Dr. Peter Neumann, Dr. Dr. Peter Neumann, Dr. Lorenzo Vidino, Andy Polk, Dr. Hedieh Mirahmadi, and Congressional Staffer from the Anti-Terror Caucus
On March 4, 2011, WORDE President Dr. Hedieh Mirahmadi, along with Dr. Peter Neumann (Visiting Fellow at Georgetown University and Director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence at King’s College, London), and Dr. Lorenzo Vidino (Visiting Fellow at the RAND Corp) briefed the bi-partisan Congressional Anti-Terror Caucus about countering domestic radicalism.
Dr. Hedieh Mirahmadi’s presentation provided the policymaking community recommendations to partner with Muslim communities to counter domestic radicalization. In her presentation she emphasized the need for policymakers and law enforcement officials to conduct outreach efforts at the grass-roots level. She suggested that these relationships can be fostered by organizing frequent tall hall or round-table forums with diverse Muslim communities. She explained that these dialogues could be avenues through which public officials can receive information from the community about emerging threats; and where the community can learn about services offered by law enforcement to protect their community from these and other threats. She also added that these forums should feature Islamic scholars, and academics to provide training to participants to identify warning signs of radicalization and the tools to conduct interventions for at-risk youth. “Once Muslim Americans have the tools to recognize the problem,” Dr. Mirahmadi said, “these community forums should be an opportunity for them to identify radical behaviors they have witnessed and to develop local strategies to reverse the trend of religious extremism.”
In his presentation Dr. Peter Neumann explained that a successful counter-radicalization strategy should empower civil society to counter radical messages and to address socio-political and economic grievances, while law enforcement agencies would be tasked to disrupt radical social networks.
Dr. Vidino provided an overview of deradicalization, disengagement and radicalization prevention strategies employed throughout Europe and North America. In his closing remarks, he said that Muslim communities – at the local level – are best suited to carry out effective programs; however he postulated that most Muslim organizations would require financial support to carry out their projects.
The Congressional Anti-Terror Caucus provides policymakers and Congressional staffers with information and resources to address threats to our country that are fueled by extremist ideologies. WORDE has been actively involved with the Caucus since its establishment in 2007.
Dr. Peter Neumann
Dr. Lorenzo Vidino and WORDE President Mirahmadi
Audience Members