Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN)

This is an update on the activities of the Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN). You receive this e-mail, along with more than 5,000 other people, because you have participated in a RAN activity, or because you have registered your interest in the network.

If you do not want to receive such e-mails, please let us know. Feel free to distribute this RAN Update to colleagues and invite them to subscribe

Our online calendar contains the full schedule and describes each of these events, as well as the target audience. If you are interested in participating, check whether you are included in the target audience of the specific event, and register your interest with the contact points mentioned.

Please note that we may not be able to invite all who register an interest to attend. If invited, RAN will arrange your travel and accommodation.

Are you working on a counter- or alternative narrative campaign? Do you have an idea for a campaign? Do you want to learn how to make campaigns more attractive to the target audience? Do you want to learn more about how to enhance the effectiveness of this campaign?

Aim of the Academy workshop

The title of the C&N Academy meeting is  ‘How to make an effective campaign that is reaching the target audience and selling the message’. Central to this Academy workshop will be the GAMMMA+ model, which comprises the following key elements: Goal, Audience, Message, Messenger, Media, Action plus Monitoring and Evaluation. In fact, it combines key elements and lessons learned from RAN C&N meetings with an overview of relevant research. A special focus will be on the elements Goal, Audience and Call to Action. The programme will delve into how to formulate good strategies, objectives and how to identify the right target audience.

Target audience

This meeting aims to attract P/CVE practitioners:

• who are currently developing, or are planning to implement a CN/AN campaign;
• who wish to enhance their knowledge on how to make their campaign more attractive for the target audience and how to enhance the effectiveness of their campaign;
• who are new to the GAMMMA+ model.

Call for participants

If you are interested in participating, please answer the following questions:

• In what stage of development is your campaign?
• What is the goal of your campaign?
• What is the target audience?
• What is the theory of change?
• What is the campaign’s call to action?
• When are you planning to implement the campaign?
• What is your campaign budget?

Deadline

Send your answers to Lieke Wouterse and Merle Verdegaal by 11 October (extended deadline) at the latest. Participants will be selected based on this submission.

RAN YOUNG Academy session 3 ‒ Sharing experiences and moving towards results! (Madrid, 10-11 September)

RAN YOUNG participants gathered to present their progress and share experiences of the past months. They discussed their biggest ‘tops and flops’ and consulted and coached each other, while practicing feedback skills and making use of ‘powerful open questions’ and the SMART tool.

Participants also attended a workshop about evaluating whether their initiative and the activities they organise really contribute to reaching the overall goal. What is more, the groups also charted a course for the following months, discussing the next steps, how to reach the goal and who will do what. Overall, much progress has been made and everyone remains committed.

RAN Study Visit ‒ Restorative Justice (Zagreb, 12-13 September)

A group of RAN practitioners working in the field of restorative justice visited the city of Zagreb in Croatia. The visit was an introduction to the topic and on how mechanisms of restorative justice are currently used as a tool for preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE). By engaging with a variety of ministries and practitioners involved in the restorative justice process, as well as with actors who conduct research on radicalisation and restorative justice measures and practices in communities, the visit provided participants valuable insights into restorative justice elements in a post-conflict region.

It was found that especially the basic knowledge on restorative justice, victim–offender mediation and the diversity in the visited initiatives are useful. Participants also identified the challenges and noted the difficulty in implementing restorative justice without taking the country’s history and societal traits into account.

The outcomes of the study visit will feed into the RAN EXIT and RAN RVT meeting on 3‑4 December 2019, in which participants will learn what elements (insights, methodological approaches and tools) of restorative justice can be implemented in exit work. They will be provided with guidelines (including the methodological approach) enabling them to put this in place for victims and offenders.

Conference on Preventing Violent Extremism: Looking into the Future (Helsinki, 17-18 September)

Hosted by Finland’s EU Presidency and supported by RAN, this two-day conference proved a unique opportunity to assess past and current European P/CVE efforts. It also scanned the horizon for future developments in extremism and terrorism. On the first day, policymakers, Member State representatives and civil society organisations (CSOs) shared their current efforts and approaches. Researchers focused on the effectiveness of these efforts.

The discussion focused on success measuring and the importance of stakeholders’ openness as regards what can be and has been validated and about the measures that may seem and feel intuitive, but do not have a sound scientific or methodical basis. The production and low-threshold communication of research-based knowledge stuck out as one of the most valuable tools in P/CVE.

There was wide agreement that the adoption of a ‘scientist practitioner model’ for P/CVE could help enhance empirical grounding of practical work by influencing applied P/CVE with research outcomes and vice-versa. Participants were asked to put their knowledge on P/CVE to practical use during an interactive performance and workshop by ‘ODD Arts’, which highlighted the difficulty of practical work to all participants.

