By Marcelina Horrillo Husillos, Journalist and Correspondent at The European Financial Review
Extremist views and toxic politics pose a serious threat to peace and democracy in the 21st century, affecting people of all ages, cultures, religions, and nationalities. The United Nations General Assembly (in its resolution 77/243) declared 12 February the International Day for the Prevention of Extremism as and when Conducive to Terrorism (PVE day). The PVE Day brings together Member States, the United Nations system, and all relevant stakeholders, including civil society, religious leaders, the private sector, academia, and the media to strengthen the international community’s resolve: to address the conditions conducive to terrorism, to raise awareness on the threat of extremism, and renew commitments to collaborate on preventing its spread.
The influence of dangerous and extremist ideas and groups on vulnerable audiences around the world increasingly poses potential disproportionate harm in the 21st century. The belief in dubious ideas has been linked to extremist political, far-right views, which exploit politicized views such as the climate crisis and the revival of white supremacy. In recent years, few topics have become as politicized as the coronavirus pandemic, especially among politicians with extremist predispositions like Donald Trump or Jair Bolsonaro. The disinformation from mainstream media about current, global affairs and events such as the conflict in Gaza, misinformation, and conspiratorial beliefs at local and global scales is a breeding ground for political extremism to fester. The right-wing extremist narrative constructs fear in its audiences to encourage far-right radicalization and extremism, which often uses online channels to disseminate far-right propaganda and disinformation campaigns.
Tackling extremism and radicalization with education, unbiased information, and promoting tolerance and cohesion is crucial for the present and the future of society. Schools are ideally fashioned to both tackle and respond to extremism and radicalization. Considering school approaches that prevent extremist mindsets will help to ensure both compliance and the development of methods to break the cycle of violence and keep children—and others—safe.
Extremist ideologies share common traits
Violent extremism has become transnational due to the fast-paced circulation of disinformation, conspiracy theories, and extremist materials via the internet and digital media. Information that is “inaccurate, misleading, inappropriately attributed, or altogether fabricated” in the media and online networks can lead to harmful effects of problematic information and extremism.
Whether based on race, religion, or class, extremists offer a singular vision of a “perfect” society that will fix all they consider “problems.” These societies are based on a collectivist vision, not on individual rights, freedoms, and human dignity. Unsurprisingly, proponents of such ideologies target minorities and often aim to eliminate any diversity in society with little to no openness to civil discourse or compromise—they justify violence to fulfill their vision.
Although there are differences among various extremist ideologies, there are also some common traits. They depend on carefully crafted propaganda and indoctrination to motivate their believers and demonize and intimidate their enemies. Spreading a narrative based on lies, which only supports a one-sided view, aims to create a dogma of faith to beguile their followers. Any attempt to reveal the truth would be under assault, which always benefits the perpetrators. As Adolf Hitler was building his movement, he deployed numerous lies as he sought support from those who feared change, were consumed with resentment, and sought easy answers to their problems.
In the case of Zionism, it is a racist and settler colonialist movement that opportunistically coopts aspects of Judaism in an attempt to justify its criminal practices of apartheid and genocide of indigenous Palestinians. To maintain this abusive, white supremacist dynamic, Zionist propaganda (aka Hasbara) has promoted the anti-Semitic fallacy that Israel is a Jewish state that represents Judaism and all Jews, galvanizing support for Israeli settler colonialism and attacking anti-colonial resistance.
Misinformation: Breeding Ground of extremist views
Recent surveys suggest that around 17% of Americans believe in the QAnon myth. Some 5% of Germans believe ideas related to the anti-democratic Reichsbürger movement, which asserts that the German Reich continues to exist and rejects the legitimacy of the modern German state. Significant portions of the population in liberal democracies consider it possible that global elites drink the blood of children to stay young.
Misinformation that employs divisive rhetoric and elicits strong emotional responses can impact the process of evaluating information. An emotional aspect of misinformation also impacts its spread: studies have found that misinformation inspires strong feelings of surprise and disgust that encourage greater engagement in the form of sharing, “likes” and comments. Violent extremist group leaders are savvy Internet users who deploy a variety of tactics to expand consumption of their material and recruit new members. For example, extremists may use common hashtags when commenting on topical issues or embed news reports into their propaganda to lure users from mainstream to extremist content.
