Anti-government protests broke out in Iran for the third day running on Saturday (December 30) as separate state-sponsored rallies were staged to mark the end of unrest that shook the country in 2009, according to Iranian news agencies and state media.

Social media postings showed protests in the capital’s streets, including crowds gathered outside Tehran University and dumpsters set on fire.

Openly political protests are rare in the Islamic Republic, where security services are omnipresent but there is considerable discontent over high unemployment, inflation and alleged graft.

Some of the new protests have turned political over issues including Iran’s costly involvement in regional conflicts such as those in Syria and Iraq.

LONDON: The latest wave of terror attacks across Europe has drawn the spotlight on popular platforms being used as a recruiting tool for groups like Daesh to spread their message of hate and recruit young extremists with increasingly sophisticated narratives.

As the front lines of conflict extend from the Middle East to the streets of Europe, media is becoming an increasingly important weapon of war.

The youngest of the perpetrators that carried out last month’s attacks on the busy tourist-filled streets of Barcelona was just 17 years old.

That has led many observers, from academia to the security services, to ask what is driving young people into the arms of terror groups?

According to those trying to combat online extremism, the nature of the content used by groups such as Daesh is forever becoming more sophisticated, with high production values, conveying messages and an ideology that seem to connect to vulnerable youths.

But while social media companies are becoming quicker to close down accounts preaching violence, the extremists are equally quick to open another or find a platform that better serves their needs — such as being able to send encrypted messages.

“They will move from one platform to another depending on where they can operate with least resistance and best outreach,” said Rashad Ali, resident senior fellow from the UK think tank, the Institute of Strategic Dialogue.

“Media consumed is a mixture of short high impact videos, concentrated sermons, memes and online echo chambers reinforcing their ideas and breeding hatred through accentuating the grievance narratives and increasing a sense of victimhood, and superficial fundamentalist appropriation of scripture,” he said.

Fiyaz Mughal, the director and founder of the UK-based community action group Faith Matters, which works to counter extremism, said the quality of media in terms of production, is improving and therefore helping it find a wider audience.

“It is much cleverer. It is done with plots, it is done with themes. It is cleverly thought-out, and essentially it is really well-structured. The industry of extremism has effectively taken root,” he said.

The content of the videos posted is also evolving, according to the international non-profit organization, the Counter Terrorism Project (CTP).

While Daesh videos continue to be violent, often depicting victorious military campaigns, some content has “shifted away from an emphasis on the physical caliphate to stressing the need to fight until death and punish opponents,” according to CTP’s executive director David Ibsen.

He said that videos are beginning to be less about promoting the “wonders” of the utopian caliphate, but rather opting to portray Daesh and its supporters as victims.

Daesh has also begun to more actively encourage its supporters, via online platforms, to carry out more attacks in the West, Russia and parts of the Middle East – rather than calling for new recruits to travel to Iraq or Syria, the NGO said.

Due to the availability of a range of extremist online content, the process of radicalization has also evolved, according to Mughal.
“The extremism journey has changed from 5 to 10 years ago. It had previously involved group radicalization, involving peer-mentor radicalization where individuals would radicalize others and they’d work to reinforce each other’s views as a collective or small group What we find today is that most of it happens with singular individuals going online. There has been a fundamental change in the process,” he said.

He explains that individuals now tend to go online to search for material themselves, rather than being directed to it by a peer. “It is a process of self-radicalization right now,” he said.

There are inevitably a multitude of reasons that motivate people to search out extreme online content, although a common underlying thread seems to be a lack of connection with their community and a lack of a sense of identity.

“The issues, though, are broadly speaking a sense of political grievance, social disenfranchisement, whether that is created by either their political environment and protagonists or recruiters or acquired through their life experiences, personal search for belonging and identity and group connection — am I really British or European or Moroccan or do I have a supra-Islamic identity that makes me part of a global diaspora with a global mission,” Ali said.

Similarly, Mughal notes that there are certain characteristics that may make an individual more susceptible. “Many have existing elements of vulnerability, trauma, instability in their lives,” he said.

He called for more effort to be made to detect those who might be most vulnerable. “We need early education intervention, we need the ability to work out whether people are vulnerable in schools, colleges and universities to this kind of material and are vulnerable to being manipulated.”