On the second day, the focus shifted to future challenges, leading to the question: “Are we prepared?”. In response, participants discussed the potential of further involvement of religious communities. They also exchanged views about how to address the challenges put forward by the “gamification” of extremist actions online. By fuelling divisive narratives and normalising violence, this poses a large risk to European societies.

Far-right extremism (FRE) and the potential of extremist strands of environmentalism were assessed as two key challenges for coming years. As a tool to anticipate future extremist and terrorist developments, the idea of “red teaming” was well received. Regarding the level of preparation, most agreed that a lot of progress has been made regarding increased EU-wide and national-level experience and knowledge exchange, increasing resources and setting up the necessary mechanisms to conduct good work. However, gaps remain especially concerning specificity of objectives and the knowledge base. A culture of honesty and an open discussion of failures was highlighted as necessary to ensure further progress.

Policy & Practice event ‒ Extremists being released from prison: community and family acceptance (Helsinki, 19 September)

A group of 46 national policymakers and practitioners working in the field of reintegration of radicalised and terrorist offenders gathered to discuss how to involve families and communities in extremist offenders’ release from prisons, and how to ensure acceptance.

The draft Rehabilitation Manual was presented and reviewed by participants during the meeting. The manual provides valuable insight into the different phases, as well as the role of the various actors, and general recommendations as regards the entire process. Small mixed groups of policymakers and practitioners worked on a fictional case study. Several subtopics were discussed, including the potential role of informal stakeholders in the rehabilitation process and how to facilitate and stimulate the role of communities and families in the rehabilitation process. Participants also exchanged views on how to establish mutual trust between communities and families and institutions and authorities, and how to ensure community and family acceptance.

In terms of ensuring trust, one inspiring practice involves authorities identifying existing practices, strengthening capacities and competencies of field workers in the public sector and in CSOs, and guaranteeing the sharing of experiences and know-how between the different actors involved.

One key takeaway of the breakout sessions was the importance of the role of reconciliation, restorative justice and the role of the victim, especially in the last phase of rehabilitation. It was also recommended to try to bring in several actors from the local network (such as imams and priests) and to identify power brokers within families who can help in the rehabilitation process. These and other recommendations given by participants will feed into the Rehabilitation Manual.

RAN RVT ‒ Preparation for Remembrance Day 2020
(Brussels, 24 September)

On 24 September, the European Commission, several representatives of European victims’ associations and RAN RVT came together in Brussels to begin preparations for the European Remembrance Day for Victims of Terrorism in 2020. To organise next year’s ceremony, the 2019 event was evaluated extensively with support of the outcomes of the survey that was conducted among all participating victims this year.

Among the various issues discussed were ideas for a new theme, a ceremonial aspect, possible speakers and participants, and the inclusion of first responders, psychologists and schools, but also new developments in the field of victims of terrorism as well as the acknowledgement of any new atrocities since the last Remembrance Day. The input from the participants will be used to draft the outline of the European Remembrance Day for Victims of Terrorism on 11 March 2020.

RAN Steering Committee (Brussels, 25 September)

This meeting focussed on current policy developments and the RAN Plenary, High-Level conference (HLC) and the 2020 Annual Activity Plan (AAP). Both in Brussels, the Plenary will take place on 30 October and the HLC on 4 November. During the Plenary, participants will discuss newly arising phenomena and priorities for RAN and its constituencies in 2020. A survey has been sent out to the RAN network to collect ideas about themes and topics to feed into the Plenary and subsequently the 2020 AAP. The HLC will welcome policymakers and practitioners and will feature the Belgian movie Le Jeune Ahmed (‘Young Ahmed’), which was screened at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. The outcomes of the Plenary and HLC will be taken into account for the 2020 AAP.

Member States Workshop on far-right extremism
(Rome, 26-27 September)

Several MS came together in Rome to discuss how governments can deal with and respond to the local, regional and national manifestations of FRE and online recruitment. MS were represented by a mix of practitioners from law enforcement, justice, prison and probation, and NGOs working in the field of prevention.

All MS briefly presented the local context, strategy and challenges of FRE. These included the following:

• Across Europe, FRE manifests itself differently in rural areas than in cities, frequently a result of perceived marginalisation of rural areas.
• Many MS face similar challenges in dealing with and responding to FRE movements because they know exactly what they can and cannot say within the boundaries of the law, making it difficult to prove that their actions are racially inspired. Moreover, many MS noted the difficulty of categorising attacks as hate crimes.
• Music and martial arts events are popular venues for spreading FRE ideology and recruiting new followers. The most common, and most difficult to counter, however, is online recruitment. The internet has enabled the coming together of many different strands of FRE.
• FRE groups can create alliances with hooligans and in certain cases with religious groups or motor gangs.

