Media
Mention
24 February 2016
Former Islamist Warns Of Dangers Of Radical Islamism Among Young Germans And Migrants
Breitbart News reports on a talk at Hamburg University in which EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour discusses his book “Generation Allah”. During the discussion, Mansour states that he wants to “get away from the narrow discussion of the few young people who connect with the Islamic State. This is only the tip of the iceberg. I’d like to talk about those who belong to us; those who go to our schools and still partially reject our values....
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Interview
24 February 2016
Muslims don’t need protection, they need societal debates
EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour is interviewed about the growing number of young people he encounters in schools, who are unable to harmonise their religious convictions with fundamental laws. Mansour expresses that it is essential to understand their individual motives to address the roots of the problem....
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Broadcast
24 February 2016
The Arabic deradicaliser
EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour is a guest on German radio show Eine Stunde Talk. Discussing his book “Generation Allah”, Mansour stresses that the radicalised youth he references in his publication are made up of young Germans rather than constituting an issue of immigration....
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Article
22 February 2016
Islam and violence against women – Controversial questions
EFD Senior Fellow Valentina Colombo writes about the project "Aisha", launch in the Italian city of Milan, which aims to eradicate violence and discrimination against women, in particular Muslim women. Although the initiative seems to have good intentions, Colombo can't help pointing out the legacies between some of the organizations behind the project and Muslim Brotherhood. It is therefore imperative to understand who is behind such project and...
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Article
22 February 2016
Islam and violence against women. Thorny questions
EFD Senior Fellow Valentina Colombo writes about "Aisha", a project denouncing violence and discrimination against women, promoted by the "Coordinamento delle Associazioni Islamiche di Milano Monza e Brianza (CAIM)", an Italian Islamic organisation ideologically linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, and coordinated by Sumaya Abdel Qader, head of the department Youth & Students of the Federation of Islamic organisations in Europe....
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Mention
19 February 2016
Russia and the US play games, the Kurds are stuck in the middle
Dr. Murat Seyrek is quoted in an article on De Morgen for his expertise on Turkey, in the aftermath of the recent terrorist attack which killed 28. The Turkish government was quick to blame the Kurds but Dr. Seyrek urges caution and warns about the risks of complicating an already extremely complex crisis....
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Article
19 February 2016
Safety first in Syria
EFD Fellow Anna Borshchevskaya discusses the necessity of implementing safe zones in Syria and why failure to do so will increase the humanitarian disaster while at the same time threaten both regional and European stability....
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Op-Ed
17 February 2016
Countering Russian and Assad Regime Responses to Safe Zones
EFD Fellow Anna Borshchevskaya examines what the West should do in order to establish safe zones at the Turkish-Syrian border....
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Mention
16 February 2016
Cia Chief: ISIS terror attempt is ‘inevitable’
EFD Senior Policy Advisor Lorenzo Vidino is quoted by WWLP as explaining why ISIS has not launched a major terrorist attack in America so far. "Partially it is geography, the distance between here and Syria and Iraq, the fact that you have a very small number of Americans who are a part of ISIS, while in Europe you have thousands of individuals", Vidino explains....
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Broadcast
15 February 2016
Ahmad Mansour was an Islamist himself as an adolescent
EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour is interviewed about the rising number of overwhelmed teachers in Germany who say they are faced with students’ voicing their approval of Islamist attacks and the actions of the so-called Islamic State. He elaborates on the importance and methods of challenging students’ statements by means of engaging them in open discussions....
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Article
11 February 2016
Corruption and Terrorist Violence Pose Obstacles to Peace
EFD Senior Fellow Magnus Norell writes about the Swedish government's decision not to recognise an independent Western Sahara (or rather the Polisario movement). Among the issues discussed, he examines what has prevented the Swedish administration from recognising the independence of Western Sahara to date and what are the implications of Sweden's decision....
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Mention
11 February 2016
What’s holding you back? time to join Marie Claire’s #BREAKFREE campaign!
EFD Fellow Tehmina Kazi is featured in the Marie Clair spot and campaign #BREAKFREE, which aims, alongside nine ambassadors from across the UK , to are take a stand on gender equality....
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Broadcast
10 February 2016
We must get the youth to think critically
EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour is interviewed about the rising number of Salafists in Germany who are willing to resort to violence and why consistent work with youth constitutes an effective antidote to this phenomenon....
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Article
08 February 2016
Muslim Brotherhood: France and Belgium are starting to become aware of the problem… When will Italy?
EFD Senior Fellow Valentina Colombo comments on France’s and Belgium’s recent behaviour towards some Islamic preachers who maintain a radical views....
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Broadcast
08 February 2016
Targeted by Islamists – how safe is Germany?
EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour participates in German television show Das Duell on the topic of Islamism in German society, in which he debates the issue with Mike Mohring, a federal chairman for the German Christian Democratic Union....
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Article
06 February 2016
Regeni’s murder, no easy answers
EFD Senior Fellow Valentina Colombo comments on the heinous assassination of Giulio Regeni, an Italian researcher tortured and murdered in Cairo by unknown persons....
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Article
04 February 2016
Geneva III — Set-Up to Fail
EFD Senior Fellow Magnus Norell writes about the ongoing Geneva III talks, convened in a desperate attempt to negotiate an end to the five-year conflict in Syria. He suggests however that the talks were destined for failure before they ever started, due to, among other reasons, competing interests which ultimately led to the failures of the previous two Geneva talks....
