Media - European Foundation for Democracy

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....

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....

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...

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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....

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...

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....