Extremist ideologies and Polarization

Prepared by the researche : Ammar Sharaan – Head of the  Democratic Arabic Center

Democratic Arabic Center

 

Introduction

We will deal with the subject of “extremist ideologies and polarization”. This subject is of vital importance in the current time, as the risks of extremism and terrorism in Europe and the world have increased and spread, especially with the emergence of the Islamic State Organization in Iraq and Syria (ISOIS) or the so-called ‘’Da’ish’’, and the spread of the extremist  ideologies that recruit the young people and make them join the extremist and terrorist organization, but what is the most serious is the accession of the young people from the countries of the European Union and fighting in its ranks, and the return of some of them from violent hotbeds of tension dominated by that organization to the European countries. This cast a shadow on the various aspects of security, political, social, cultural, economic development in different European countries. Thus, the threat of extremist groups that commit acts of violence and terrorism is considered a great danger and threat to society. This requires the concerted efforts of all Governments and societies to confront and remove this nightmare which will continue in the foreseeable future because of the existence of the environments that contribute to the emergence and growth of extremist ideology, which would lead to social disorder and lack of confidence in Governments, minorities living in various European countries, and illegal immigrants and refugees. This leads to an increase in violent social tensions and a growing discourse of mutual hatred towards others, conflicts and violence, which will also affect the social fabric and cohesion of European societies; therefore, this project will concentrate on the concept of violence, extremism and terrorism, their relationship with each other, the factors of attraction and pushing causes toward extremist ideologies, how to use traditional and modern means of communication in the polarization toward extremism, some European experiences, projects and strategies to counter the extremist ideological polarization within the European states and societies, and then providing insights, proposals, and solutions that will contribute to the reduction of extreme ideological polarization within the European Communities

• The Project Plan

1. The concepts and implications of extremism, violence and terrorism

• 2.The driving factors and causes towards extremist trends and ideologies
• 3.The attractive factors and community polarization cases within Europe 
• 4. Interrelationship between the various extremist ideologies

5. How extremist ideologies and behaviors associated with it affect the social fabric, linkages, and cohesion in European societies

6. The impact of traditional and new media and political rhetoric

7. The assessment of European experiences on dealing with extremist ideologies and polarization, and societal tendencies toward extremism within Europe

8. The initiatives and solutions on the best practices to mitigate the polarization within the European countries and communities

1. The concepts and implications of extremism, violence and terrorism

We will try to familiarize ourselves with the various concepts that are related to each other, and recognizing them is considered as one the objectives of this project

– Extremism: is defined as intensity and excessive use of something, or it is the maximum direction or the end in particular positions. When it is said that an action is extreme, it means that this action would be to the greatest extent, by this is meant to exceed the limit and the amount.  When a person reaches a certain idea or attitude without tolerance or flexibility, is said to be an extremist person in his attitude and belief, or in his political, religious and national doctrine. The Extremism has emerged in many countries of the world in terms of various issues including: the religious and political, doctrinal and intellectual, national and other ones

The religious extremism means the rigidity and inflexibility and exceeding the limit, it is beyond moderation; as the religious extremism that is based on fanaticism constitutes a kind of negative thoughts and feelings such as hatred and antipathy

There are many manifestations of extremism to include all acts that go out of moderation by practicing some images of extremist behavior. The intolerance of opinion, not recognizing the other opinion, strictness in doing religious duties, and the hatred of minority nationalities in all societies are manifestations of extremism

The issue of extremism and terrorism is one of the most controversial topics of interest in the contemporary world, especially after the events of 11 September 2001, which was attributed to any phenomenon that was without justification. Therefore, the determination of the relationship between terrorism and extremism is an issue that is relatively easy because of their common use as synonyms of one meaning, so the distinction between them is necessary

In a more comprehensive view of the concept of extremism, according to some sources, “all that leads to breaking away from the intellectual norms, values, norms and behavioral methods common in society, expressed in isolation, negativism and withdrawal, or adopting different values ​​and standards, may be advocated towards violence in the form of individual or organized collective behavior, with the aim of bringing about a change in society and imposing a strong opinion on others’’. With this description, there is not better than networks and means of social communication to violate the values, and expressing and advocating these violations through audio broadcasting, texts and films, and making noise to express the ideas that their owner sees as important to the people

The extremism, in accordance with cultural and ideological concepts, “may shift from mere thought to apparent behavior or political action, which usually resorts to the use of violence as a means to achieve the principles of extremist thought, or to resort to psychological, material or intellectual terrorism against everything that stands in the way of achieving those Principles and ideas which advocate this extremist ideology”. Extremism is also associated with many terms, such as intolerance

According to scientific definitions, extremism is associated with the English word “dogmatism”, ie, rigidity, dogmatic persistence, and mental closure. Extremism in this sense is a closed method of thinking characterized by an inability to accept or tolerate any beliefs that differ from the beliefs of a person or group.

Through what has been cited above, cyber extremism can be defined as: “the activities of the employment of the Internet, mobile phones and electronic services associated with the dissemination, transmission, reception and construction of sites and services that facilitate the transmission, and promotion of intellectual materials that feed intellectual extremism, especially which are incited to violence by any movement, person or group that adopts, encourages or finances anything that would expand the promotion of such activities”

– Violence:  Violence is the behavior or act of aggression emanating from a party that may be an individual, group or social class for the purpose of exploiting or subordinating the other party, in the context of an unequal economic and political power relationship, causing significant moral and psychological harm to an individual, group, class or Other State

Violence in its general sense is a form of coercion, whether economic, political or military, against a person and motivate him to act under pressure. Violence is merely an attempt to impose a certain attitude or behavior on an individual or group by means of pressure and intimidation

– Terrorism:  is an act of violence or intimidation regardless of its motives and purposes. Terrorism is the implementation of an individual or collective criminal project, which aims to terrorize people and endanger their lives or security. Terrorism also harms the environment, public or private facilities or properties, misappropriates or jeopardizes a national resource

–Terrorist groups: Terrorist groups are defined as: “extremist armed groups carrying religious, sectarian, doctrinal or ethnic slogans that incite violence, extremism and terrorism”

Terrorism as an act of violence and intimidation requires an external manifestation of terrorist behavior, whereas extremism is a matter of the person’s own thought or manifestation of behavior. Accordingly, extremism is in the circle of thought, but if this thought turns into violent patterns behavior and assault on freedoms, property or lives or the formation of armed organizations to confront others.  Here extremism turns into terrorism

Extremism is linked to the closure and fanaticism of opinion and the rejection and hatred of the other. The extremist can be an individual or a group that views the society as negative. This extremist does not believe in the multiplicity of opinions and ideas and the multiplicity of viewpoints. He rejects dialogue and coexistence with it and its ideas, and he does not show his willingness to change his views. But, he goes beyond that to the excommunication of the others religiously and politically

The danger of extremism increases as it shifts from thought, belief and theoretical perception to a tendency towards extreme practices and behaviors expressed in a material way by means of violence such as killing and bombing to achieve objectives

The phenomenon of religious extremism or religious fanaticism is a social phenomenon that mixes with the concept of terrorism. The basis of this phenomenon is the deviation of religious thought, which is not restricted to a particular religion, but it can be an Islamic or Christian extremism. Thus, extremism represents an intellectual and ideological deviation that is based on the interpretation of specific religious beliefs

* Youth recruitment and polarization: there is a broader concept of the term “recruitment”, whose framework and credibility are derived from the reality in many countries of the world that suffer from this phenomenon: “Gathering and attracting persons, or using them voluntarily or willingly to join and prepare them materially and mentally to serve some terrorist groups, engage in their illegal activities ,and instruct them to undertake various actions that serve the interests of those groups and achieve their objectives”

The term ‘recruitment’ is also defined as a systematic process of re-educating young people. It is considered to be an effective method of formation and a compelling method of persuasion. It is not done in passing ways, but it is presented to young people through stages and according to the conditions and demands of the young man himself. In this way, the young man finds himself motivated to engage in these acts of terrorism, with full freedom of choice. The terrorist and extremist groups use some techniques of forced persuasion, so that the young man becomes flexible and obedient to the leader of the extremist and terrorist group, and thinks and practices like other members of the group. The preparation process of formation is based on psychological principles governing human behavior

2.The driving factors and causes towards extremist trends and ideologies

– The large right-wing parties in Europe adopt radical and extremist discourse and the emphasis on the national one, which goes beyond the interest of the state in which they are active to formulate imperialist, regional or religious expansionist demands. The concept of nationalism begins here from an ethnic-racial or religious perspective. Within this context, the idea of ​​citizenship tends to be on the basis of blood connection; and the national discourse of these parties is characterized by the formulation of aggression and exclusionism which reveals a chauvinistic nature, and relying on the idea of ​​historical selection

– The spread of right-wing extremist activities against Islam, immigrants, and Unified European policies

They portray and describe Muslims as a source of threat to Western Christian and democratic European life. This has fueled and spread a culture based mainly on the fear of foreigners, particularly a foreign Muslim, whom the extreme right has always envisioned as an enemy of the European community that hosted him, and that he is looking for opportunities to impose his culture and style, and that he threatens the European citizens in their employment opportunities and absorbs their savings by means of material aid and facilitation. In addition to this, this foreign Muslim plans to drain the savings of the European citizen by doubling the number of his children, in the contrast of the European families with limited numbers of children. All this pushes the voters to believe that the Muslims are planning to colonize Europe, and vote for the most extreme right-wing parties as a result

With the rise of extreme right-wing political trends, the influence of political parties has increased the ideological slogans and programs, continued to play on the strings of national emotions and fear of foreigners. Although these parties do not neglect to publicly condemn the policy of violence and outlaw, their policies create an atmosphere that feeds hostility and generates extremists, some of them believe that it is their personal duty to alert their citizens to what they think is a cancer that must be eradicated

– The crisis of identity and citizenship to immigrants

The situation of exclusion pushes some the descendants of Arab origins to search for the identity of an alternative citizenship. They sometimes find it in religion, which only turns into a means and an appearance. In other words, to highlight the difference through some aspects such as the launch of the beard, or wearing Afghan dress or veil. Due to the absence of a proper religious culture and low cultural level, some of them fall into the hands of some radical Islamic-oriented satellite channels or some websites that encourage terrorism. These sites are considered Europe as ‘’the land of disbelief’’. Thus, these young Arab-European people are filled with thought that has no objective connection to the true jihadist ideology, and some of them go to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, or Syria for the purpose of ‘jihad’

-Extremism as the product of the environment

The environment in which the perpetrators are based is a fundamental basis for shaping trends, attitudes and preparations. From this perspective, extremism is a product of the difficult conditions in which individuals live, including poverty, ignorance, denial of education, health services, non-objective media, etc.  These conditions represent the absence of basic needs: the need for security, dignity, identity or belonging, political participation, as well as a sense of marginalization and humiliation, and a continuing sense of widening the gap between what individuals deserve and what they receive, in particular the sense of blocking legitimate channels which are morally acceptable to satisfy needs.

