Annual Prevent Week of Action

The inaugural Prevent Week of Action took place on 26-29 September 2022 and featured an incredible range of workshops and events from a host of partners who are all committed in raising awareness around radicalisation. 

The fundamental belief is that countering terrorism requires partnerships and we all have a role to play in that work. 

The Prevent Team would like to say thank you to the following partners who supported the week:

• Picture News
• Facing History and Ourselves
• Votes for Schools
• Safen3t
• StandUp! Education Against Discrimination
• Travis Frain
• Nicola Benyahia
• Figen Murray
• Mike Haines
• Nick Daines and John
• Grace Academy
• Lyng Hall
• John Gulson
• St Elizabeth's
• Cardinal Newman
• Caludon Castle
• All colleagues and community members

Below are several articles on topics covered throughout the week.  We were incredibly fortunate to collaborate with some inspirational people to create a video series giving a platform to their stories of how terrorism has affected them personally.  The links to these videos are below.

Article 1: What is Radicalisation?

Over the past decade, our understanding of how and why individuals engage in violent extremism and terrorism has significantly evolved. Radicalisation is the psychological and emotional process of being groomed into supporting extremism and terrorism, most often by a third party who have their own agenda.

It is very similar to being groomed into other forms of exploitation. Extremists deliberately build trusting and heavily influential relationships with vulnerable individuals, who are ultimately drawn into dangerous and harmful situations.

Radicalisation is a fluid and highly individualised process. The drivers of radicalisation include:

• Individual psychological and emotional characteristics
• Push and pull factors that include structural conditions, such as poverty, grievances and the lack of access to political processes or justice.
• Influences of group dynamics and relationships
• Active recruitment which includes extremist messaging that incites violence

What does radicalisation look like?

Radicalisation can happen over a few weeks, months, or years. It can happen both in person and online, and it can be driven by a range of ideologies. Throughout the process, individuals will adopt increasingly extreme and intolerant views and behaviours which can manifest in different ways. This may include changes to their appearance, language, online behaviour, interactions with friends and family, and engagement with the world around them. Learn more about the signs of radicalisation on our website.

Who can be radicalised?

Anyone can be radicalised, regardless of their age or background. However, there are certain factors that can make people more vulnerable to radicalisation, which extremists intentionally prey upon. You can read more about how vulnerabilities are exploited via our webpages.

What support is available?

The Prevent Team aim to intervene as early as possible to safeguard and support people of all ages who may be drawn into supporting terrorism. If you are concerned that someone may be at risk of radicalisation, you can always contact us to share your concerns, or you can complete our referral form.

Nicola Benyahia, whose son was radicalised by ISIS in 2015. Listen to her share an introduction to her story.

Article 2: 'Thinking Critically About Sources of Information'.

The internet and digital media have been exploited by those who wish to promote hatred and recruit followers to cause and encourage violence.  Social networks operate on a more personal basis than mass media and can be targeted at a particular age group, audience or individual. The need to be aware of the harm that unbalanced media reports can cause and the knowledge to evaluate sources of online information is so important. We should all think critically of the source, but what does this entail?

Why should we think critically?

In a world of misinformation, fake news, and conspiracy theories, it is more important than ever to critically engage with media. Although a piece of information may have been published in print, verbalised by a recognisable figure on the television or radio, or shared from a verified social media account, this does not necessarily mean it is true.

Engaging with a certain point of view online causes the algorithms to present more of the same material on people’s feeds and timelines. As a result, it is extremely easy to fall into so-called ‘echo chambers’, where the same pool of opinions is reinforced, leaving little room for wider discussion and debate. Over time, this can make it harder to accept differences in opinion and can trigger a descent into more intense and extreme outlooks.

This partially reflects how online radicalisation occurs, an issue that is becoming increasingly prominent. Online radicalisation relies heavily on indoctrinating people by exposing them to very specific viewpoints which are presented as ‘fact’ and ‘reality’.

One of the best ways to combat this is through thinking critically about the information we consume.

How can we think critically?

Here are some questions we can use and share to ensure we all actively and consciously think critically about the media we engage with:

• Who? Who published it? Who will benefit from it? Who is sponsoring it? Who are using these sources?
• What? What are they not telling me? What would the opposition say? What more would I like to know?
• Where? Where is the evidence to support this? Where can I validate this information? Where have I seen similar arguments?
• When? When did this happen? When was this written? When was this updated?
• Why? Why was this published?  Why am I seeing this?  Why are they using certain language to describe the topic?

