BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES In a context of increasingly polarized societies, with extremist ideologies spreading and presenting high threats to social cohesion in Europe, the EU and its Member States are recognizing the need to develop effective prevention policies and intervention scenarios supporting social inclusion and cohesive societies. It is especially relevant to focus on psychological and social mechanisms of alienation, radicalization and deradicalization of young people in European urban contexts. Furthermore, as the phenomena of polarization and radicalization affect virtually all European states, two distinct trends have emerged over the past few years: 1) polarization and radicalization seems to involve mainly young people from deprived socio-economic contexts radicalized within their neighborhood or online (The Hague Institute of Social Justice 2016) and 2) the strategic locations chosen for terrorist attacks are very rarely central urban areas in capital city, but more often other urban and peri-urban areas. Both these trends seem to be suggestive that radicalization has become more localized and endogenous (The Hague Institute of Social Justice 2016). OPEN MINDS will aim to identify social-economic problems, design and pilot solutions and, refine and validate these solutions in close collaboration to stakeholders and civil society. Therefore, the project touches upon all the relevant SRL levels from level number 2 (formulation of problem, proposed solution(s) and potential impact, expected societal readiness; identifying relevant stakeholders for the project) to level number 6 (solution(s) demonstrated in relevant environment and in cooperation with relevant stakeholders to gain initial feedback on potential impact). PARTICIPANTS In order to achieve the best possible dissemination results, project’s target groups are categorized as follows: - Young people presenting high risks for radicalization and social exclusion; - Youth workers; - NGOs working with and supporting young people; - Public entities and organizations supporting the social inclusion of youth; - Policy makers. ACTIVITIES & METHODOLOGY OPEN MINDS project will explore the socio-economic drivers of radical religious and political ideologies prone to incite or lead to violence. It will also analyze exit strategies and disengagement from radical contexts and present complementary knowledge on non-radicalizing identity. Extensive fieldwork will be conducted and the research findings will be translated into two intervention scenarios (gaming and training) which will directly enable young people to take an active role in a more inclusive Europe. Our consortium will draw on the existing state-of-the-art research across relevant disciplines (from conflict and terrorism studies, sociology, psychology, geography, linguistics, moral philosophy, computer science and econometrics) to pave a way for exploring the understudied links between socio-economics, radicalization and deradicalization and related socio-ecological resilience. RESULTS & IMPACT - A Synthesis report on how socio-economics affect psychological and social mechanisms of polarization and radicalization of youth living in urban areas of the project countries (IO1) - Collection and analysis of deradicalization pathways towards Social Inclusion (IO2) - Development of an innovative game and training material for promoting Social Resilience and Social Inclusion of Youth (IO3) - Advance comprehensive evidence-based knowledge of trends and socio-economic drivers of polarization and radicalization and complementary knowledge on non-radicalizing identities and disengagement; - Increased knowledge regarding the links between social inclusion/exclusion and socio-economic factors related to polarization and radicalization in urban contexts, combined with the provision of effective tools in order to address this issue; - Promotion of extensive multi-agency collaboration between various social-service providers and the educational system for preventing radicalization and promoting social inclusion of youth; - Increased capacity of local institutions, organizations and civil society actors on how to calibrate their approaches and resources to increase socio-ecological resilience and protect communities and individuals that are vulnerable to radicalization and violent extremism. - Strengthen the capacity of the EU and its Member States to develop effective prevention policies and intervention scenarios supporting social inclusion in local contexts; - Successful integration of the young generation in a more inclusive and sustainable Europe; - By developing concrete and applicable intervention scenarios (IO3) and by generating new knowledge about how socio-ecological resilience can prevent radicalization (IO1 and IO2), OPEN MINDS provide valuable insights that EU and other stakeholders can use for addressing violent extremisms.
The Open Minds project was developed and implemented with the purpose of contributing to the prevention of young people becoming radicalized. Our aim was to identify social-economic problems, design and pilot solutions and refine and validate these solutions in close collaboration with young people, local stakeholders and civil society. The partnership explored the socio-economic drivers of radical religious and political ideologies prone to incite or lead to violence, analysed exit strategies and disengagement from radical contexts and presented complementary knowledge on non-radicalizing identity. Fieldwork was conducted and the research findings were translated into two intervention scenarios: gaming and training, which will enable young people to become more critical and resilient. They will become more critically thinking and thus resistant to efforts to attract them to radicalized groups and environments.
The rationale behind this project is the fact that radicalisation is a growing and serious cross-border threat throughout the word. It is not a new phenomenon, but all the new technologies available to anyone today, makes it possible, quickly and efficiently, to spread radical and extremist ideas: texts, images, sound recordings or videos, including live transmissions try to convince you that you should join a radical group, take part in terrorist acts and/or provide you with instructions on how to commit offences. Radicalisation thus becomes a challenge to democratic societies, leads to polarization and lack of social coherence. Radicalization is defined by the EU Commission as the phenomenon of people embracing opinions, views and ideas, which could lead to acts of terrorism and it is a fact that there have been many examples of terrorism in Europe over the last years. It is remarkable that many of these attacks were actually perpetrated by European citizens. Preventive efforts to create resilience especially among young people must be made. They must be resilient to radical propaganda, analyse what they see on the internet and practice critical thinking. These are exactly the needs the Open Minds project have addressed.