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Mention
03 February 2016
Sweden’s failed state-building process
EFD Senior Fellow Magnus Norell is mentioned in an article of the Jerusalem Post on the recognition of the state of Palestine by the newly elected Swedish government....
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Mention
03 February 2016
Why Converts To Islam Are So Susceptible To Becoming Terrorists
EFD Senior Policy Advisor Lorenzo Vidino is quoted in an article on ThinkProgress concerning the tendency of converts to Islam to radicalise. "I think it’s fair to say that certain converts…tend to be more vulnerable to certain interpretations of Islam", Vidino told ThinkProgress....
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Mention
02 February 2016
The Genocidal Threat of Homegrown Jihadism in America
Online media and political analysis website Observer writes about the George Washington University's Program on Extremism in the United States, co-founded by EFD Senior Policy Advisor Lorenzo Vidino in June 2015. The article discusses the impetus for its founding and what makes it distinguishable from other similar programmes, such as the need for more nuanced conversation on homegrown violent extremism, rather than black and white generalisa...
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Article
01 February 2016
Abuse Against Female Activists Occurs Through A Gendered Lens
EFD Fellow Tehmina Kazi comments on the abuses and attacks to secular and progressive activists within the Muslim communities....
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Interview
01 February 2016
Ahmad Mansour: Psychologist
In this interview, EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour discusses his personal process of becoming radicalised, as well as the process of deradicalisation that followed. He talks about controversial content within Islamic beliefs and the necessity of offering alternative interpretations to the Muslim community....
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Mention
01 February 2016
Europe is getting the best migrants ever
Vita International writes about the recently convened closed-door policy briefing organised by the European Foundation for Democracy on 27 January 2016. The event, entitled "A Syrian Perspective on the EU's Response to the Refugee Crisis", offered a comprehensive overview of the Syrian conflict, the article notes, examining the implications and challenges posed by the massive influx of refugees who are fleeing to neighbouring countries and to Eur...
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Interview
01 February 2016
On the Islamic State, with Magnus Norell
FED Senior Fellow Magnus Norell is interviewed on the Swedish podcast Acast on issues concerning the Middle East, the emergence of the terrorist organization Islamic State and how they have grown to be so strong....
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Interview
01 February 2016
The Islamic State, with Magnus Norell
EFD Senior Fellow Magnus Norell is interviewed by Acast on the Middle East and the rise of terrorist groups such as the so-called Islamic State....
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Interview
31 January 2016
The big questions: Do we need a British Islam
EFD Fellow Tehmina Kazi was interviewed on BBC One, to address the unique challenges of citizenship, identity, and belonging in a globalized world....
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27 January 2016
A Syrian perspective on the EU’s response to the refugee crisis
On 27 January 2016, the European Foundation for Democracy, in collaboration with the Counter Extremism Project, hosted a closed-door policy briefing for EU diplomats and officials which offered a Syrian perspective on the EU’s response to the refugee crisis. The guest speaker was a Syrian activist currently based in Gaziantep, southern Turkey....
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Article
27 January 2016
Freedom and democracy in Islam: a Gordian knot?
EFD Researcher Tommaso Virgili writes about the issue of democracy and individual freedoms in Islam. According to Virgili, while certain concepts of the Islamic doctrine, as interpreted by Islamists and orthodox scholars, are incompatible with the tenets of a liberal democracy, the view offered by liberal Muslims may untie the Gordian knot....
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Broadcast
27 January 2016
Psychologist Ahmad Mansour urges a rethinking in the fight against religious extremism
EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour is a guest on German radio show SWR2 Tandem. In reaction to the Europe-wide sexual assault cases on New Year’s Eve 2015, Mansour explains how certain educational methods and the suppression of sexuality can lead to an unhealthy social engagement between the sexes. With regards to his social work, he describes how the psychological concept of guided discovery could be helpful to young people....
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Mention
26 January 2016
German Jews fear rising anti-Semitism amid Middle East refugee influx
Haaretz reports on prevailing anti-Semitism within German society and cites EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour, who argues that "education can't just be about the Holocaust and the Third Reich. Schools also need to talk about the Middle East conflict and anti-Semitism based on religious argumentation and conspiracy theories."...
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Article
26 January 2016
The Islamic State Comes to Russia
EFD Fellow Anna Borshchevskaya analyses ISIS' penetration in Russia and the government's response....
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Mention
24 January 2016
Disengaged from radical Islamism
Nordwest Zeitung Online reports on EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour’s selection as the winner of the Carl von Ossietzky Prize for 2016 and how his own experiences with radical Islamism shape his work with radicalised young people....
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Interview
24 January 2016
Ex-Islamist: “Salafists are the better social workers”
EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour is interviewed about radical interpretations of Islam and criticises the lack of their critical examination within the Muslim community....
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Article
21 January 2016
I will explain why I left the Muslim Brotherhood
EFD Senior Fellow Valentina Colombo conducts an interview with Mohamed Louizi, author of the book "Pourquoi j'ai quitté les Frères Musulmans" ("Why did I leave the Muslim Brotherhood")....
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Mention
20 January 2016
The fight against extremism is a societal obligation
Frankfurter Neue Presse reports on a presentation by EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour on his book "Generation Allah". In his presentation, Mansour discusses the solid structures of Salafism that have manifested within German society and how an education of fear is used as a basis for radicalisation....
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Article
19 January 2016
Call for urgent rethink on EU policies aimed at tackling extremism
EFD Senior Fellow Magnus Norell comments on the extremist threat of extremism that the EU has faced in 2015 and will most likely face for the duration in 2016....
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