– Extremism as a result of frustration

The experience of persecution, insecurity, humiliation, marginalization, and contempt encourage to adopt hostile attitudes and trends to solve the problems they face. Thus, those with extremist ideologies resort to strategies based on violence and destruction, not only because they are suitable for other objectives, but because they feel that they are the most appropriate, justified, and revengeful above all. When an individual receives encouragement from the community for his extreme action as an appropriate response to feelings of frustration, this encourages him to persist in his extremist behavior, and reinforced by his belief that he is right

– Extremism is the product of catastrophic ideologies

Extremism is often associated with the spread of catastrophic ideologies that predict the annihilation of the world. Extremism is really considered as an ideal tool for expressing those ideologies. Extremist practices and actions are often embedded in mythological and general thought patterns. Such ideologies are based on the tragic and inevitable end of the evil forces (other groups) and the triumph of truth (dominant group). In this way, they emphasize that the destruction of the other is necessary and important. These intellectual patterns depend on the binaries of Good and Evil, the need for self-purification, the divine sanction for horrific violence, and the characterization of martyrdom as a self-purification and justice.  The youth are often brought up in families, peers, local groups, media, politicians, and educational systems such as schools of Islamic groups in Pakistan or closed Christian communities in Europe and America

3.The attractive factors and community polarization cases within Europe

From a practical point of view, it is preferable to focus on the Arab world as the preferred defendant of the Western circles and even of some Arab regimes themselves with regard to the growth of extremism. In fact, the extremist ideologies and polarization are the result of two successive processes: the weakening of society by authoritarian regimes and the polarization process. Referring to these two processes, it is appropriate not to consider them as a point of view, but to be considered as the opposite side of the topic since It can not be assumed that the Islamic organizations in addition to the organization of the Islamic state (Which in any case is questionable as an Islamic organization from the ground as some observers are likely to be a component of the Black Water mercenaries), which is ambiguous both in its inception or in the objectives it seeks to achieve by Its fighting operations. This organization has the ability of polarizing more than the ability of the society itself with its heritage, traditions, customs and laws to attract these extremists before reaching extremism. Without doubt, there is something wrong that reduces the ability of society to maintain its equilibrium, as in the period of time between the transfer of any member of the society from a state of equilibrium with the traditions and laws of society and reaching the state of extremism. This really tests the capabilities of organizations marked by terrorism to attract individual or group members of society, as well as the capabilities of the state and society to prevent them from attraction or take them back. In principle, if the organizations that are marked with terrorism succeed in the process of polarization, that will the beginning of forming an extremist organization. This must be an unquestionable fact that the capacities of society and the State together or one of them are less capable than these “terrorist” or “extremist” organizations of keeping the individual or group of members of the society socially, religiously and culturally integrated into society and as an integral part of its fabric.  it is necessary to put them back within the scope of the attractiveness of society after the reform of the imbalances and weaknesses in society and the state as well.  It is not possible to imagine or assume that the leak of a group of individuals or a sector of society, and they go towards a dissident society for hostility based on extreme thought, sometimes to the extent of using weapons to intimidate the community.  This negative attitude can not be without justification or cause or motives

In fact, there are many problems that limit the ability of authoritarian regimes – which by their very nature are a factory and storehouse for the production of extremism in all its forms – In principle, these regimes consider that those who are against them, whether they are individuals, groups, or organizations formed within society without external influences or interference, as terrorists by nature even though their activity is purely political. It is necessary for these regimes to follow this rule strictly and to issue these sweeping provisions, and that they have been able to adapt their security and justice services to serve them, not the service of the society. They can, in this case, remove this or that organization from the purely political sphere, and then tossed into the classification of criminal by considering some or all of these organizations “terrorist tendency”; and from here it is necessary to look at the issue of extremist ideologies as a two-way street in the sense that these extremist ideologies may be adopted by a group of citizens within a society, on the other hand you may find this system or that government also adopts an extremist ideology.  It is not acceptable for one to claim that authoritarian regimes that come purely military and portray themselves as illusory to others as a “revolution” or come up with rigged elections that violate the international standards of free and fair elections. It is then produced at the end a system of formality that comes with elections but in real terms does not reflect the total free will of this or that people. Hence, a cycle of extremism begins in the face of another extreme cycle in which some members of society may join an extremist organization or form an extremist and independent organization. But, the crucial question which I consider to be a key element in solving the problem of extremism is linked or unrelated to polarization, and the question is: Which of the two circles of extremism precede the other? Is a circle of extremism a part, a group, or groups of society, or a circle of extremism of the existing political system or governments? The answer to this dual question is not the intention to defend or acquit either of the two teams. In fact, one finds the act and the reaction they have produced is a reality outside the ordinary circle; and therefore, we are either a case of departure from the texts of human society and international human rights charters

Any theory of the national security of a state based on the comprehensive power of the state by preserving this power through its various institutions.  The national security theory remains solid and cohesive and wrapped around it voluntarily members of society. On the contrary, the decline of the state’s overall power weakens the institutions of the state and does not perform its tasks in a manner that ensures the balance between them and the members of society, and between them and their society. Therefore, this situation is expected to lose the state’s political and economic well-being and its impact on the internal and external environment

The balance situation between society and state and its components is not envisioned to be an ideal, but it is often a realistic case in the sense that in the logical order states are formed after the formation of the society, and then the States after their formation with the will and consent of the society or the so-called “people”, establish some laws that are consistent with the foundations, components, history, traditions and religion of this society and meet its economic requirements and provide security and defend it. If the state does not fulfill this social responsibility, the alternative – in the case of tyrannical states – is either a popular revolution, armed rebellion, or ideological splits which can be political or religious. The question in this case is: Can a state with its authoritarian regime deal rationally with these splits? The logical answer: Of course not, so we are facing a dilemma, we are in front of the equation whose parts activate their components, and their negative factors are outside the usual and conventional and even potential, and by the nature of their hostility to each other they can not make major concessions. Therefore, it is necessary to find a major and influential external party in the international community that is acceptable for both of them to achieve the so-called compromising. Before discussing this point, it is more appropriate to explain the main reasons leading to the so-called polarization and / recruitment into armed or terrorist organizations which does not arise out of nothing, but they arise – as I mentioned earlier – from the state’s lack of balance and institutional professionalism, as the result of deviating from its tasks that serve and meet the demands of society to become an instrument in the service of a strong or weak despotic regime. The most important of these reasons are

1 -weakness and extinguishing the candles of religious science and fighting violently. The religion is considered as the main block in the identity of any society of the East, and erasing or weakening  it means the harm to the national security theory of these communities (Israel represents the opposite situation), for example, the coup d’etat of July 23, 1952 in Egypt did not only turn against the legitimate ruler  descendant of the Alawi family, Mohammed Ali Pasha, who founded the “modern Egypt,” but also turned against the established systems of modern Egypt that considered religious education as one of its pillars ( a kind of education which is not rejected in many Eastern and Western countries and in Israel). This education was represented in the Koranic schools, schools and institutions of Al-Azhar and the Islamic jurisprudence represented in the Shari’a courts which were adjudicating disputes concerning personal and family situations. All those institutions were subjected to governmental intervention not to strengthen their ability to perform their tasks in the traditional framework, but to try to reduce their ability to contribute positively in the community to cancel the Koran and not to recognize it as a preparatory stage of the Islamic schools belonging to Al-Azhar and other similar institutions in the Arab world. Moreover, the law of Al-Azhar was changed in Egypt, and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif came with a presidential nomination and not by the election, as if they did not grasp the idea of democracy even if it was in a circle far from the political and economic institutions of government. The same thing happened in Tunisia when “Zaytouna Univesity” was marginalized and fought by Bourkiba’ system. On the basis of these conditions, Al-Azhar and Zaytouna were marginalized and any Islamic institution resembling them in the Arab world, that was either directly weakening by means described as legal or cancellation. These destructive processes were taking place in full swing in the Arab world without awareness of their direct link strength and durability of identity which was considered as the primary pillar of Arab national security, especially in the light of the intensification of the Arab / Israeli conflict, which needed to strengthen religious identity and nurture it by positive and creative means. Within this context, Israel supported its Jewish religious identity and promoted the Jewish myths that prove its right to the so-called “Land of Israel.” One of the main reasons for the defeat of the Arab regimes in the Six Day War or 5 June 1967 was the denial of the Islamic religious identity to its peoples, which led the so-called comprehensive state power to a clear decline. You enter a war of at least 50% of the forces of either side based on defending Identity and proving it. This ratio unfortunately was owned by the Israeli opponent. Israel, despite what is said to be based on a vision of political Zionism, the unquestionable fact that it is a distinctly Jewish state. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Likud and religious parties have repeatedly declared their insistence that Israel is a Jewish state based on the affiliation and the religious thought of its population, and with any relevant project to the compromising of the Palestinian / Israeli conflict. That is, the State of Israel meets the ideological demand that makes the Government of Israel now and future government express the religion of its population and institutions. In contrast, a fierce attack from various parts of the Arab world and beyond against a common idea among the Arab population that the establishment of the state must be on Islamic grounds. In this respect, The PEW, an American Institute, conducted a survey published on April 30, 2013, noting that the percentage of those who believe that Islamic law is inspired by God Almighty is

81% in Jordan, 75% in Egypt, 75% in the Palestinian territories, 69% in Iraq, 66% in Morocco, 66% in Tunisia and 49% in Lebanon. It also indicated that 95% of Egyptians prefer to rely on Shari’a in deciding family disputes and ownership.  The percentage in Jordan was 93%, the Palestinian territories 80%, Iraq 76%, Lebanon 75% and Tunisia 62%. The percentage of those who believe that the Islamic law (Sharia) should be applied to Muslims and non-Muslims as follows: 86% in Iraq, 54% in Morocco, 41% in Jordan, Tunisia 40%, the Palestinian territories 39%, Egypt 39%, Lebanon 9%.  As for the percentage of those who believe that the applicable laws comply with Islamic law, they are in Iraq 86%, Morocco 54%, Jordan 41%, Tunisia 40%, the Palestinian territories 39%, Egypt 39% and Lebanon 9%. This survey and other neutral Western institutions can not be denied that they reflect a large area of ​​real reality that is contrary to the dominant trend in the Arab and Islamic world. There is no doubt that such a situation does not take into account the cultural components, religious identity, and traditions of the community if this is not considered a provocation and denial of reality. What will be considered then

