Media
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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Mention
19 January 2016
Carl von Ossietzky Prize 2016 is awarded to Ahmad Mansour
The City of Oldenburg reports on the decision to award EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour with the Carl von Ossietzky Prize for 2016....
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Mention
19 January 2016
Palestinian psychologist receives Carl von Ossietzky Prize
Focus Online reports on the projects that EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour is currently involved in and announces the awarding of the Carl von Ossietzky Prize for 2016 to Mansour for his promotion of democracy, tolerance and integration....
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Article
19 January 2016
The goals and challenges of deradicalisation work
EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour explains why it is important to draw a distinct line between preventative and deradicalisation work. At the same time, he stresses that both approaches are interlinked and illustrates his analysis based on examples....
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Mention
18 January 2016
“We’re all speaking at once, I would like to bring about a calmer discussion”
Spiegel Online reports on the contents of German talk show Anne Will, in which EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour was invited to discuss issues related to the migration crisis.
In light of the New Year’s Eve incidents in several European cities, the current German asylum policy was debated by Mansour, along with political scientist, Gesine Schwan, head of the German chancellory (CDU), Peter Altmaier and editor-in-chief of Welt24, Stefan Aust...
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Interview
18 January 2016
5 measures for the integration of young Muslims
EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour is interviewed about concrete measures for the integration of young Muslims into mainstream society. He elaborates on five distinct steps that should be undertaken by politicians and civil society....
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Article
17 January 2016
Prevention is needed urgently
Following the recent New Year’s Eve attacks in Cologne and other European cities, EFD Senior Fellow Valentina Colombo stresses the need for integration and control of the most sensitive immigrant groups into our societies....
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Broadcast
17 January 2016
Time for a new asylum policy after Cologne?
EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour is a guest on German television talk show Anne Will, where he discusses recent calls in Germany for a new asylum policy after the New Year’s Eve incidents in Cologne....
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Broadcast
14 January 2016
The image of women held by men from immigrant families
EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour talks about the questionable image of women that prevails in certain understandings of Islam and how it is deeply rooted in patriarchal structures....
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Article
13 January 2016
Prevent and Channel
EFD Fellow Tehmina Kazi writes about the importance of education and counter-narrative in counter-extremism programs, which she finds more fruitful than a strategy focused on surveillance and repression....
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Article
13 January 2016
The terminus. A wretched agreement
EFD Senior Policy Advisor Lorenzo Vidino highlights the failures of fifteen years of AKP in Turkey, both in domestic and foreign policy....
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Interview
12 January 2016
Bombs alone don’t help
In this interview, EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour talks about the dangers of a polarised society in the light of increasing radicalisation and why he thinks democracy in Germany is under threat....
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Mention
11 January 2016
Sharia law: a question of judgement
EFD Fellow Tehmina Kazi is mentioned in an article on the New Humanist. The article refers to her distinction between sharia as "a code of ethics governing personal religious practice" and sharia as "a set of prescriptive rules for society at large"....
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Article
11 January 2016
Where does the Islamic hatred for women come from?
EFD Senior Fellow Valentina Colombo comments on the New Year’s Eve attacks in Cologne and other European cities. She references the sexual assaults during the Tahrir square protests in 2011 and compares them to the New Year’s eve attacks. Valentina states that the cultural and social backgrounds of the men involved are the same....
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