The lessons learned during RAN working group meetings are shared in ex post papers. Papers are published on the RAN website, usually about a month after the meeting.

RAN YOUNG Academy session 4 ‒ How to professionalise your
initiative? (Berlin, 21-22 October)

This will be the fourth and final RAN YOUNG Empowerment Academy session of 2019. It will focus on professional empowerment: How to professionalise your initiative and broaden your network? How to have sustainable impact in your communities and how to monitor and evaluate this? Participants will also reflect on the past year and think about what’s next.

RAN EXIT ‒ Gender-specific approaches in exit work
(Rome, 22-23 October)

This meeting will examine possible gender-specific factors/approaches in Exit work, and discuss what different approaches are needed when looking at the variety of active extremist groups (Islamist, far-right, far-left).

RAN H&SC ‒ Alienation vs integration
(Helsinki, 23-24 October)

The aim is to learn from experiences of social workers and health professionals working with people of a migrant or refugee background about how to safeguard them from push and pull factors leading to radicalisation or violent extremism.

The meeting will delve into risk factors and problems faced by health professionals, what they need to protect this target group from vulnerabilities leading to radicalisation, and how to work with prevention and treatment of mental health problems through an intercultural lens. Good practices will be shared in interactive sessions.

Member States Workshop on Islamist Extremism
(Rome, 24-25 October)

This workshop will review current trends, challenges and manifestations of Islamist extremism (IE). In addition, it will explore the specific contexts of participating MS. Each MS will briefly present an overview of the context, strategy and challenges regarding IE in their respective countries. The rest of the workshop will focus more on three selected topics. MS can introduce specific topics of interest, such as (online) recruitment tactics, the role of women in IE movements, local manifestations of IE groups, or other challenges specific to dealing with IE groups or movements.

Each topic will be introduced by an expert speaker and participants will then discuss and exchange experiences in smaller groups. MS will have an opportunity to exchange ideas on national, regional and local measures aimed at dealing with and responding to (violent) IE, and to identify challenges that require extra attention.

Policy & Practice event ‒ Evaluating impact of disengagement,
deradicalisation and resocialisation efforts (Madrid, 7 November)

Efforts and resources on P/CVE have increased throughout the EU over the last decade. Since challenges like the foreign terrorist fighters phenomenon appeared suddenly, the demand for putting interventions in place or even to develop them from scratch has been high. As the field is quite new, there is little experience about what works to prevent and counter violent extremism.

Now that approaches have been in place longer and are more institutionalised, the need to look at their outputs and outcomes through evaluation is recognised by policymakers, practitioners and researchers. The event will invite policymakers and practitioners to exchange experiences, challenges and insights that come with the evaluation of P/CVE interventions at different levels.

Preparation for this year’s Plenary and High Level Conference are underway. Both events will invite RAN members and participants to meet and discuss the main achievements and challenges ahead, as well as the scope for further action or improvements in the RAN work.

These events also ensure feedback by practitioners to the policy level (e.g. in terms of experiences and lessons learned, highlighting needs for intervention and support), as well as feedback by the policy level to practitioners (e.g. in terms of political priorities and available support mechanisms). Attendance at both events is by invitation only.

RAN Plenary (Brussels, 30 October)

The Plenary will invite RAN practitioners to help forge a path to be followed from 2020 onwards by discussing, sharing and expressing ideas on (new) relevant themes and topics in the field of P/CVE. Hence, connections, synergies and cross-overs will be encouraged between the Working Group constituencies.

This year’s Plenary is exceptional in its character. As of 2020, the Commission will conclude new contracts regulating the support of the RAN from 2020 onwards. Therefore, the composition and topical focus of the Working Groups will be revised and new working methods will be introduced for the consolidation of first line practitioners’ know-how and expertise.

In preparation of the RAN Plenary and the above developments, a large number of practitioners who have attended past RAN meetings have been invited to share their views in a survey on the evaluation of existing working arrangements. They were invited to offer suggestions for improvement or additional actions of RAN with a view to be further discussed during the Plenary.

Outcomes of the Plenary will provide input for the RAN Annual Activity Plan for 2020.

RAN High Level Conference (Brussels, 4 November)

The High Level Conference will bring together practitioners, policymakers, high-ranking officials and the European Commission to discuss ways forward regarding responses to continued and emerging challenges in the field of radicalisation, violent extremism and terrorism.

This year, the HLC will feature the screening of Le Jeune Ahmed, a movie by Belgian film directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. The drama film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2019. It tells the story of a 13-year-old boy who becomes radicalised. Issues identified in the film will form the basis for discussion about the possible responses and recommendations in the field of prevention of radicalisation, from the perspectives of both practitioners and policymakers. Both directors will also be present at the conference.