In the UK, the government has set up an initiative called Prevent — which forms part of its wider counter-terrorism strategy — that aims to work with Muslim communities to assess who might be vulnerable to radicalization, and provides practical help to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.

It is a scheme that has been criticized by some who say it could potentially vilify Muslim communities and encourage people to spy on others within their own community.

Mughal rejects these claims. “On a personal basis, I have seen lives saved by the government’s counter extremism agenda,” he said. “Yet, where we have had to be critical because of overreactions in schools to Muslim pupils and through poor decision making around safeguarding that has affected such students, we have done so in a timely and robust fashion,” he said.

There are also organizations such as the UK-based JAN Trust which set up a program called Web Guardians, which works with Muslim women — often mothers — to tackle online extremism in an effort to prevent more young people becoming radicalized.

However, the battle against radicalization also requires social media companies to play a role, as a spokesperson from JAN said: “We have seen and experienced that terrorism affects all irrespective of a person’s background and religion and hence other sectors, not just the public sector, should recognize the need to support the work to tackle extremism. By this I mean the private sector and social media companies who can look to provide resources and funding.”

Social media companies have taken steps toward tackling the problem. For instance, Facebook launched its online Civil Courage Initiative in the UK earlier this year which, among other measures, includes setting up a dedicated desk at Facebook to deal with concerns.

The Counter Extremism Project wants to see more being done to make platforms that allow encrypted messages, such as the online messaging system Telegram, tackle online extremism. “Telegram has become one of the most important platforms for spreading extremist content in 2017. Telegram serves as a major aggregator for extremist content from these and other sites,” said Ibsen.

There are also calls for social media companies to be as vigilant about extremist far-right groups using their platforms as they are about Islamist groups.

“When ministers speak to social media platforms, you’ll find they mostly say ‘you need to tackle Islamist extremists’. It would be nice for ministers to say to social media platforms, that you need to deal with extremism from extreme far-right groups too — because that resets in the minds of some Muslims the reality that there are other forms of extremism,” said Mughal.

Facebook did not respond to requests for comment, while YouTube directed Arab News to an Aug. 1 blog post by the company which outlined its latest efforts to combat online extremism, including using more advanced technology to identify and take down offending material.

“We promptly take down any terrorist content that is reported to us — all Telegram apps have built-in reporting functions and we also accept reports over email. Each day we take down an average of 200 terrorism-related channels before they can get any traction,” said Markus Ra, a spokesperson for Telegram, in a statement.

Pope Francis in his year-end message urged leaders on Saturday to do more to tackle youth unemployment, saying a generation was being lost to desperation, migration and joblessness.

At his last public event of 2016, an evening vespers service in St. Peter’s Basilica, the 80-year-old Francis said doors had to be opened for young people “so that they can be capable of dreaming and fighting for their dreams”.

“We have condemned our young people to have no place in society, because we have slowly pushed them to the margins of public life, forcing them to migrate or to beg for jobs that no longer exist or fail to promise them a future,” he said in his homily.

Youth joblessness in Italy stands at more than 36 percent and tops 18 percent among the 28 European Union states.

In Africa, the continent with the world’s youngest population, youth unemployment probably increased in 2016, and was near 30 percent in North Africa, according to the International Labour Organization.

Poverty and lack of opportunity in Africa is driving migration, particularly to Europe. Almost 5,000 men, women and children died attempting to reach Europe by boat from North Africa in 2016.

Among the more than 181,000 boat migrants – mostly African – who reached Italy in 2016, 25,000 were unaccompanied minors, double the number who came in 2015.

At the end of the service, Francis walked across St. Peter’s Square, stopping to shake hands and pose for pictures, as he paid a brief visit to the life-size nativity set up outside.

On Jan. 1, the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics will say a Mass to mark the Church’s World Day of Peace.

We received this report from a Muslim female who has had problems with anti-social behaviour from young teenagers in her street. The issue continues to build even though she has reported the incident to the police and with no action to date. We will no doubt, make contact with her local force and explain the impacts on her and this latest incident.