You can not criticize or attack Jews and Judaism – which is indeed untenable – in the most democratic systems, but under the title of flexible freedom – you can criticize and attack and even ridicule Islam and Muslims with cartoons without being labeled anti-Semitic. So, you are in front of two criteria of freedom, one is narrow, and another is flexible. This is really a kind of provocation that is raised by intellectuals in the West, such as those who spoke about the clash of civilizations and those who spoke about the war on Islam. At the same time, the average Muslim in his cultural formation is asked to maintain his temper or discipline in his ideas, is not this all conducive to extremism

2. The collapse and deterioration of the educational system and its detachment from the body of society, and the intervention of some external powers in the formation of the educational mind of these communities, which is considered as a provocation to some. when the role model was one of the means of education for young people, it was in parallelism with the collapse of the educational process which degraded, distorted ,and insulted the good example represented by historical figures witnessed by Eastern and Western historians, such as the historical figure Sultan Salah al-Din who was deleted from the curricula of history in Egyptian schools as a “terrorist” and practitioner of violence, although he was facing armies of the tractor that came to occupy the Holy Land and its surroundings, the coasts of Syria, and Egypt later. The last of these armies was Napoleon Bonaparte, whose campaign on Egypt 1798 – 1801 was considered by some of the intellectuals as an enlightening campaign, although the first thing he did was to smash a statue The Sphinx. As to Sultan Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi, who was removed from the curricula of education, the American and French encyclopedias have indicated that ‘’ He dealt the Crusader states blows from which they never recovered’’ (SALADIN IN THE ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA. 1958 edition), and “united under his authority Egypt, Hijaz, Syria and Mesopotamia, and was a hero in the holy war, and in 1187 AD took over Jerusalem”(Petit Larausse 1983. Librairie Larausse), He was a Muslim warrior and the founder of the Ayyubid ruling state. He was a strong opponent of the crusaders, and he brought back Egypt to Sunni Islam. Not only defeated the Crusaders but also restored Egypt as a major force in the Middle East, established a stable kingdom, encouraged science, reformed the financial system and launched a long period of economic prosperity, population growth and cultural renaissance * (LEXICON UNIVERSAL ENCYCLOPEDDIA. 1985). Unfortunately, it did not stop at the end of the deletion of the biography of this Muslim hero from the educational curriculum,  and even a suspicious satellite channel was used to direct insult to him from a fallen culture prosecutor who was allowed by the program announcer to utter against whom? against a model and historical value represented by Sultan Salah al-Din, which proves that there is a curriculum for which the windows are opened to engage in a systematic and wide-ranging questioning process that ultimately leads to a society without a role model to erase the identity of the culture contractors and the pretenders who are in fact a microbial breeding.  It does not mean allowing this but is consistent with the bulldozing and destruction of what remains in the educational system of some Arab countries to extend to all Arab countries, including the most conservative according to the concept of social environment or Social ecology. In addition to this, as one of the reasons for the destruction of the educational process, the expenditure on education and educational buildings in most budgets in the Arab world is very low compared to the expenditure on security and defense despite the peace treaties signed with Israel since 1979 and beyond.  Therefore, the decline in expenditure on education and the reduction of educational capacity, whether in the form of educational buildings or teachers are among the most important factors that make the citizen an easy prey to extremist groups, which was also created for the same reason, in addition to other negative factors which resulted from governments ignoring the realization of a real comprehensive belonging for a conscious society.
3. – The lack of society for political, social and cultural elites, which expresses its nature, history, traditions and religious faith; and subsequently these elites lack the ability to lead the community; and the State deliberately politicizing, harassing, and pushing most them out of the circle of society and sometimes even criminalization. Among the advantages of counterrevolutionary revolutions in the Arab Spring is that it has revealed the falsity of these elites, their persistent tendency to authoritarian regimes and the rejection of democracy as much

4 – The falsification of the democratic process, although the constitutions of totalitarian systems in many texts referred to the term democracy, and even described some of these systems themselves as democratic systems, although most of them are presided over by governors who do not want to relinquish power by claiming that their people want them and that the elections confirm this. But, some and others know that democratic processes by international technical standards are inoperable in most of the Arab world, and that the committees concerned with the organization and conduct of elections are non-democratic, partial, and unqualified. In addition, the laws that complement the democratic process, such as the law of protest and the press law, are totally inconsistent with any vision of true democracy, but the rulers of some of these countries have described their people as incompetent and incapable of practicing democracy despite the fact that freedom is a human right, and that the rulers of these countries have signed, and their parliaments have ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  They have also signed partnership agreements with the European Union and agreed on programs that deal with the development of democracy and the observance of human rights. However, these states reverse on the back and retreat from the commitments made with the European Union. The rulers continue to mislead public opinion and monopolize the authority through their presidential that makes it easy to eat cartoon parties that arise in front of the eyes of the security services, or generated as a result of transactions and deals between the businessmen of these systems. In addition to this, there is a gap that can not be bridged between the rulers and the governed. There is really no party that expresses the people. According to World Bank figures and the International Monetary Fund, a great proportion of the people is under the poverty line. In such a situation, anyone with a mind does not think there is the absence of the political channels conveying the public opinion, and this opinion only settles in the citizens at the end of their muffled mouths. Some of these citizens at most will decide to express their opinion through an extremist organization caught this negative reality and opens its doors to them to express their views on weapons and destruction

5. The lack of media and the press in all their means to the customary situation that they should seek to possess. They should be and must be a rational fourth authority that works to meet the aspirations of society and even reveal for the benefit of this society additional aspirations that strengthen, enrich, and make it a qualified society. To exercise the ruling role in democratic processes, the media should be a two-way tanker tool of ideas and visions of society. without that, society gets suffocated and many of its members will be at the risk of polarization by organizations rooted in dark areas of this society, which has no press or open-minded media

6 – Decreased social confidence in the judicial institutions that are considered as the last wall of the resistance for society in the face of tyranny and politicizing them by authoritarian regimes. Many third world peoples, including the Arab world, were subjected to the rule of leaders who do not believe in the independence of the judiciary and the need to be impartial and objective. Many of these leaders and presidents committed massacres of the judiciary such as those carried out by Egyptian President Abdel Nasser on August 31, 1969 when he issued four laws, Law No. 81, 82, 83 and 84 of 1969, which called for the restructuring of the judiciary, establishing the Supreme Constitutional Court, stablishing of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, and establishing the Judges’ Club. Then, all the judicial bodies were dissolved and re-formed. More than 189 men of the judiciary were isolated, including the President of the Court of Cassation ,15 Counselors of the Court of Cassation, and members of the Board of Directors of the Judges Club.  All that was within the framework of a broader process of politicization of the judiciary and the army * (Abdullah Imam, Justice massacre, Madbouli Library, page 15).  All those reforms were based on an irregular view that all that was necessary and for the benefit of Egyptian society; and from here, the roots of the corruption of the judiciary and the criminalization of the justice system in Egyptian society and other Arab societies grew, and the citizen is without the support against the tyranny of authoritarian power; and then he is between two options either to submit unconditionally to the authoritarian authority disguised by the mask of revolution, to submit to a formal reform ,or to confront this authority with what it deserves by any armed force based on extremist thought, against the extremist ideology adopted by the authority of government on the opposite side. This authority of government is based on the thought of crushing the beliefs, traditions and values of human stability of the members of the community, which eventually leads to the production of human islands in the community joined and attracted by other islands with areas of extremism that takes the form of organizations that call for the use of force to terrorize these systems and others. On the other hand, the polarization within the European community is growing in a worrying manner, mainly due to several reasons, which can be summed up in the following

– The tendency of belonging to an issue and defend it

The organization of ‘’Da’esh” (ISOIS) continues to seduce young Europeans for many reasons. Among these young people those who want to belong to an issue and defend it, especially when the West talks about the clash of civilizations. France currently watches about 3000 Islamists, of whom 1,300 have contacts with terrorist organizations in Syria and Iraq. Accordingly, the risk of new attacks in Europe goes beyond the probabilities. France has sought to change its Internet legislation, which is clearly the first reason for employing young people to join extremist groups

– the identity crisis and the failure of European integration policy

Among the factors there is also the failure of the European integration policy that makes the individuals and minorities live in fear of the mysterious future they will face. The waves of illegal migration have carried thousands of people to various European countries over the past two decades. These waves reached their peak during the second half of 2015, with thousands of people sweeping the borders of southern Europe in an unprecedented phenomenon. Europe has been the main destination of illegal immigration movements and asylum for years from violent hotbeds. This heavy population movement has placed a tremendous strain on the resources of the receiving countries and their ability to shoulder the burden of the growing numbers of migrants who require minimum service and care. Most of the European countries receiving these unprecedented population flows are in recession, Bankruptcies such as Greece, and to a lesser extent Spain, Portugal and Italy, and even relatively strong countries such as Germany and France, are facing increasing economic difficulties

There are non-European minorities living in European countries from Asia and Africa whose roots have been rooted for several centuries over the course of a few centuries at times, ie, since the colonization of Asia and Africa. Although these minorities have become an integral part of the social body of these communities, they do not enjoy the same rights and privileges enjoyed by the population of European origin. Over time, they have formed communities of different cultural and religious origins. They suffer from exclusion, marginalization and weak integration opportunities, often concentrated in poor neighborhoods deprived of the most basic conditions of a dignified life, Represented by decent housing, education, health and employment opportunities

