Radicalization
ISIS runaway Shamima Begum’s request to return to the UK provokes national uproar
Fierce national debate has erupted this past week in the United Kingdom on the case of Shamima Begum, a 19-year-old woman who ran away from her home in East London in February 2015 to join the Islamic State, and is now requesting to return to the UK. The controversy reached new heights this Tuesday,…
“He was there with his heart and soul”: The mother of a German ‘foreign fighter’ speaks
In 2014 and 2015, European publics were kept in suspense by daily press reports on the rising numbers of European citizens travelling to Syria in order to join jihadi groups (and, to a lesser extent, Kurdish rebel forces). By early 2018, security agencies estimated that 960 men and women had made their way to Syria…
Terror attack in Melbourne’s central business district triggers blame-shifting debate about terrorist attacks
On 11 November, Somali-born Hassan Khalif Shire Ali – aged 30 – drove his burning utility vehicle down Bourke Street into the centre of Melbourne’s central business district. Filled with barbecue-style gas cylinders, Shire Ali’s vehicle later exploded near Bourke Street Mall, though police noted that the blast could have been far more deadly had…
Five members of Roubaix jihadist group sentenced to prison
Five people were sentenced Friday, November 9 in Paris to sentences ranging from two years suspended time to seven years in prison for their participation in the Roubaix jihadist network. More than a dozen young people from the group joined the Islamic State (IS) in 2013 and 2014. Most are presumed dead or remain in…
Streetwork against Salafism: German civil society counter-radicalisation activism
In recent years, civil society-led efforts to prevent Muslim youths’ turn to Salafism have intensified. Often described in terms of ‘preventing violent extremism’ (PVE) or ‘preventing radicalisation’, many of these projects have attracted generous funding by state agencies. Germany is perhaps the paradigmatic case of this development: through successive government funding initiatives, the country has…