Top Tips

• Diversify your news outlets to gain a broader perspective on issues, even if that means consuming media going against your personal values and opinions.
• Verify images by doing a reverse Google search – simply click the camera logo on Google and upload the image to find its original source.

Figen Murray's life changed forever in 2017 when her son, Martyn, attended the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester Arena at the time a terrorist detonated a suicide bomb. Listen to Figen's story.

Article 3: ‘Staying Safe in the Digital Space’

Did you know…

• We spend an average of 6hrs and 54 minutes on the internet each day meaning roughly 42% of our waking lives are online.
• Mobile phones are the dominant digital device, and we spend an average of 4hrs 10mins on them each day
• Staying up to date with news and current events is the top reason for using social media
• 81% of internet users agree that blogs are trusted sources of information and advice
• The average age of a gamer in the UK is 35
• Instagram has over 1 billion monthly users
• Brains release dopamine when ‘likes’ are received online

(Source: DataReportal (2021)

Digital technology is no longer just a tool, it is part of everyday life. There are many positive aspects to the digital space, such as how it can be used for educational purposes, communication, socialising, entertainment, and learning technical skills.  However, many digital spaces can be extremely toxic environments, with issues such as grooming, sexting, radicalisation, and chat forums nurturing extreme ideas, including misogyny, racism, and extremist ideologies.

One aspect of digital literacy is the need to safeguard children and young people from dangers they are likely to encounter in their own use of digital technology, whether that be the use of the internet, apps or gaming.

Here are some House Rules you may find useful to implement around technology use in your household to help keep children and young people safe online:

• Ensure all apps are age appropriate
• Keep all accounts on private with the location off
• Ask permission before downloading apps
• Don’t exceed the agreed amount of time spent online
• No access to devices 30 minutes before bedtime to help the brain synthesise information in a healthy way
• Don’t talk to people you have never met in real life
• Normalise talking about internet activity (what games they play, who they talk to, etc.) to make it easier for them to disclose any worries or concerns

Apart from E-safety there also needs to be an emphasis on respect and the responsible use of digital technology.  The guiding principles for this would be:

• Safe (Protect Yourself/Protect Others)
• Savvy (Educate Yourself/Educate others
• Social (Respect Yourself/Respect Others)

(M. Ribble, 2015)

For more free support and resources on keeping children and young people safe in the digital space, you can take a look at our resource pack.

Mike Haines’s whole family were shattered when his brother David was kidnapped by ISIS in 2013 and kept in captivity for 18 months whilst he was in Syria providing aid support with a charity he worked for.  Listen to Mike's story.

Article 4: ‘Building Resilience'.

In the United Sates since 9/11 and in the UK since the 7/7 London bombings, we have been aware that something called ‘terrorism’ is not necessarily a remote event in a far-off country but can happen on our doorstep.  The globalisation and advancement in digital technology means that no community is far removed from the threat of terrorism and events in other countries can often have a direct impact and escalate grievances locally. These grievances and a sense of injustice are what extremist groups often exploit and manipulate at the start of their process to groom and radicalise people. Resilience in communities is one of the core foundations in us tackling the issue of violent extremism. 

Resilience is about an individual’s capacity to overcome challenges that have a negative impact on their emotional and physical well-being and in the context of violent extremism resilience refers to the ability to resist counter violent narratives.  Civil society can play a vital role in building resilience in this area and that includes all of us nurturing positive relationships with communities.

How can we build resilience?

• Partnerships are the cornerstone of effective prevention targeting violent extremism   collaboration with all sectors of society
• Create safe spaces based on trust and respect
• Teaching skills associated with building resilience and resistance such as exploring issues of identity, understanding bias, the ability to think critically,
• By having safe spaces for constructive dialogue and being able to discuss controversial difficult issues
• The need to develop an understanding of complex issues and question one’s own assumptions
• Having the ability to have dialogue respectfully, to negotiate, anticipate response, managing one’s emotions and to challenge prejudice
• Counter violent narratives by having accurate and relevant knowledge, counteract the views of the world of propaganda propagated by violent groups
• Challenge ideologies, myths, conspiracy theories and exclusionary worldviews  
• Nurture social emotional skills such as empathy, compassion and mindfulness
• Being digital citizens

Building capacity amongst local stakeholders is important and developing these approaches and is associated with empowering people in building resilience. 

Travis Frain is a survivor of the terrorist attack at Westminster Bridge in 2017.  He was severely injured during the attack, whilst on a visit to London with friends who were also affected. See his video interview on what happened.