In all the traditional industrial zones of Europe and its major cities, there have been belts of poor neighborhoods inhabited by non-European communities.  Despite their human rights, the majority of them are from the second, third and fourth generations, that is, they were born and raised in European countries. They suffer from discrimination against them and face difficult economic and social conditions, in addition to the problem of identity. In this respect, the children of immigrants from new generations find themselves like someone sitting on two chairs, and then they do not quite sit down. They are not fully citizens and integrated into their countries of origin, but are seen and treated as second- and third-grade citizens who are seen as strangers and unwanted intruders, and have lost any connection to their parents’ communities and culture. They often do not master their native language and do not practice the rituals of their parents.  In short, they can be represented by the so-called “uprooted”. Thousands of these young people who live in a state of alienation have been a fertile ground for extremist religious movements that exploit the resentment, frustration and strong desire to avenge the society of these young people.  In addition to this, the successive economic crises in European countries have led to fueling the feelings of hatred and animosity toward immigrants and foreigners in general in those States. In this regard, the economic difficulties are continuously employed by the right-wing parties accentuating nationalism, racism against foreigners, which has led to the growing case of refusal and the high rate of racist crimes between migrants in the countries of Europe without exception, including those which are less racist, such as the Scandinavian countries. What is more, the problem has exceeded the harassment and hate crimes and racism, migrants and asylum-seekers to include the non-European countries’ citizens in the integration of non-European minorities in European societies, where the feelings of racism and violence have increased since the events of 11 September 2001, and the phenomenon of Islamophobia has increased after a number of European countries Of terrorist attacks since the mid-1990s, including France, Belgium, Britain, Spain, Scandinavian countries such as the Netherlands and Denmark, to attacks in France and Belgium in 2015 and 2016

– Negative discrimination and a wave of hostility to Islam

The state of discrimination and humiliation felt by the Muslims of France because of injustice and the wave of hostility to Islam are considered as the main factors that lead to emotional polarization and to incitement of hostility towards the other, because it employs discrimination and exclusion of Muslims due to hostility towards them and the view that their integration into European societies is of a negative integration level, and this reflects the employment of racism within European societies towards minorities

– The extreme right and the refugee crisis in Europe and its aftermath

The refugee crisis has made European countries today live in an ideological struggle between the adoption and containment of the values ​​of humanity, as guaranteed by the various constitutions of the European Union, and the increasing number of refugees associated with the escalation of terrorist attacks that have threatened Europeans in their own country, Such as the Charlie Ibdou attack, the Black Friday in Paris, the Brussels bombings, and the events of Cologne in Germany and elsewhere, all these events has fueled the fear of local groups in European societies against the Arab, especially the Muslim, who have different religion, identity and culture, making some voters biased towards extremist right-wing parties, and adopting their anti-refugee slogans at the expense of strengthening ethnic religious identity and placing it above all considerations; as it was with Britain’s exit from the European Union and the victory of the French National Front led by Marie Le Pen in the European Parliament elections in front of the ruling Socialist Party and had a similar percentage in the local elections in 2015, and the rise of the Alternative Party for Germany to the German political scene. A referendum report in August 2016 pointed to the progress of the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “Democratic Unionist Union”, bringing the party’s populace from 10% to 12% at the level of Germany, thus achieving its second highest support in 2016, While the coalition of Merkel’s coalition has fallen by 2 percentage points to 33%, which seems to change the mood of the European electorate. This party has really become a means of aligning with the extreme right, its populist rhetoric and its media output. This increases fear for the future of the refugees, Syrians in particular. It would also increase the likelihood of further restrictive legal measures against them. At the present time, when we speak of the extreme right, the phenomenon of Islamophobia must be addressed, which has been clearly demonstrated by the programs of the extreme right parties, as these parties do not hesitate to declare their hostility to Islam and the Muslim immigrants between now and then. In 2008, right-wing parties in Europe took a new step in anti-immigrant, especially Muslim, by establishing an anti-Islam organization in Europe called “Cities against Islamism” and also launched a “National Europeans against Western Islamization” called “Pejida ” year 2014. The rise of these parties coincided with the rise of hostility towards Muslims in Europe or what is known as the phenomenon of Islamophobia. It is an ideological phenomenon that has become ideologically linked to a reductionist view and a typical image of Islam and its adherents of immigrants in Europe, as a group that is closed to itself and limited, believes in values that it sees as reactionary to violence, reductionism, and negative outlook; and rejects rationality, logic and human rights

The concept of the Islamization of Europe has been widely discussed in the literature of right-wing parties, which means that Muslims who represent a civilization they see as “inferior” receive more penetration and influence enough to constitute a real threat to European identity, While the extremist right parties  thought is based on the idea of “superiority” among its followers, believing that they are superior and better than their Muslim counterparts, and that European identity is threatened by those of lesser importance.  we seek this position directly and explicitly in the programs of the extreme rightist parties or the attitudes of some its leaders as follows

-The French National Front: The first to use Islamophobia in its political propaganda and campaign to intimidate Islam and Muslims

– The Austrian-right Popular Party: described Islam as the “first enemy” of the Austrian nation, Europe and the whole world

– The Danish Progressive Party: called for a “free zone for Muslims” and warned against the Islamization of Europe

-Danish People’s Party: During its election campaign, it warned against Islam as a source of threat to Europe, as well as against Western civilization

-Umberto Bossi, leader of the Italian Lika Nord Party, described Islam as the greatest source of European culture threat and called for the defense of European Christianity

-The Dutch People’s Party (VVD), which compared Islam to fascism and the Koran with Hitler’s book “my struggle”, considered Muslims to be backward, so migration from Islamic countries to the Netherlands must be prevented

– Thilo Sarazin: “The head of the German Democratic Party, who sees that Muslim immigrants make Germans stupid and poorer, because they are less intelligent, and they are fighting the Germans to benefit from economic resources

Thus, the attitude of the extreme right in Europe is evident from Muslims as a kind of collective reaction to a class that has found itself in a marginalized situation with increasing unemployment and a decline in social cohesion and harmony. So, the increasing influx of immigrants and the reception of asylum seekers from Third World countries mainly to Europe has revived in this category the concepts of racism, xenophobia, portraying Islam as an inferior reactionary ideology of Western values and as an irrational “barbaric”, hostile to women, and a supporter of terrorism inciting the clash of civilizations

– New imperial wars and extremism

The last half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century characterized by a number of wars of expansion, re-dividing the world, and expanding spheres of political, economic and cultural influence, such as the occupation of Iraq at the turn of the century and finally the strong intervention in the wide popular movement witnessed by the Arab world at the beginning of the second decade of this century. The bloody conflict in ethnic, sectarian and religious colors continues to reap thousands of lives and thousands more leave their homes and their families in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Libya. These wars of different nature, causes, and diversity of the parties involved in them have led to radical changes in the entire region.  The foremost is the creation of chronic instability in the region and a complete economic failure, disintegration of social structures and displacement, displacement of millions of people in internal and external migrations, and most importantly, these wars have led to internal conflicts and destructive sectarian conflicts. These wars have created a sense of injustice and humiliation among the population of different social, political and religious affiliations. This has encouraged large segments of the population, especially young people, to engage in rebellious movements and form armed militias aimed at retaliation against the other, regardless of their nature, which is different politically, ideologically, culturally or sectarian. This has led to chaos and fighting between factions financed by foreign local, regional and international forces

These foreign interventions have been classified as one of the most extreme forms of assault on the sovereignty of peoples, insulting them and their cultural components and value systems, as well as being an explicit aggression on their political choices. These wars have been among the important factors that contributed to the rise of extremism and the emergence of armed movements and jihadist groups that took up arms to defend their threatened identity. In this general atmosphere of chaos, extremist religious movements of different colors found a foothold and penetrated all regions.  They also declare their hostility to the Western civilization and threaten Western and European countries, especially by striking their interests wherever they are, and even threatening to transfer the war to its territory through targeting civilians in public and sensitive areas. If the differences and conflicts between the Europeans exist and even escalate before the outbreak of the crisis of illegal immigration to Europe, there is the ideological division between communism and capitalism and the free thought and thought of the solid mass of the Communist world behind the Soviet Iron Curtain, and then the first two wars and the Cold War and the non-combat intellectual confrontations between the Eastern bloc countries represented in various institutions, including the Warsaw Pact in the face of NATO. These Differences have led to the rupture of European thought since then until now

These are the most important factors that give rise to radical thought and lead to different polarization processes that have already been expressed. Therefore, the international community and the European Union should use the necessary tools and pressure on the existing political systems in the south of the Mediterranean to lead them in the process of the transfer of power based on democracy and non-provocation of society by fighting and trying to erase or dissolve its values in the solution of tyranny. This is the only way to avoid the growth of extremism and its roots until it reaches the point of using weapons to intimidate the society as it faces these systems. The polarization of armed groups will continue to be possible and accessible to these groups as long as tyranny and arrogance continue to transcend the values, traditions and religion of society. What should born in mind is that Eastern societies, like any other societies on earth, are self-fulfilling because of their adherence to their identity

4. Interrelationship between the various extremist ideologies

The phenomenon of extremism has a wide variety of negative effects on the opposing parties, which are targeted by extremists, whether they are individuals or groups, through bombing of civilians, kidnapping and rape, destruction of infrastructure, utilities, etc

As Extremists anger, marginalize, and hurt those who are targeted by violence, from opponents and perhaps sympathizers, as well as regional and international organizations that are morally opposed to the practice of extremism and violence associated with it. Extreme practices, even when they are issued by individuals or small minorities, they are attributed to the entire community; and then require strong reactions from the opposite side. The reactions may be international, causing serious moral and material damage. Rigid ideologies, extremist practices and the attendant hostile attitudes among groups also lead to hardening of identities Which increases the degree of dissonance and leads to the strong adherence of each party to its attitude. All of this contributes to the complexity of the situation and the sustainability of hostilities and hatred

6.Impact of traditional and new media and political rhetoric

The media plays a major role in influencing and supporting extremist ideologies as well as their use to polarize extremism, especially the modern media of social networks. The lack of Arab societies and the societies of the Islamic world to the values of democracy and Political and media transparency has led to the elimination or at least the negative influence of the provocative in the national Islamic identity of these communities and the absence of example and model, as well as the collapse of educational systems and the corruption of media systems and the lack of basic services and infrastructure

The reasons for the use of social networks by radical ideologies and extremist terrorist groups are to reach their goal in order to increase the recruitment of young people in their movements, and to increase the polarization cases due to a combination of causes which are represented in the following

– Guarantee of confidentiality

The success of terrorist crimes depends primarily on the element of confidentiality that ensures non-penetration, and modern means of communication play an important role in ensuring the element of confidentiality

– The ability to communicate with a broad public base easily

Social networks allow to gain the support of some new audiences, often from young people and intellectuals

