLT). The publication, entitled Understanding Referral Mechanisms in Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism and Radicalization that Lead to Terrorism –…
Congress charged the U.S. Institute of Peace with convening the Task Force on Extremism in Fragile States. Following the public launch of the Task Force’s final report, four groups of experts came together to discuss how to implement the report’s recommendations. This four-part series will discuss the findings from these…
Far-right extremism is widespread in the Western Balkans and exists in both mainstream political parties and extremist groups and individuals. Most of the literature focuses on Serbian nationalist groups, but far-right groups are also present in Bosnia Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Albania and North Macedonia. While their precise aims differ, far-right…
This briefing outlines research uncovering thousands of users viewing extremist content in Arabic language across mainstream social platforms including Facebook and YouTube.
The research series Hate Speech and Radicalisation on the Internet provides interdisciplinary insights into the current developments of extremist activities on the internet. With the aid of expert contributions from all over Germany, the psychological, political, anthropological and technological aspects of online hate speech and radicalisation will be considered and…
The rise of coordinated attacks on the foundations of liberal democracy continue unabated across Europe. In the United Kingdom, fringe groups and ideologues continue to challenge the government and the tech sector as they promote xenophobia, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and extremism. By doing so, they continue to inflame community tensions and…
Telegram, an online instant messaging service popular among adherents of the Islamic State (IS), remains vital to the organization’s ecosystem of communications. The platform’s functional affordances, paired with relatively lax enforcement of Telegram’s terms of service (ToS), offers IS sympathizers a user-friendly medium to engage with like-minded supporters and content….
On 9 January 2019, the Presidency sent out a questionnaire on policies for preventing and countering radicalisation in prisons (CM 1068/19), in order to establish an overview of the existing policies and strategies implemented by Member States and the relevant support measures and challenges that need an efficient response, and…
Herman J. Cohen is the former assistant secretary of state for African affairs (1989–1993), the former U.S. ambassador to the Gambia and Senegal (1977–80), and was a member of the U.S. Foreign Service for thirty-eight years. You can find his blog here. While the Sudanese military expelled President Omar al-Bashir from…
Violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism (VERLT) are transnational challenges which are not restricted to any nationality, ethnicity, religion, ideology or gender. The unpredictable and evolving nature of these threats makes them difficult to prevent and counter. The OSCE participating States have been unequivocal in their condemnation of…