Over the last few months, the group of young people damaged various wing mirrors of cars in her street and the harassment has continued with the teenagers knocking on her door, making racial and anti-Muslim slurs and then running away when she opens the door. This has continued for some time and is escalating.

Today, this was scrawled outside her house. Clearly visible is a Nazi Swastika and it has been targeted at her Muslim identity. This example shows that if perpetrators are not effectively stopped earlier on, they will continue to raise the bar on their actions.

This individual approached us and we will be acting on her behalf and advocating for her with the police. It is still shocking to see such symbolism drawn on our streets by young people, when so many died tackling fascism.

The post How Nazi Ideology is Associated in Minds with Being Against Other Races or People appeared first on TELL MAMA.

We received this report from a Muslim female who has had problems with anti-social behaviour from young teenagers in her street. The issue continues to build even though she has reported the incident to the police and with no action to date. We will no doubt, make contact with her local force and explain the impacts on her and this latest incident.

Over the last few months, the group of young people damaged various wing mirrors of cars in her street and the harassment has continued with the teenagers knocking on her door, making racial and anti-Muslim slurs and then running away when she opens the door. This has continued for some time and is escalating.

Today, this was scrawled outside her house. Clearly visible is a Nazi Swastika and it has been targeted at her Muslim identity. This example shows that if perpetrators are not effectively stopped earlier on, they will continue to raise the bar on their actions.

This individual approached us and we will be acting on her behalf and advocating for her with the police. It is still shocking to see such symbolism drawn on our streets by young people, when so many died tackling fascism.

The post How Nazi Ideology is Associated in Minds with Being Against Other Races or People appeared first on TELL MAMA.

We received this report from a Muslim female who has had problems with anti-social behaviour from young teenagers in her street. The issue continues to build even though she has reported the incident to the police and with no action to date. We will no doubt, make contact with her local force and explain the impacts on her and this latest incident.

Over the last few months, the group of young people damaged various wing mirrors of cars in her street and the harassment has continued with the teenagers knocking on her door, making racial and anti-Muslim slurs and then running away when she opens the door. This has continued for some time and is escalating.

Today, this was scrawled outside her house. Clearly visible is a Nazi Swastika and it has been targeted at her Muslim identity. This example shows that if perpetrators are not effectively stopped earlier on, they will continue to raise the bar on their actions.

This individual approached us and we will be acting on her behalf and advocating for her with the police. It is still shocking to see such symbolism drawn on our streets by young people, when so many died tackling fascism.

The post How Nazi Ideology is Associated in Minds with Being Against Other Races or People appeared first on TELL MAMA.

We received this report from a Muslim female who has had problems with anti-social behaviour from young teenagers in her street. The issue continues to build even though she has reported the incident to the police and with no action to date. We will no doubt, make contact with her local force and explain the impacts on her and this latest incident.

Over the last few months, the group of young people damaged various wing mirrors of cars in her street and the harassment has continued with the teenagers knocking on her door, making racial and anti-Muslim slurs and then running away when she opens the door. This has continued for some time and is escalating.

Today, this was scrawled outside her house. Clearly visible is a Nazi Swastika and it has been targeted at her Muslim identity. This example shows that if perpetrators are not effectively stopped earlier on, they will continue to raise the bar on their actions.

This individual approached us and we will be acting on her behalf and advocating for her with the police. It is still shocking to see such symbolism drawn on our streets by young people, when so many died tackling fascism.

The post How Nazi Ideology is Associated in Minds with Being Against Other Races or People appeared first on TELL MAMA.

The latest circular from the extremist far right group, Britain First, can only be described as intimidating and more worryingly, where minors are being used to promote this extremist far right group.

The circular which was sent to subscribers makes the usual call for ‘donations’ and openly suggests that far right Britain First sympathisers are

“happy to go into the most militant Muslim areas and carry out dangerous Britain First operations.”

Are these the same ‘militant Muslim areas’ that has seen them previously go into the boroughs of Waltham Forest and Tower Hamlets and stand outside the East London mosque, whilst posturing and being abusive to worshippers? To describe Tower Hamlets as a ‘militant Muslim area’ shows how deluded this group has become and how they are part of the problem and not a solution for communities in our country.