– Low expenditure

Terrorist networks and organizations can play a role in national and international events when they have a computer and connect it to a modem

– Creating Information Terrorism

The information and communication revolution has contributed to the spread of new forms of terrorism. In many countries of the world, the computerization of infrastructure is in the hands of the computer expert of terrorist organizations. This information revolution has also contributed to the ability to inflict extreme economic damage without being forced to confront the security services which take measures to protect the vital objectives from terrorist attacks and information-gathering since the Internet is considered as a full library of sensitive information

– Ease of communication

The electronic network helps to connect and coordinate among members of the terrorist cell, and even increases the chances of cooperation with other terrorist organizations. Through this technological capability, the leaders of the terrorist organizations can communicate and coordinate their actions in parallel. It is also characterized with abundant information that can be exchanged through the audio and the video

– The ability to recruit and recruit new extremists and terrorists

The ability to recruit new extremists and terrorists maintains and sustains terrorist cells. They exploit the sympathies of other Internet users with their issues and attract young people in particularly exciting terms through e-chat rooms. There are people who are psychologically attracted to the ideas of radical terrorist ideology from the start, especially those with “extreme” psychological structures, and this may lead to extremism among sensitive people, especially the youth who search for an absolute reference to rely on and to embrace them because of the absence of role models and ethics

– Planning and coordination

The Internet and social networks are extremely important means of communication for extremist terrorist organizations and cells. They allow for coordination of terrorist attacks. Members of terrorist cells use social networks to manage terrorist attacks, distribute roles and coordinate actions and tasks for each member of the cell

– Access to funding

Members of terrorist cells and extremist organizations get from social networks statistical lists to identify people with compassionate hearts, and thus to attract them to pay donations, alms and zakat to individuals or charitable institutions that represent the front of these terrorists, in ways that the donor is undoubtedly assisting a terrorist organization.

– Giving instructions and electronic indoctrination

Through audio-visual materials explaining simply ways of making bombs and chemical weapons

– Attraction of electronic discourse of violence

The violent discourse with a religious political spirit is particularly attractive, because it is related to human weakness towards the problems that face the human in his personal life, or what he sees in a world of conflict and strife, like the violent events, conflicts, and manifestations of global demand for the resources of the Arab and Islamic world

– The power of targeting young people with electronic content appropriate to their age and aspirations.

– The content of the Internet is not censored, which is consistent with the rebellious age groups

– being alone with the user of social networking sites and isolating him from his family and social surroundings, within a virtual society that is not really like him.

– Easiness in controlling the mechanisms of information and techniques of social networks by the “engineers” of terrorist groups

This makes them circumvent the means of encryption and monitoring, not only by changing the location, but also by concealing inside sites, blogs and forums that make it difficult to think about the extent to which terrorist movements and groups resort to them, such as tourist, recreational, sexual or other sites. Thus, social networks have become a “base” in all dimensions within them that determine the strategy and means, through which coordination is done and implementation methods are determined

– Social networks allow terrorists to reach their target audience

Practically “knock on their doors ” in contrast to the old models of sites that terrorists had to wait for visitors to come to. Terrorist groups have strong reasons for using social media. First, these channels are far more popular with the targeted youth audience; secondly, social communication channels are easy to use and reliable

Extremist terrorist groups do their best to attract young people, using an attractive media strategy, through which they can gain the sympathy of many. These groups target young people of all ages and of different scientific and academic levels through the use of social networking sites in order to lure them, and then recruit them in these terrorist groups across countries and continents. Therefore, how terrorist groups use social networking sites to recruit and join young people and spread terrorism and extremism will be described as follows

1. Image Industry: through disseminating information and ideas among supporters of the organization of current and potential extremist terrorist groups, and countering the enemy’s negative propaganda by disseminating battle news and creating an attractive image of daily life, as well as disseminating ideas used in propaganda, such as promoting the culture of martyrdom by maximizing the desire to die for God’s sake and celebrate it as a good way to the paradise , and often involving efforts aimed directly at making jihad an attractive sight for the younger audience
2. Polarization operations: in which social networks are used in recruitment, either through intermediaries or by sending the person himself messages to accounts of terrorist groups via Facebook and Twitter accounts, or the person is contacted electronically by a relative or friend from those groups and invites him to join them and provides him with the required instruction. The White Power music and the superior online computer games (which are provided through websites and virtual communities) are also used to specifically target young people in an attempt to raise their interest in the movement and to employ them. Increased popularity and computer games are being developed by extremist elements on the Internet to attract potential new recruits, primarily targeting young people, and the growing development of these games and their abilities as a tool for advertising and recruitment should not be ignored
3. forming a cell of recruitment: The terrorist groups create ” a cell of recruitment”, which has the task of enticing the targeted young people. The elements of the cell rely on a particular code during their conversation. Each word has a different meaning to the choice of young recruits in armed organizations, away from the old traditional steps that relied on mosques. The target young man is attracted after knowing his psychological state, and then focusing on the issues of unification, governance, loyalty, and the importance of the ruling with the Holy Koran and Sunnah, and make him believe that ‘’jihad’’ is the solution. This is followed by the implantation of extreme ideas in the mind of the target young man, and then push him to listen to everything that makes him sad by using the sad audio sermons on YouTube and listening to the enthusiastic songs. All this is what we can call “magnetic tuning,” based on the idea that existing Islam in society is a distant Islam from the real, and this is really what the so-called ‘’Da’ish’’ organization do when recruiting many individuals

4.intllectual focused Nutrition: After the targeted young man has gone through focused nutrition, he will find himself changed in terms of orientations, driven or invited to search for the “virtuous society” portrayed by social networks through the publication of photographs, films and the instructions that are told with the impressive melodies of young people who took part in the “jihad” and the honor that they have received and compared them to the great conquerors

5. Executive Stage: the operational phase of the process can be characterized by the formation of extremist thought and orientation, and hence the actual joining of extremist terrorist groups as follows

-First: pumping of the extremist thought through the exhumation in the books and advisory opinions to show the most rigorous interpretations of the texts, and the young man will be in the stage of meditation and selection as a result

–Second: assisting in the selection is a stage during which the effects are used to push the person who is confused to form an attitude

-Thirdly, congratulations on the knowledge of the truth and the promotion of ideas when the signs of conviction of ideas emerge

-Fourthly: the actual accession of the organization under the banner of guidance, commitment, and the request of Paradise

-Fifth: Engaging in operational roles, which is the main objective of all these efforts

By following the activities of terrorist and extremist groups, we see their reliance on the “persuasive approach”, which leads those who engage in it, and who hugs themselves into the embrace of these groups, a proponent of their thesis, or an executive member who surrenders to the leaders of the group that attracted him. In order to understand the process of transferring information and ideas from sources (leaders – instigators) to the rest of the members and supporters, it is necessary to distinguish the scientific hierarchy and understand the nature of roles and the strength of commitment in each category in the system of extremism, and how to transfer the instructions to youth groups through social media

As a model for the use of social networks by extremist terrorist groups, we find the organization of “Da’esh”, which relies on social media to recruit new members of terrorist groups. The first appearance of the media apparatus of “Da’esh” was clearly through social networking sites in 2012, through which the organization was able to express its power through the technology that it clearly demonstrated to various groups around the world. Thus, ‘’Da’esh’’ can express itself without any fear through its electronic sites and accounts on the social networking sites, through the presentation of head-cutting operations while it is happening. The organization also publicly acknowledges its various attitudes and activities through its online publication on the social networking sites, which highlight the intention of the organization to frighten all its enemies. it is a strategy that aims to defeat the opponents without firing a single shot. ‘’Da’esh’’ organization depends a lot on the media and calls it ‘’jihadi media’’ in his battle like the other types of jihad, and intensifies his campaigns, which exceed the organization of Al Qaeda and other jihadist organizations using modern technology of social networking sites

One of the success factors of the organization is that it works to attract young people through the use of an attractive media strategy through which they can obtain the sympathy of many young people with the organization. the young people are targeted by “Da’esh” through the use of modern technology of the media which is represented in social networking sites, especially sites such as Twitter and Facebook, after Al-Qaeda was previously relied on the visual and audio media. This strategy allows terrorist organizations to create accounts for them on social networking sites, as well as to create electronic journals, such as “Dabak” and “Da’eshia”. The organization also has electronic pages on which photos and video clips are published, showing its power and weapons. These pages show how to make bombs and conduct encrypted communications. This has led to the emergence of a “jihadi” developed electronic space of a wide spread. Without the use of digital technology, it was difficult for “Da’ish” organization, in this short period of time, to expand, to annex many regions, and to recruit many young people and foreign fighters in its ranks, in addition to recruiting specialists in the field of information technology. It is noteworthy that this organization was not the first extremist and terrorist organization to use social networks, it was previously used by al Qaeda, but it has developed it widely

It is well known that “Da’esh” uses social media platforms, mostly Twitter, to broadcast their propaganda, as their activity on Twitter is so great that in early 2016, the social media company closed 125,000 accounts linked to “Da’esh”, but still has a significant impact On the Internet. The organization of “Da’esh” basically focuses on the media and the Internet, and in this regard a full section of its forces is devoted to the production and dissemination of video tapes and the assignment of materials over the Internet

The goals of “Da’esh” organization for using social media are broad, but they all go back to one main goal: to gain more support and more recruits. “Da’esh” members use professional commercial videos such as advertisements, drawings, and articles in an attempt to convince people around the world that their jihad is a worthy action, and all the content they publish is not violent despite the reality. Within this context, extremist terrorist organization makes a great effort to make the caliphate looks like an Islamic paradise. It previously published images of parks, happy children and the most beautiful foods, and domestic animals to encourage people to come to the territories controlled by the “Da’esh”. As a result, the number of foreign fighters in the ranks was about 30,000 fighters and recruits in 2014, which the organization managed to attract and recruit

Many do not realize that extremist groups were among the first organizations to enter the Internet even before social networks emerged for years. Western sources point out that “Metzger Tom”, the most extremist and racial American (extreme right)  and founder of the “Resistance Aryan White”,  was one of the first to establish an electronic mail group to communicate with his followers and spread his ideas in 1985, and extremist ethnic groups remained in this pattern until after the mid-1990s, and that was followed by the emergence of sites belonging to extremist groups from the United States of America, Europe, and especially Britain, Australia, and the rest of the world. In all these stages, the use of various means and the means of the Internet in the depth of the promotion of the culture of extremism and violence expressing the ideas of marginalized and extremists of every sect and gender