Some misinformation is designed to elicit strong emotions and legitimize extreme beliefs, such as propaganda and conspiracy theories. Propaganda is false or misleading information specifically designed to manipulate consumers’ beliefs and preferences to achieve a political goal. Propagandists often play on prejudices or emotions to strengthen the persuasiveness of their messages. Conspiracy theories are information statements incorrectly attributing political or social phenomena to specific people or institutions. These forms of misinformation often produce “evidence” that supports violent extremist ideologies.
Notably, research shows that once anxiety has been aroused, individuals are more likely to process information on their pre-existing beliefs. This effect is compounded by the tendency of high-anxiety individuals to seek out threatening information. Messages that elicit anger may also lead individuals to seek out attitude-confirming information. Feelings of anger are also associated with a higher likelihood of engaging in online debates.
Education to Prevent Extremism
The Prevent Duty (Home Office, 2015) has long been a core part of safeguarding work in schools. Formed as one of the four strands of the government’s anti-terrorism CONTEST strategy in 2003, it has been a key responsibility for schools to work to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism for many years.
The original approach has been adapted and extended over time. The most recent review of the strategy—the Independent Review of Prevent—was published last February (Home Office, 2023).
As part of the response to the review, the statutory Prevent Duty guidance for “specified authorities” was updated in September 2023 and became statutory on December 31 (DfE, 2023; Home Office, 2023). While this guidance doesn’t confer new statutory responsibilities on schools, it brings Prevent back to the forefront of safeguarding discussions.
The global context (recent conflict in the Middle East) and the rise in hate crimes against communities have also highlighted the ongoing requirement for schools to balance promoting tolerance and cohesion by sensitively addressing questions and opinions about global matters, supporting children with vulnerabilities, protecting them from harm, and robustly responding where there are concerns about radicalization and extremism.
Israeli scholar Adir Cohen, for example, analyzed some 1700 Hebrew-language children’s books published in Israel between 1967 and 1985 for his book titled An Ugly Face in the Mirror – National Stereotypes in Hebrew Children’s Literature. He found that a whopping 520 of them contained humiliating, negative descriptions of the Palestinians. Cohen revealed that 66% of these 520 books refer to Arabs as violent; 52% as evil; 37% as liars; 31% as greedy; 28% as two-faced, and 27% as traitors. Such persistent, negative descriptions dehumanized Palestinians in the eyes of Israelis across generations, established them as dangerous “others”, and paved the way for children to celebrate their genocide in a video produced by the state broadcaster in 2023.
In his 1999 book, One Nation Under Israel, historian Andrew Hurley explained how Israel weaponizes the Holocaust education it provides to Israeli children against the Palestinians.
“The mind of a child (or of anyone else for that matter) cannot absorb the horrors of the Holocaust without finding someone to hate,” Hurley argued. “Since there are no Nazis around against whom vengeance can be sought, [Former Israeli Prime Ministers] [Menachem] Begin, [Yitzhak] Shamir and [Ariel] Sharon have solved this problem by calling the Arabs the Nazis of today and proper target for retribution.”
Israeli professor Meytal Nasie strongly corroborates Hurley’s view surrounding the ramifications of the way the Holocaust is taught. In her 2016 study, Young Children’s Experiences and Learning in Intractable Conflicts, she found that 68% of Israeli children suggested “beating,” “fighting,” “killing,” or “expelling” the Arabs in response. Nasie states that frequently and intensely imparting these beliefs at such an early age leads to inculcation of these conflict-related narratives deep within the children’s socio-psychological repertoires.
In her 2013 book, Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education, Israeli scholar Nurit Peled-Elhanan analyzed Israeli history, geography, and civic studies textbooks for grades 8-12 and concluded rather similar results to Bar-Ta: in Israeli school books, Palestinians are still represented as evil “others,” and Israelis as innocent victims of history and circumstance.
When children are taught that they belong to an inherently good “chosen people” and are being attacked and victimized by a demonic and inhuman “other,” they easily accept the oppression, displacement, or mass killing of those who belong to this “other” (ie, the Palestinians) without any moral qualm or hesitation. So, no one should be shocked to see Israeli children singing happily about the genocide of the Palestinians, as they have been brainwashing them to do so for many generations.
