Media - European Foundation for Democracy

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....

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....

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...

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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."...

Article 26 January 2016

The Islamic State Comes to Russia

EFD Fellow Anna Borshchevskaya analyses ISIS' penetration in Russia and the government's response....

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....

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....

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")....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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...

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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"....

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....

Interview 09 January 2016

What remains is the macho posture

EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour comments on the New Year’s Eve attacks on women in the German city of Cologne. Analysing the occurrences from a psychological perspective, Mansour detects deficiencies related to gender perception as one of the underlying causes for the events....

Mention 08 January 2016

Call to battle rallies misfits to ISIS cause

US-based media website TribLIVE writes about the so-called Islamic State and the challenge that it poses to America in comparison to threats faced by the US in the past, including conventional adversaries and non-conventional threats like al-Qaida. Vidino is quoted for his expertise in examining the dangerous ideology of the Islamic State and for his views on what separates this from previous threats, highlighting that this factor makes it one of...

Article 08 January 2016

Democratic safeguards and growing figures. Intelligence’s flops are inevitable

EFD Senior Policy Advisor Lorenzo Vidino explains the objective difficulties that European intelligence apparatuses face in monitoring the increasing number of radicalised citizens who could move from mere jihadi propaganda on the web to downright terrorist attacks....

Broadcast 08 January 2016

How do we deal with delinquent asylum seekers?

EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour is interviewed about the New Year’s Eve attacks on women in Cologne (Germany). He elaborates on prevalent problems with gender perceptions and how this is conditioned by patriarchal structures....

Mention 08 January 2016

Islamism also originates in Brussels, Berlin and Winterthur

Der Landbote reports on a reading held by EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour of his book "Generation Allah" in Switzerland, where the issue of young people leaving the country to join the Islamic State has long been a reality....

Mention 08 January 2016

Syrian refugees are worried about their reputation

Stern magazine reports on the New Year’s Eve attacks on women in Cologne (Germany) and cites EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour with regards to the discussion on why it is important to have a balanced debate, look after the victims and avoid stereotyping....

Interview 07 January 2016

Between extremes

In this interview, EFD Programme Director Ahmad Mansour talks about his personal experience with regards to the process of deradicalisation and why it is so important to create counter-narratives for young people who are at risk of becoming radicalised....