To read much of the media coverage of the shootings at the Canadian parliament in Ottawa, you might think that Canada has just lost its innocence – that sleepy Ottawa has finally been dragged into the…
Governments have generally invested much more in hard-edged military and policing responses than in smarter and more sustainable ‘soft power’ approaches to countering violent extremism.
EPA/Bagus Indahono
More than a decade of security-based transnational approaches to combating terrorist activity and propaganda have demonstrated that these alone are ineffective. Sometimes, security measures can actually…
Sydney teenager Abdullah Elmir, who uses the alias Abu Khaled, speaking in an Islamic State video.
ABC News
New powers targeting foreign fighters and political “hate crimes” are set to be amended, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has confirmed in the hope of pushing the legislation through parliament next week. But…
Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman Wassim Doureihi addresses a protest rally about counter-terrorism raids in Sydney last month.
AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott calls it “a thoroughly objectionable organisation”, “un-Australian” and “un-Islamic”. But would it be a good idea to ban the Islamic organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir? Hizb…
Police and Muslim leaders have joined forces to call for harmony, but just and fair treatment in counter-terrorism operations is needed to reassure the Islamic community.
AAP/Mal Fairclough
Muslim communities in Australia feel under siege. It is evident from media reports that they feel unfairly targeted by counter-terrorism policing. They also feel vilified by much of the reporting of these…
Only the day before the UK parliament’s controversial decision to re-engage British military forces in Iraq, the Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, claimed to have intelligence that Islamic State (IS…
Modelling how to be a tolerant and welcoming Australian starts in the classroom.
AAP
Yesterday morning on ABC 720 Perth, presenter Geoff Hutchison took a talkback call from an Imam, Yahya Ibrahim, who told the listeners he is deputy principal of a local Islamic school and a chaplain at…
When a mosque is spray-painted with the word ‘Evil’ following last week’s raids, it’s a sign the community is getting the wrong message from the anti-terrorism campaign.
AAP/Matt Jacob
While Australia has rightly joined the international fight to bring down Islamic State (IS) terrorists, at home its anti-terror campaign is fuelling more problems. For example, following high-profile anti-terror…
The ultimate test of success of raids such as last week’s is whether those charged can be deradicalised so they do not present a threat after the justice system has dealt with them.
EPA/NSW Police
The dust is settling after the extensive police raids across Sydney and Brisbane last week. Authorities say this was the largest counter-terrorism operation in Australia’s history. Not only was it the…
Australian women of different faiths gathered at Sydney’s Lakemba Mosque last month in a show of community solidarity.
AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy
From anarchists in the 1920s and radical leftists in the 1960s, to fringe, extreme-right Christian bombers or gunmen in the United States in recent decades, or radical Islamists such as Islamic State today…
Police outside one of the Sydney homes raided earlier today, which has prompted warnings against an anti-Muslim backlash.
AAP Image/Dean Lewins
It’s in the interests of Islamic State for Muslims in Australia to be attacked or for their mosques to be attacked, because doing so would help divide the Australian community. But we should be very clear…
Onward and upward: Newly-elected Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi.
EPA/Ali Abbas
During his recent unannounced visit to Baghdad the US secretary of state John Kerry mentioned that “a new and inclusive Iraqi government has to be the engine of our global strategy” against Islamic State…
Retiring, but not shy: outgoing ASIO Director-General David Irvine has warned Australia may need to lift its terrorism alert level.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
Why does Australia have a terrorism alert system? And what does it mean if the alert level is increased? The National Terrorism Public Alert System is a way of communicating to the public what the current…
The coalition negotiated hard on emergency measures.
Yui Mok/PA Wire/Press Association Images
After weeks of speculation, the UK government has played its hand, revealing the measures it is taking to confront what is apparently “the greatest and deepest terrorist threat” the UK has ever faced…
A powerful weapon in the fight against terrorism?
Shutterstock passport
In the aftermath of James Foley’s killing and the concern that his killer may be from the UK, the right to British citizenship has been placed firmly at the centre of the debate about modern terrorism…
Bad influence: Abu Hamza in court.
EPA/Jane Rosenberg
This week saw the convictions of two men at opposite ends of the process of radicalisation – one convicted for radicalising others, the other for being radicalised himself. In the United States, a court…
Australian researchers have created a device that may help in the fight against terrorism. The optical-fibre sensor uses…
The rise of homegrown terrorism and foreign fighters in conflicts such as the Syrian civil war has prompted governments to consider various policy responses to combat such threats.
EPA/Stringer
Dealing with the rise of homegrown terrorism has prompted governments to take novel approaches in combating such threats. The UK government, for example, has recently pushed for schools to teach children…
‘Yes we scan!’ NSA monitoring will be a Christmas headache for Barack Obama.
Mike Herbst
Even before opening his stocking on Christmas morning, Barack Obama has his holiday reading cut out for him. His Review Group on Intelligence and Surveillance Technologies has handed him a 300-page report…
The wrongful arrest of Dr Mohamed Haneef and a subsequent inquiry lent weight to the need for an independent monitor to oversee the application of far-reaching national security laws.
AAP/Jessica Marszalek
The third annual report of the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor, Bret Walker QC, was tabled in federal parliament last Thursday. Unlike the previous two reports, there was no press release…