Islamic State is symptomatic of a disturbed and troubled social order. The vast crisis of dislocated people and communities is being expressed in anger, intolerance and perverted notions of honour.
Zaky Mallah argued that the government’s policies play into the hands of ‘recruitment propaganda’ designed to appeal to alienated young Muslims.
ABC TV
Talha Asmal is believed to have become the UK’s youngest suicide bomber, prompting more questions about how we can protect young people from radicalisation.
What possesses a Queensland teenager like Oliver Bridgeman to go to fight in Syria? Online propaganda is not an adequate explanation on its own.
Facebook
Simplistic views of terrorist recruitment focus on online messages to Western youth. Foreign fighters are coming from many other countries, lured by many means, and we need more sophisticated responses.
Kadiza Sultana, Amira Abase and Shamima Begum left the UK in mid-February.
Met Police
A crackdown on terrorist groups that use the internet and social media to recruit Australians is part of the federal government’s new budget.
Melbourne teenager Jake Bilardi was troubled and thus susceptible to Islamic State propaganda well before he joined them and died as a suicide bomber.
AAP/Twitter
The instinctive response to Islamic State propaganda is to counter it with more propaganda. But my analysis shows that’s not working. We should not play their game on their field with their ball.
Pictures of smiling young IS fighters on social media glorify their narratives to people back home.
Picture courtesy of author from IS supporters' social media page.
The majority of Muslims in Australia condemn terrorism and extremism. But they feel that counter-terrorism policing and laws unfairly target their community, causing a troubling community backlash.
The story of Jake Bilardi (centre) has distorted the characterisation of what most people think of as a radicalised individual.
AAP/Twitter
There will be more Jake Bilardis to come, and Australia must realise that no two cases will be entirely the same. Radicalised individuals will come from all areas of society.
Security agencies seeking to understand the radicalisation of young men such as Jake Bilardi might find answers in popular culture.
AAP Image/Twitter
Western governments not only misread Islamic State, they have a very limited understanding of the Internet and its role within the private spaces, bedrooms and imaginaries of teenagers.
Finsbury Park hate preacher was jailed last year but his teaching continues to do damage.
Tony Abbott’s proposed national security changes have the potential to exacerbate the underlying causes of violent extremism and further damage Australia’s social cohesion.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Australia’s response to terrorism must not be rooted in short-term political gains, but in a larger strategy that takes into account the problems leading to social disaffection.
What makes someone want to travel to some of the most dangerous places on earth to fight alongside terrorists? It’s a question we’ve been asking about young people for more than a decade. But the rise…
Under orders to keep watch.
Surveillance via bikerriderlondon/Shutterstock
The Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill 2014-15, having been rushed through the House of Commons with alarming speed and ease, has passed its second reading in the House of Lords. It is now in the final…
In response to deeply unpopular drone strikes, a public rally in Karachi demands the blocking of NATO supplies from Pakistan to neighbouring Afghanistan. The banner reads, in Urdu ‘Rulers! Come out of the US war’.
EPA/Rehan Khan
I learned a number of lessons about Islam in Peshawar, Pakistan. As a senior United Nations official, I arrived in the country within 24 hours of the massive earthquake that struck in October 2005. Pakistan…