The phenomenon of extremism has no religion or sex. In the Islamic world, networks and the Internet have clearly contributed to spreading the influence of intellectual extremism of various trends, through websites and forums run by extremist groups and symbols that offer their intellectual products according to an attractive discourse, taking advantage of the bitter reality of Arab and Islamic world societies. In the Arab society, the influences of the newcomer (the internet) and the social networks began to form when the network provided free space to spread all forbidden from its early stages, to become with the beginning of the twenty first century the most prominent way to promote extremism, violence and hatred, which made the extremists masters of the electronic scene, especially after the events of September 11, 2001

Violence and extremism groups adopt many strategies leaving no means of reaching out to the public to justify and expand the actions of extremist and terrorist groups, or to promote and exploit the ideology they espouse. In some sites, emotional employment appears to be stronger than rational arguments, either in messages of gaining new supporters, or in supporting the attitudes of the supporters and followers. From the purely media angle, terrorist operations usually have intensive media coverage, where the media find an interesting newspaper article that deals with it in a central way, according to the logic that the terrorist event is an informational event. This is what some experts have called for to warn that the media may deviate – under the pressure of competition – for its role in social construction, to promote terrorists who skillfully exploit the issue of media eagerness to pass a certain ideology in the hope of gaining public sympathy for their issues, and because traditional media operate under the control of systems and institutions and operate according to some accounts and interests. The Internet and the means of social communication have emerged as a free and popular way for terrorist groups that have taken advantage of it as the best flexible channel for information and communication with the public

In the context of educational and cultural variables and the lack of occupancy of the youth’s free time, the result is that various ideological groups and terrorist groups monitor the orientations of the confused youthful communities, and provide them with ready-made thoughts that address the instincts and draw emotions in a bright religious discourse, exploiting the religious sense of innocent youth to inject misleading ideas into them, and to reinforce their ideas of leaving society and emigrating by taking the advantage of some manifestations of political, economic and social frustration in some Islamic societies to direct the energies of those young people to fight against their own communities, excommunicate their rulers, and kill themselves for the sake of extremist ideas

* How terrorist groups use social media to spread extremist ideology

According to some studies, the young people category is the most Internet-based.  it is really clear that they are a broad cross section on the electronic scene, and it is normal to be affected by this network and influence it and print with their concern and their hustle, and of course there will be investors in this intellectual noise, and among those investors terrorist groups and extremists who made and still make a great effort to inject ideas and beliefs and form convictions for millions of young people, and are confident that in the impact of cultural and intellectual will be especially large  if we know that one of the most important reasons for the popularity of the Internet, sites, and means of social communication among young people are:

BOREDOM AND FREE TIME

CONFIDENTIALITY

ANXIETY

DEPRESSION

ESCAPE

LONELINESS

TEMPTATIONS ACCORDING TO INDIVIDUAL’S TENDENCIES

REST

ECONOMIC PROBLEMS

It is also known that young people are characterized in early life with a number of psychological and behavioral characteristics that distinguish their personality from others. Some of the emotional characteristics of young people can be summarized as follows

1. Activity and enthusiasm
2. The tendency to experimentation and consultation
3. Speed of boredom and willingness to change
4. Turbulence of time estimation
5. Full differentiation in the outbursts and the emergence of emotions

Considering the community of the social media, according to some researchers and specialists, we find that they resemble the human society in which there are different types of people, including young people and adolescents who love discovery and adventure, and those who suffer from emptiness and disintegration, which makes them vulnerable to crimes and exploitation and deviation

7. The assessment of European experiences on dealing with extremist ideologies, polarization and societal tendencies towards extremism within Europe

Some European experiences and strategies that were provided to deal with extremist ideologies, and prevent polarization and community tendencies towards extremism within Europe can be presented and evaluated as follows

-Evaluation of the EU’s strategy to combat extremism and youth recruitment and polarizing them for the year 2014

The European Union adopted on 15/01/2017 a document defining ten areas that Member States should take into account to strengthen measures to prevent any form of violence that generates extremism, whatever the instigator. The proposed measures included the development of comprehensive national anti-militarization strategies, A European Center for the Study and Follow-up of Violent Extremism, the development of training and training for anti-militancy workers, financial support for projects using modern means of communication and the social media for the suppression of terrorist propaganda as stated in the document

It also included: encouraging young people to think critically, intensifying studies and research on extremist trends, and cooperating closely with non-European partner countries. The ten recommendations included in the document were the result of two years of action by the European Network against Extremism, created in 2011 by the European Commission of 700 experts and officials from across Europe. If European officials stress that they seek to fight violence and extremism in all its forms.  The statement issued on 16/01/2014 by the European Union to declare the adoption of the document which states that “many Europeans who travel increasingly abroad for training and fighting in conflict zones, and their extremism is being strengthened and their return is considered as a threat to our security”, leaving no doubt as to whom these new measures would be directed against

The fight against extremism in all its forms requires the cooperation of EU member states. Activities related to terrorism and violent extremism have increased and become a major and growing threat to the EU. These activities will not be specific to organized groups, but also increasingly in small groups or even individuals. It should be noted that the internal security of Member States remains a national, not a European, competence. It is noted that the European Union’s strategy to fight extremism and to deter recruitment of terrorists since its adoption seeks to lay down the broad lines of anti-militarization policy without the possibility of implementing it by Member States, a weakness of this strategy and the policy of violence in Europe in general

– The European Union’s adoption of the counter-terrorism strategy

The European Union countries have formulated a unified strategy based on four basic principles, namely prevention, protection, follow-up and reaction. For prevention, it is based on the following

* Formulate cooperative efforts to identify suspicious behavior, especially the excessive use of the Internet and take action to deter it

* Fighting incitement, exploitation and mental polarization, especially in prisons and religious centers, by enacting laws that make such conduct punishable by law

• Formulation of a media and communication strategy that concerns with the best explanation of the policies of the European Union
• Encouraging good governance in public affairs, democracy, education, and economic well-being through programs of assistance and care for member states as well as the institutions of the Union

* Organizing intercultural dialogue within and outside the EU

• Encourage research into these issues in order to reach adequate and consistent answers

In the area of protection, which is based on the fight against terrorism of the European Union, it is as follows

* Secure passports by introducing biometric identification elements

* Development of a new information system (VIS) and the second generation of the Schengen Information System (SISII)

* Comprehensive re-analysis of threats to the external borders of the EU, under the auspices of Frontex agency

* Unifying the standards governing security in civil aviation, ports and the maritime field

* To develop a European program for the protection of vital and sensitive facilities

*Maximum Advantage of research work in the scope of the European Union

Concerning the follow-up area, which is based on the European Union’s counter-terrorism strategy, is as follows

* Strengthening national competencies in the fight against terrorism, in the light of recommendations and in the context of the actual assessment of cases by Member States

* Employment of European coordination and cooperation institutions in security and judicial coordination in counterterrorism policies and analysis of threats to European security

* The need to recognize the judicial decisions issued by Member States

• Continuous evaluation of existing laws and their up-dating in the light of the recommendations of EU institutions

* Encouraging the principle of information exchange continuously

* Strict monitoring and control in order to prevent terrorists from obtaining weapons and explosives

* Drying up the sources of terrorism

As to the reaction area of the European Union’s counter-terrorism strategy is as follows

* Forming coordinating body at the European level to respond to crises, as well as the actual actions that can be taken

* Review laws that regulate civil protection mechanisms

* Improving coordination among international organizations in their optimal response to expected attacks

* Exchange of experiences in the field of ambulance services for victims and their families

– Adoption of the Action Plan for “Fighting Violent and Radical Extremism Leading to Terrorism” by the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Member States of the Council of Europe in May 2015

The Plan of Action covers the period 2015-2017. It sets out a series of targeted actions to be implemented by the Council of Europe to assist Member States in preventing and suppressing radicalism, violent extremism and terrorism while respecting human rights. These measures are preceded by an additional protocol based on criminalizing acts of “participating in a group or an association for the purpose of terrorism” and “receiving training on terrorism”.  Other measures are expected to be taken including

Dealing with the phenomenon of “individual terrorists”, a phenomenon that is closely related to the case of “foreign terrorist fighters”. Recent terrorist attacks in Europe and the United States perpetrated by persons belonging to the Islamic state organization “Da’esh”. This clearly shows changes in the tactics of the jihadist groups from the method of traditional cell-based activities to attacks by groups, couples, or even individuals with a loose association with the parent community. It is clear that early detection of terrorists working outside traditional cell structures is more difficult than conventional terrorist models, and the Council of Europe has committed itself with the assistance of Member States by providing guidelines on how to prevent and suppress the specific mode of terrorism that comes from outside conventional cells efficiently. The Steering Committee will address meetings on anti-terrorism issues of the Council of Europe. It is the Committee of Experts on Terrorism (CODEXTER), which will work on a series of other complementary actions for the years 2016 and 2017 to review the Council of Europe’s 2005 recommendation on the use of ” “With regard to serious crimes, including terrorism; and the review will consider the use of new technologies and special investigative techniques on the Internet, including financial matters”. The review operation was expected to be completed by the end of 2017

8. Initiatives and solutions on the best practices to alleviate and reduce the intensity of polarization

Initiatives and solutions that can reduce and alleviate the intensity of polarization can be provided as follows

– Adopting the policy of recognizing the rights of minorities, and objectively defining European policies in the Middle East and North Africa, where the adopted policies have contributed to the escalation of extremism due to exclusion, marginalization and living conditions in marginal neighborhoods, all of which have been exploited by violent and extremist groups

– Fighting extremism in Europe in the first place needs to raise awareness in society, especially among young people. This requires great cooperation between European governments, society and Islamic institutions in the Islamic world to protect young minds from attempts of polarization towards extremism

-The funding of extremist organizations must be cut off and their bank accounts must be prosecuted and seized. Extremist and terrorist organizations are fed on external funds and support. The role of European governments is to cut off this funding from terrorist and extremist organizations, and expose them to public opinion and sentence them to be a lesson in history and the world

