Europe is facing challenges coming from an uprise of polarization and extremist views. The growth in influence of these ideologies fuels societal hatred and violence, and pushes the most vulnerable among us straight into the grasp of radical violent groups from both Islamic and far-right grounds. Moreover, much of the extremist propaganda takes place online as well as via face-to-face contact initiated by extremist recruiters with the support of online channels.
The growing need to counteract this dangerous trend comes along with the following question: can alternative narrative-based campaigns effectively draw away vulnerable people from radicalizing and extremist propaganda?
To answer this question, 6 organizations coming from academia and the NGO sector came together and developed the concept of RETHINK – (Re)think before act! It is a project funded under the Internal Security Fund Police – CIVIL SOCIETY EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMME (CSEP) 2014-2020 of the European Union.
RETHINK envisages the production and dissemination of 7 online video-based campaigns aiming at providing powerful alternative narratives in order to deconstruct radical/extremist propaganda. Specifically, the project foresees the development of the following:
- 3 campaigns countering radical Islamic extremism
- 2 campaigns countering far-right extremism
- 2 campaigns focused on critical thinking and tools to empower young people in building up resilience against extremist views.
But that’s not all! Debates will be carried out involving local communities and schools to further expand the outreach of the campaigns and discuss their themes with the locals. Also, a thorough research and evaluation of the outcomes will explore quantitative and qualitative aspects of each campaign’s impact.
On the 26th and 27th of November RETHINK partners met up in Lisbon, hosted by the Universidade Lusofona , for the kick-off meeting of the project. It has been a chance for partners to organize the upcoming work as well as take important decisions and agree on the way forward. Aside than addressing technical and managerial issues, partners also shared their ideas, presented each country experience with radicalization and extremism and built up a common ground to take action on.
About the project
RETHINK – (Re)think before act! is funded under the Internal Security Fund Police – CIVIL SOCIETY EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMME (CSEP) 2014-2020 of the European Union to prevent vulnerable audiences from starting a social process of radicalisation, by offering them resilience mechanisms and critical thinking skills framed in a human rights framework.
Partners
The project holds together 6 organisation:
- Coordinator: COFAC COOPERATIVA DE FORMACAO E ANIMACAO CULTURAL CRL (Portugal);
- CESIE (Italy);
- UPPSALA UNIVERSITET (Sweden);
- PATRIR – Institutul Roman Pentru Actune, Instruire Si Cercetare In Domeiul Pacii (Romania);
- CAPRI – Centre D’action Et De Prevention Contre La Radicalisation Des Individus (France);
- SVF – Szubjektiv Ertekek Alapitvany (Hungary).
For further information
Read more about RETHINK.
Visit rethinkproject.eu.
If you want to know more about the project, its campaigns and local level activities please contact migration@cesie.org.
