Kenya cult deaths: a new era in the battle against religious extremism: Worshippers gather at the New Life Prayer Centre and Church. The head of the Church was recently arrested. Photo by SIMON MAINA/AFP via Getty Images More than a hundred people in Kenya – among them children – have been found dead close to …
Prevent review: why we need a new — and clearer — definition of Islamist extremism: Alice-Photo/Shutterstock An independent review of the UK counter-terrorism strategy, Prevent, has recommended that the government increase its efforts to tackle Islamist extremism. Prevent was launched nearly two decades ago to divert vulnerable people away from radicalisation and terrorism. It has …
Violent extremism could beckon in north-western Nigeria if local dynamics are ignored: Parents of students abducted from Bethel Baptist High School, Kaduna State, north-west Nigeria, pray inside the school premises. Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images In January 2022, in a bid to stem a tide of violent attacks and kidnappings in north-western Nigeria, the government …
Togo looks like West Africa’s new frontier of violent extremism: A group of armed Islamists gathered in Gao, northern Mali in 2012. Now such groups are seeking foothold in Togo. Photo by Issouf Sanogo/AFP via Getty Images The threat of violent extremism across West Africa has been on the rise in recent times. Boko Haram …
Enablers of political extremism: a checklist for West African countries: Aftermath of an attack by suspected members of the Islamic State West Africa Province in Auno, Borno State, northeast Nigeria. Audu Marte/AFP via Getty Images The Sahel – the region just south of the Sahara – is home to the world’s fastest growing extremist group, …
Jürgen Conings: the case of a Belgian soldier on the run shows how the pandemic collides with far-right extremism: A soldier has been on the run from police in Belgium since mid-May after being implicated in the theft of weapons from a military base in Flanders. The federal prosecutor charged Jürgen Conings with attempted murder …
Extremism in the UK: new definitions threaten human and civil rights: The UK government’s approach to dealing with extremism has been enormously controversial since its strategy designed to counter it was released in 2015. After years of invoking the subjective idea that extremists oppose “fundamental British values”, the government’s current definition of extremism been decried …
How Muslim leaders can respond in an age of extremism: Newspaper headlines the day after the 2017 terrorist attack in Westminster, London in which Khalid Masood killed at least three people. Shutterstock Islamic terrorism remains a global issue – with the horrific bombings in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, which claimed over 250 lives, just …
Fears of extremism live in the minds of South Africans, not in reality: Glen Mashinini, the head of South Africa's electoral commission announces the 2019 elections results. GCIS South Africans hate to miss out on global disasters. This explains why last week’s national election is being touted as a victory for extremism. In many countries, …
Four things schools can do to help tackle extremism and radicalisation: shutterstock The terrorist attacks in Manchester and London renewed discussions about how to stop young Muslims being radicalised. A lot of the ideas focus on closing down social media sites, reporting “at-risk” individuals or organisations, and educating pupils on the evils of extremism. But …
Why criminalising non-violent extremism won’t prevent terrorism: In the wake of the terrorist attack on London Bridge, Theresa May said that recent attacks “are bound together by the single, evil ideology of Islamist extremism that preaches hatred, sows division, and promotes sectarianism.” In 2015, the prime minister had written that where “non-violent extremism goes unchallenged, …