– Follow-up of the media and the establishment of professional bases agreed upon in accordance with international standards for the profession of the media because it has become chaotic because anyone can join it easily. Therefore, there is a need to achieve international standards in this work so that the phenomenon of terrorism can be addressed with what it deserves and with what is suitable for it from the messages of anti-terrorist thought. The experts in language, psychology and professional police officers should be used to control these messages in a professional approach, and not with a coercive guidance. It is also necessary to avoid slipping into the trap of terminology that is used wrongly and sometimes deliberately in order to give credibility to the deviant terrorist thought. Among the most dangerous terms that are used wrongly are: “Jihad”, “Jihadism” and “Jihadists”. In this regard, the European side must be alerted to the need of adding the word “deviant jihad”, “false jihad” or “fake jihad,” so as not to provoke the feelings of moderate Muslims or Muslims in general

– Detecting extremist training places and taking immediate security measures that would stop violent extremist practices to protect the European community from this threat, and to protect human lives from potential terrorism

The lack of technological awareness and the absence of the goal of using the Internet and social networking sites is the characteristic of our youth today. It is an essential driver for the carelessness of these young people to be cautious and to publish personal data and information about themselves without realizing the seriousness of this matter. This may lead them to feel that they are out of terrorism danger because they feel that their data is of no value to anyone. So, any change in the reality of youth’s use of social networking sites may require many measures and mechanisms to counter recruiting them in terrorist groups, including

1. Spreading technological awareness about how to handle social networking sites and computers, training young people on their safe use, how to keep data confidential, secure their websites, e-mail, and the computer they use to connect to the Internet against hacking attempts
2. Educate young people on how to use the Internet in their field of study and interests, and determine the purpose of using it.
3. Inform young people of the danger of cyber terrorism and how they can fall prey to it without their knowledge
4. Inculcate the values of democracy to the young people in a simplified manner that extends up to the secondary stage of education by adding a chapter in the appropriate curriculum for the values of democracy, transparency and accountability
5. Preparation of qualified security cadres in the media field capable of formulating clear, impressive and credible media messages that can counter the lies of terrorist groups’ websites
6. Launch religious sites on social networks to address the other, according to concepts based on human rights and reflect the concept of true Islamic religion as a way to close the door to those groups that take religion as a curtain to hide behind it, but in fact they are far from the religion
7. Activating the role of scientists and thinkers to carry out the task of fighting destructive ideas leading to terrorist acts
8. Develop a sense of duty and patriotism among young people, and open the areas of work and creative thinking and non-rejection of the other
9. Develop means of persuasion and argument aimed at removing religious cover on terrorism
10. giving the priority to the development programs for young people by formulating a new strategy to deal with employment
11. Adopting comprehensive media programs aimed at developing national public awareness and to address the fallacies and tendentious ideas that impact young people negatively
12. The contribution of the security services to support the media at all levels through the flow of important security information that helps to detect many of the hidden and the means used by terrorist groups to attract and recruit young people
13. The necessity of Arab media cooperation to invest in the various media, especially the social networks, because of the presence and influence of this era and its employment to achieve and maintain intellectual security, and to promote the exchange of information related to the media
14. National, regional and international efforts should focus on the analysis of actors through social networking sites and the detection of their features and activities. Investigate suspects or victims of this (past and current) relationship and further explore ways of using terrorist groups for social networking sites
15. Thinking about the way that enables to access extreme content on social networking sites such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. That way must be withheld totally because if it is left, the viewership level will increase, and this may make young people who follow these sites eventually engage in advertising activities to join extremist and terrorist networks.
16. Social networks provide a new set of online services that pose a series of challenges to the security community. While these networks provide new opportunities for social interaction and social upbringing among the users, and a huge amount of information and generating it. sharing and redistributing information on these networks of users requires the adoption of new tools and techniques search, analyze and secure data online

– Security siege: the main objective of the security siege is to dismantle and weaken the extremist groups. The effectiveness of this siege is measured by its ability to prevent any terrorist acts. This siege is really based on the security services. In order to accomplish this task, the budget of the security institutions must be allocated. These security institutions must be also equipped with the latest equipment and the development of communication channels between the intelligence agencies to collect and analyze information, especially those related to the areas of concentration of these groups. In this regard, the French experience provides an advanced model in how to employ Internet technologies in order to enable the police to track extremists, where the French authorities launched an electronic website called “Stop Jihadism” in order to encourage people to report on any individual

– Prevent funding extremists: funding is the mainstay of terrorist operations. Funding is the respiratory system for sustaining the lives of extremist groups. Since there are different mechanisms of obtaining this funding, there is a need to distinguish between two tracks. The first is self-financing, where these groups can develop a range of economic and social activities that generate returns by opening small projects in poor neighborhoods or by controlling the areas of rich resources, and that was represented by a strong control over oil-rich areas in Syria and Iraq by “Da’esh”. The second track is evident in the efforts of these groups to obtain funding from abroad in the framework of alms and “zakat”, whether within their borders or those who carry the ideological formation of the group, and they are usually local and non-profit organizations. Despite the efforts of governments and creating impediments to the funding of extremist groups, especially after the events of September 11, 2001, these groups are still able to breach these procedures and to employ technology to circumvent the control of the movement of global funds. Despite regional and international efforts to prevent the funding of extremists, the national policy bears the brunt of the burden. United Arab Emirates is the most prominent example in this case, where a number of preventive and defensive measures have been imposed, including the arrest of suspects involved in money laundering and the freezing of a number of suspicious accounts, as well as Canada, which is unique in the area of tight control over the activities of charities by establishing a financial intelligence unit under the Ministry of Finance. As for Europe in general since 2012, there have been several attempts to prevent EU funding for Radical and fundamentalist politics

– Intellectual and ideological reviews

The essence of those strategies is to try to persuade members of these groups to review and abandon their ideas

– Rehabilitation of extremists:  This policy shows that extremist groups can abandon their ideas and reintegrate into society once again as normal citizens after they have been ostracized from all society. the International experience has revealed two images of what rehabilitation policies can lead to. The first is that individuals distance themselves from joining armed groups, but retain loyalty to the ideas of these groups within themselves and their souls. This is what is called “disengagement”. The second is individuals who end their organizational relationship with extremist groups and give up their ideas. The reality here is that the success of rehabilitation depends largely on the economic and social factors that prompted them to join basically. Morocco has also developed its expertise in this field.  it has rehabilitated prisoners and reintegrated them into society through creating companies to provide them with job opportunities and to ensure that they do not return to extremism If they are stressed out

– Protect society from extremism between international expertise and implementation mechanisms

because of the tremendous revolution in the tools and mechanisms of communication between the extremists, it is no longer limited to direct communication between the group adopting the same ideological formation, but entered the Internet and social networks and opened a wide range of convergence and easy to communicate across the borders of countries; and therefore, it is necessary to turn how to immunize and protect the liquid masses in the society through improving the quality of education and raising the awareness of educational institutions about the dangers of extremism to protect generations of children within these institutions especially recently. There is a trend that works for attracting small age groups and exploiting their social and economic conditions, and works for washing the brains by receiving a value group as a religion, as well as providing recreational activities, developing the culture of skepticism, and accusing anyone who contradicts its ideas

To protect society, many steps need to be taken, including giving special priority to education. There are international experiences in this context, including the State of Finland, where it has adopted a special system to strengthen the role of education in the face of extremism. The crime prevention subject has been introduced into the training curricula. In addition, it makes a policeman from the security apparatus teaching that subject wearing his uniform in order to create a kind of friendliness between students and law enforcement officers. The United Arab Emirates has implemented the security education program by enrolling students and using them in security work. Australia has allocated a budget of 65,000 Australian pounds to communicate continuously with students and to make them aware of the danger of extremism through distributing attractive and beautiful posters, while Britain also has given priority to education as the first mechanism to fight terrorism.  It has produced some booklets and disseminated to schools to raise awareness of the causes of extremism and its dangers believing in the need to fight terrorism with thought. In this regard, the strategy of the former British Prime Minister David Cameron consisted in the government’s efforts to train teachers on how to deal with negative changes in student behavior that might lead them to engage in terrorist groups

The second section to immunize society is the creation of community dialogue platforms on fighting extremism and creating a platform for understanding on the list of priorities of countries. The strategy takes several forms: first, creating awareness-raising media channels that document the stories of youth who deviated from moderation and then retreated from extremism to provide an example and lessons to discard Extremism. The People’s Organization Against Extremism in Australia is one of the largest organizations and is interested in the role of films and stories of others in raising awareness of the dangers of extremism

The second form is the use of survivors of violent acts carried out by extremists to lead dialogue programs with young people who were recruited by extremist groups, while the third is to encourage public debate on extremism, in particular its causes. In this context, Britain has adopted a strategy to promote a culture of dialogue and acceptance of the other, and 261 projects have been implemented to deal with extremist ideas that justify the practice of terrorism and the presence of speakers capable of indoctrinating extremist ideas

-Fighting terrorism and its means that attract the young people is considered as the most important for the countries; therefore, the electronic confrontation of extremism is one of the most important mechanisms of immunizing society. This is because of the increasing role of social media recently to recruit young people to join terrorist organizations. “Da’esh” is the most prominent example because it relies heavily on the Internet in various stages of its operations, either for recruiting the young people, creating a network of its members or to publish a video attributed the operation to it. By these means “Da’esh” can control and follow all its members. Some countries have provided their expertise in this regard. We contacted Google and Facebook to discuss mechanisms of following these extremists’ accounts in order to prevent them from promoting their ideas. One of these experiences is the French experience that followed the incident of Charlie Hebdo to confront extremism by closing all websites accused of supporting extremism. At the same time, the British government’s counterterrorism strategy required the removal of any hateful electronic content. The United States has its own expertise in this area. It Has established specialized teams to launch street wars on computers that publish extremist content that can disrupt stability and security. These teams operate within the framework of the Strategic Counter-Terrorism Center

– The need to partner with women as the main force to fight extremism among young people and to prevent the transfer of fundamentalist ideas to the new generations through proper education. Women are the main engine for the formation of children’s educational awareness and values, and we note that Britain’s belief in the role of women has sought to fight terrorist ideology through supporting Muslim women and Muslim youth, and by offering direct grants to community organizations. While Morocco launched a unique experiment, it has set up a center that adopts forming mentors and preachers to publish the true religion

– The partnership with civil society is part of the priority list of countries to challenge terrorism. The involvement of civil society today is taken for granted because they communicate faster and more effectively than state institutions. These institutions can enable other actors to participate in counterterrorism operations and identify groups vulnerable to infiltration from groups; therefore, the partnership has become one of the most important recommendations of the European Union. In Morocco, state institutions have encouraged civil society to participate in the implementation of the National Initiative for Human Development, which aims to implement several economic and social projects that eliminate all economic motives for extremism by creating jobs and fighting poverty, which is sometimes one of the strongest motivations for extremism. As to Sweden, it has encouraged civil society institutions to spread the values of democracy among young citizens