The bulletin goes onto highlight a video of Paul Golding undertaking a ‘self defence’ class and with the bulletin suggesting that,

“our activists have stood in the face of mad Muslims and crazed leftists.”

This extremist group simply seems to have forgotten that its actions have been instrumental in creating fear and counter-extremism in some areas.

However, there are two elements in the circular bulletin that are deeply worrying. The first is that two young girls are shown wearing the extremist far right sweatshirts of Britain First. This is deeply worrying and raises into question safeguarding issues. We will no doubt be passing on the pictures to the relevant authorities, given that young children are included in material related to this extremist far right group.

The bulletin goes onto suggest that Britain First will be providing martial arts training to its activists in Krav Maga and Thai boxing. The end of the bulletin makes a chilling call showing the extremist far right rhetoric and mindset of this group. It states,

“The fact is that our people are not breeding.”

“The situation is only going to have one outcome: civil war.”

Given that Britain First is becoming more militant and aggressive in the make-up of its material, we urge authorities to continue to look carefully at this material and to act against the group where appropriate. The only thing that will make ‘Britain First’ globally is hard work, communities working together for a better social and economic future and where citizens value and safeguard our collective safety. Groups like this are a hindrance to these laudable objectives and simply serve their own deluded extremist ideologies.

The post Britain First Electronic Bulletin Shows Young Girls Promoting Far Right Material appeared first on TELL MAMA.

Islamic State’s Al Hayat Media Arm is an Ongoing Risk to Young People: Social Media Activity Over the Last Week Highlights the Release of a High Quality Video Which Plays on Religious Symbolism, Identity & History

News of the Walthamstow based Zahera Tariq allegedly travelling to Syria to join IS, possibly highlights the propaganda pull of the so-called Islamic State on small sections the British Muslim population.

This news comes on the back of significant on-line activity by the Islamic State’s media arm, the Al Hayat media centre, which has been producing high definition short videos that have played on themes of identity, purpose and belonging. Social media accounts run by Islamic State sympathisers have been heavily active over the last week promoting Al-Hayat’s video which has been circulated in Arabic and in numerous languages.

The most recent video show Islamic armies on horseback, pushing viewers to buy into a sense of history, honour and supposedly a place where they can be part of a collective movement. This collectivisation of experience is fundamental to virtually every video that the Al-Hayat media agency puts out. For example, pictures show individuals holding up the IS flag whilst on horseback attempting to portray the Islamic State as the ‘protectors’ and ‘defenders’ of Islam.

Recently, IS sympathisers and activists have been hijacking well recognised and circulated hashtag’s to introduce a short trailer stating that the Islamic State will soon release a video. The video, again in high definition and cut with a variety of excerpts, pick up on the themes of ‘a prophecy’ and ‘revelations’. The trailer which has been significantly circulated on social media Twitter and Facebook accounts plays on a sense of chivalry and history and attempts to portray to the viewer that the Islamic State should be trusted in their message whilst other groups and governments are morally corrupt. The video also highlights the Islamic dinar and the reason for this is get viewers to buy into the legitimacy of the movement.

Commenting on this development of a major new set of video releases by the Al-Hayat media agency, the Director of Faith Matters, Fiyaz Mughal OBE stated:

“The quality and the messaging of Islamic State videos are shocking given the way that they are put together. The videos are in high definition, extremely well edited and they play on symbolism that is specifically meant to target young people. From videos produced by the Al-Hayat video centre, the media arm of Islamic State, the key people that they are targeting are young people and this is a real threat given that some may believe in the legitimacy of the group simply because of the well-developed and very high quality videos.

Furthermore, the sense of collectivism and collective action that is pushed by such videos tries to bind in the viewer that they can be part of a wider movement, as though young people can make social change by being part of the group. The propaganda material is very well thought out and there is a real and ongoing risk in the sense that this material is simply grooming young people to come to an area where they will die in combat or die because they are targeted. Let us also not forget that Al Qaeda realised the importance of the internet in 2003 and they have spent the last 12 years refining the delivery of their messaging on-line. They are fighting a cyber-propaganda war and their material is very pervasive. We have to remain vigilant for the safeguarding of young people given this heightened activity on-line.”