We are pleased to share with you our first video of the year! It’s based on a fictional case study. We invited RAN practitioners, working in the mental health field, to review and provide practical feedback and advice.

In recent years, practitioners working in the field of P/CVE have pointed to a potential link between mental health disorders on one side and radicalisation on the other.

Click here to watch the video.

Antje Götz-Bungarten is a psychologist at the Bavarian Criminal State Police Office (Germany) and works in a special section against radicalisation. The most challenging part of her job is that the patients are not asking for help. Learn how she overcomes these difficulties.

Listen to the podcast here.

RAN Policy & Practice Workshop – Narratives and Strategies of Far-Right and Islamist Extremists

This paper is written for both policymakers and first-line practitioners engaging or dealing with violent far-right extremists and Islamist extremists.

RAN RVT The role of victims in strengthening social cohesion after a period of violence

This paper explores several possible fields, such as media, communities and policy, to work in or collaborate with to encourage the involvement of victims to promote social cohesion.

RAN EDU Making a difference: the dissemination and implementation of RAN EDU lessons for PVE-E

This paper’s intended readers are those seeking policy recommendations and practical guidelines to help teachers and others in education to contribute to prevention of violent extremism through education (PVE-E).

RAN P&P and RAN EXIT Building Bridges

Exit workers and probation officers both work with terrorist and violent extremist offenders, but are too often still working separately. This paper aims to propose solutions to overcome these differences and find a common ground to work together.

RAN EDU Academy Far-right extremism in the classroom

How to deal with FRE at school? This paper gives an understanding of the online FRE subculture and proposes responses on how to create a safe classroom environment.

Stijn Sieckelinck (1980, Belgium) is a senior researcher at the Institute for Societal Resilience at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Coordinator of the expert lab on Resilient Identities, he holds a PhD in Social Educational Theory.

Research and consultancy interests lie in the broad field of education, governance and professionalisation, with a particular focus on radicalisation, conflict resolution and citizenship education. He is the author of Transforming schools into labs for democracy.

2020 Conference: crossing boundaries to build resilience

The imperative to understand and address violent radicalisation is brought into stark relief by recent world events, with attacks against a demonised “other” being a tragically prevalent feature of our news cycles. Yet, it is clear that reactive security measures will never be sufficient to address the issues at hand. It is in this light that, in 2016, the EU ministers responsible for youth affairs agreed on exploring a pedagogical approach to understanding and tackling violent radicalisation, as evidenced in Stephens,

Sieckelinck and Boutellier (2019), ‘Preventing violent extremism: A review of the literature’, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism.

Recently, researchers began exploring the efforts of practitioners and policymakers to build resilience to violent extremism and polarisation. This research has examined formal and non-formal contexts of upbringing and civic education, and has supported a diverse range of practices in their efforts to build resilience, in collaboration with local partners. The extensive experiences generated by such grassroots practices in Europe and beyond has given rise to valuable insights and pointed to important challenges.

See, for example, Stephens and Sieckelinck (2019), ‘Being resilient to radicalisation in PVE policy: A critical examination’, Critical Studies on Terrorism.

At the same time, policymakers have been taking diverse approaches in trying to address this issue. The conference ‘Crossing boundaries to build resilience’ provided an opportunity to learn from this collective experience, and to meet around the questions and challenges facing practitioners and policymakers alike. Crossing boundaries is a central theme in this endeavour: bringing together diverse practitioners and policymakers, the challenges, and successes, of collaborating across disciplines and sectors will be examined along the lines of this most recent (forthcoming) paper: Stephens and Sieckelinck (forthcoming),

‘Working across boundaries in preventing violent extremism: Towards a typology for collaborative arrangements in PVE policy’, Journal for Deradicalisation.

At the same time, it will seek to push the boundaries of our ideas about prevention: what is the potential of a preventive outlook? What are the limits of such an outlook? Can the initial phase of radicalisation be approached more affirmatively than a preventive outlook currently allows?

To address these questions together, a unique international conference will be organised on 16-17 April 2020 in Amsterdam, hosted by the Vrije Universiteit and aimed at professionals, policymakers and researchers in the interdisciplinary subfield of Preventing Violent Extremism. Do you feel like you are able to make a valuable contribution? Save the date and sign up.

The full calendar for 2019 is available online.

If you are interested in attending a forthcoming RAN meeting, please contact the appropriate RAN Centre of Excellence staff member. Check the RAN website for a full list of contacts by working group.

The RAN Centre of Excellence is implemented by RadarEurope, which is a subsidiary of the RadarGroup:

RAN Centre of Excellence

Veemarkt 83

NL - 1019 DB Amsterdam

The Netherlands

TEL: +31 (0) 204635050 (office)

Email: ran@radaradvies.nl

Website: ec.europa.eu/ran