– The need to create alternative entities that adopt a central idea which seeks to coexist and understand each other, and adopts ideas against the extremist ideas based on violence and self-sufficiency. Morocco is the most prominent model. The government has launched a program to organize alternative entities for extremism. The establishment of specialized thought centers in the fight against extremism is considered as one of the methods that are used by governments to understand the nature of the terrorist act and to understand the problem of extremism in all its aspects academically and know all the efforts that must be made to fight it. However, attention has not reached yet the issue of extremism to the desired level, as the problem grows day after day. There is really a knowledge gap due to the lack of sufficient information about extremists, especially in the Middle East. In the United States, an international center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been set up to monitor and evaluate extremist organizations, and provide a guidance to the government in order to deal with terrorism effectively

All of these policies do not bear fruit in the absence of a qualified police security apparatus.  it is really necessary to improve the image of this institution, especially in countries that have a bad legacy in dealing with citizens in a way that transforms its role from mere recipients of communications to an essential actor in solving the problems of countries with extremist organizations. In this regard, The United Arab Emirates launched a number of programs, including a good public relations award to improve the mentality of the police officer and also launched the Participatory Security Project, a real improvement of the community police functions

Accordingly, we suggest some other complementary solutions as follows

– Defining the characteristics of the target groups by addressing the groups of violence and extremism via the Internet, and developing preventive programs according to a scientific approach that will absorb political and religious issues in a transparent and sincere manner

– Finding institutional mechanisms to evaluate and review sites that broadcast religious culture to ensure that they do not go out of true religion in their theses for young people

– The need to discuss the mechanisms of coordinating joint plans and programs of action to activate the roles of community institutions in raising awareness of the dangers of negative employment of the Internet

– Studying the psychological, social and intellectual effects on adolescents and young people as a result of following up the rhetoric of violence and extremism via the Internet

– Consideration of existing legislation and the enactment of new laws, including offenses and crimes that may result from electronic incitement to violence and destruction.

– Dissemination of moderate, artistic vitality, administrative and intellectual independence websites for intellectual currents and political interests

– Support and encourage scientific institutions such as universities and research centers to create large sites that attract youth through incentives and competitions

– The establishment of independent intellectual centers for the research and analysis of intellectual phenomena, the management and implementation of scientific activities such as research and seminars specialized in the orientation of opinion leaders and the activation of their role. It is also possible to take advantage of the experiences of prison inmates in cases of thought to issue a series of small stories called “This is my experience” simulating youth in a simplified and clear manner

– Supporting and strengthening the educational role of the family and activating educational activities in the field of positive use of the Internet

– Some European countries do not have a national strategy to prevent terrorism. Therefore, a clear national strategy must be developed to prevent and fight terrorism and fight violent extremism. It is important to realize that there are no one size solutions suitable for all, or full and concerted strategies to fight terrorism and extremism

– Building sustainable cooperation networks between all concerned and actors within each European country to ensure effective and comprehensive protection, and meaningful efforts to fight extremist ideologies and violent extremism

– The abuse use of the Internet and social media for terrorist purposes is a problem that requires a comprehensive approach that takes into account both the need to provide security, and the need to protect privacy and freedom of expression. Therefore, it is necessary to cover all problems related to encryption, blocking and removal of sites or accounts of social media Used by terrorist groups, as well as the detection and prosecution of persons who use websites and addresses used online for terrorist purposes. All this certainly requires the involvement of all concerned in discussing the best ways to overcome many of the current problems

– There should be no foreign terrorist fighters to evade criminal prosecution under the pretext of the existing privileges of combatants in armed conflict. This aims to ensure that terrorists are brought to justice

–  The media in Europe must abandon the propositions and elements that reduce citizenship in culture, race, religion and common history, as these concepts have been used by extreme right parties and the currents which are in their orbit, ideological use to distribute citizenship according to their whims.  The slogan that is always used by them is “the threat to national identity”. Those concepts are really mythical rather than being realistic ones. Europe, throughout its history, has no common history, common race and religion, and has lived in political, ethnic and religious wars for centuries

– The media must focus on the cultural, ethnic and religious diversity within the framework of the rights of the national minorities, and create the conviction that the different cultural roots are a source of wealth for society and citizenship and not vice versa, and that Europe of the twenty-first century can not have one identity, and that identities join forces to create a homogenous citizenship, where Islam is like other cultures and religions active within it

– Media in all its forms and levels has become a constant partner in all aspects of our lives, and its means affect the minds of the members of society, especially women, children and adolescents. It is not hidden what contemporary media can have on the patterns of thinking among the members of society and the formation of their convictions; and therefore, modern media must be used to protect society from extremism

– Intensifying and diversifying the means of moderate media discourse through various channels and communicating with all members of the community through the appropriate media such as channels for children, women, culture, sports and others

– To beware of deviant thought and extremism of all kinds, and to take into account the controls of the media work and its means of not falling towards the adoption of non-ethical practices such as defamation, harassment and interference in private life, and other demagogic behaviors that will not serve the cause of intellectual fortification of society, and protect it from influences of the negativity of deviant thought

– It is important to ensure the application of competitive technical media standards such as attention to image quality and attractive form, which if combined with the content of excellence can achieve most of the viewing rates

– Encourage attention to the role of social specialists for their specialized knowledge and technical expertise in investigating the social roots of extremism and early detection, and anticipating the methods of social influence that extremists can resort to in their activities

– The importance of providing spaces for the social absorption of youth within the society and the state in Europe because of their impact on connecting them to their communities to be influenced by their values and virtuous virtues in communication, cooperation and solidarity. It is well known that isolation is an entry point of extremism and makes it easy for extremists to influence them

– Encourage young people, in particular to engage in community service through their various social organizations, and motivate them to develop their abilities and interests in these activities, which gives them a positive feeling of community care and protection against risks

– Focusing on taking care of the family with greater attention to women because they have a very important role in influencing the rest of the family, and because they are more connected and present with the children. Also, children should be very interested in their behavior and directed towards moderation and kindness and respect for others

– The focus should be on the adolescent class because they are sensitive to new ideas since they are in the most important stage of change in their lives, on which the system of values, convictions, and ideas that determine the life paths of the future are formed, and because this stage embodies clear images of their intellectual, cultural and social maturity, and the increasing anxiety, motivation, and protest caused by them. The adolescents are really the most targeted group by extremist groups which exploit the energies of their hasty enthusiasm and the degree of their great passion for achieving its extremist goals

– The adoption of insurance, preventive and positive means: through scrutinizing in classification of those suspected of being involved in extremist activity, not having full access to information from a single source, and taking care to document information to ensure accuracy and truthfulness, because the establishment of dealing and suspicion on the basis of inaccurate information is the point at which a shift towards more extremism can occur

– Since extremism has become transboundary, States must establish networks of regional and international cooperation to detect it and prevent its extraterritorial effects, but this must be within the constants of States and their constitutional and legal systems. Cooperation can be in the closest area of the European Union, such as North Africa and the Middle East

– Guarding against relapsing into conflicts internally or externally because of the fight against extremism. It is well known that all current waves of extremism and violence would not have been sustained without the benefit of forms of support and care both internally and externally

– Giving importance to the qualifications of the former released extremists who have repented of their extremist actions and have shown a desire to be useful elements in society. They must be qualified from the social and economic levels in accordance with a well-thought-out plan

– The need to deal intelligently with the approach of proportionality between the extreme act and the method of dealing with it, so that the approach of dealing includes a degree of selectivity, proportionality and balance so that the absence of this approach does not have to produce violent and profound reactions whose effects can not be remedied

– Review existing legislation to keep pace with the methods and activities of extremist groups and to achieve the main objective of criminal legislation of deterrence and prevention

– National legislation should include provisions that allow dealing with the instigator and assistant to acts of extremism with the same degree of rigor as the original actor. Emphasis should be placed on criminal acts such as training and the preparation of violent extremism, taking into account that the legal language expressed Criminal descriptions are clear, precise and organized that it does not allow conflicting interpretations

– To focus on the selection of the justice and security competencies entrusted with the tasks of dealing with extremists, and to provide the necessary means to qualify them from various aspects to achieve the goal of action against extremists; all this means to reform them in order to be reconciled elements with their communities

–  Surrounding all the sites that incite extremism by the competent authorities from within the countries, to monitor their launching sites and their creators, and to weaken their technical ability by blocking their sites through appropriate means. If this method is not the best and most effective in eradicating the influence of extremism through technical means, it will contribute to the reduction of its impact at least

– Positive action through the sponsorship of States and encouraging the community to launch websites that address social disabilities, because of which the various hotbeds of extremism are formed through competitions, financial, technical, information and other support

– Address the economic conditions that help the growth of extremism such as unemployment and the lack of opportunities to earn a living through legitimate means

– Besieging economically active extremist groups to prevent their exploitation of money in corrupting society’s ideas by exploiting the poverty and the destitution

– Monitor the circulation of suspicious funds and strengthen international and regional cooperation in this important aspect, as extremist groups often have external funding sources

– To seek early detection of extremist tendencies among students in schools and university students, which shows early signs of social behavior such as closeness and isolation that leads to extremism which in turn develops into violent action. All of these stages can pass in a short period of time

– To expand the conduct of social and psychological surveys for students of schools and universities, and to direct specialized scientific research to serve this purpose, preferably if such research projects are included in the framework of national plans under the auspices of the leaders of the states, and implementation of the relevant ministries such as public education, higher education, And the relevant security services. Many educational, social and legal experts and civil society organizations are involved in these studies

– The issue of spreading the culture of dialogue and exploring the horizons of thinking through the specialists and psychologists who are capable of these tools remains the dependable to achieve the desired effect

– Encouraging young people who often have a tendency to toward extremism in presenting their ideas to be active members in social participation and involvement in community structures will make them more able to understand the limits of legal organization and public activity, understanding the idea of divergence of opinion and make them more willing to argue with opinion rather than forcing people to believe their views , as the political action will make them more disciplined and respectful of the law

These are some of the points and suggestions to identify the proposal of some smart means to address the problems of extremism, violence and extremist ideologies. It is a contribution that can be evolved through going into exact details and a more accurate description, and charting an integrated road map to contribute to addressing this imminent threat