Training activities, creation of guidelines and a software to equip young people with the skills and tools to counter radicalization and extremist narratives online.
Context
Europe faces a spread and normalization of hate speech, extremist narratives, passive acceptance of verbal violence which often leads to acts of physical violence and intolerance. New media are the channels that more than any other allow the unrestricted proliferation of these harmful contents, where users are often exposes to a great number of hardly verifiable biased information, whose rhetoric contributes to the increasing feeling of closure and extremism against a number of alleged enemies. For these reasons, it is necessary to equip young people with the tools to verify the truthfulness and reliability of the information they acquire on the Internet, recognize and challenge radicalization and extremism.
Objectives
- To empower young people to challenge extremist narratives they experience in their daily lives.
- To provide young people with media literacy skills and software tools to investigate online sources of information and think more critically
- To enable young people to develop counter-narrative campaigns to challenge hate speech and extremist rhetoric online
- To encourage young people to non-violently address their political grievances through policy-advocacy.
Activities
- Development of campaign tutorial videos, interactive online guides and infographics to counteract different forms of radicalisation
- Collection of documented and inspirational case studies on youth challenging extremism and successful youth-led change
- Development of the project online resource hub and of a user-friendly web plug-in enabling the general public to easily verify the sources and truthfulness of the information (articles, news, posts) found on the Internet
- Organisation of 8 bootcamps to train and help young people develop relevant and successful online campaigns to counter radicalisation
- Organisation of the “Our Future: Europe” European youth forum, gathering youth participants with youth workers, RAN and European Commission representatives as well as other relevant stakeholders & interest groups.
Resources
- Online and Offline Informative Material and Tutorial Guides on early signs, characteristics and ways to counter radicalisation to inform young people and equip them to challenge extremist narratives.
- User-friendly web plug-in for fact-checking to enable young people and the general public to check information veracity and sources.
Impact
- 8 bootcamps organised in Romania, Hungary, Poland and Italy to train at least 20 young people aged 16 – 25 and 2 schools to co-develop 4 Campaign Service Lines (CSLs) on (1) Challenging Extremism; (2) Recognising Extremism Online; (3) Challenging Polarisation & Extremism Online and (4) Civic Engagement Action.
- 2000 Young people will feel encouraged and entitled to engage in policy-advocacy in their communities and document their experiences thanks to the documented case studies, tutorial videos and infographics on successful youth-led change.
Partners
- Coordinator: Peace Action Training and Research Institute of Romania (PATRIR) – Romania
- ZA CLOUD SRL (Zetta Cloud) – Romania
- ActiveWatch – Romania
- Instytutu Bezpieczeństwa Społecznego (IBS) – Poland
- Budapest Centre for Mass Atrocities Prevention (BCMAP) – Hungary
- Political Capital Policy Research and Consulting Institute – Hungary
- CESIE – Italy