Recruiting for a better world
Reradicalization by Stijn Sieckelinck
Of this book, I only found a Dutch version.
In Reradicalization, the author talks about techniques to “deal with” radicalizing young people. “To be tackled” is perhaps already a misexpression, because “deradicalization” does not work. The book therefore consists of coherent lessons rather than separate chapters. It may be best to give a series of quotes from the book rather than trying to summarize it just like that.
Lesson 1 focuses on the question of identity. Attention to the development of personal identity can reduce political pressure on young citizens. Radicalization is not so much a manifestation of a lack of integration as of resistance to integration. A resistance that may also betray emancipation somewhere. After all, what sane person just lets himself be told what he is allowed to think?
Lesson 2 shows the liberating potential of moral action. Only when we distance ourselves from the image of the radicalizing young person as perpetrator or victim, can a praxis of liberation be developed. Above all, it is aimed at allowing each individual to grow from spectator to actor and thus to make them experience that his or her actions matter.
Lesson 3 focuses on the role of meaning in the form of explicit and implicit religion with regard to radicalization. It shows that a recalibration of meaningful practices in our society is needed to meet the spiritual needs of many young people. As our ancestors knew: think before you start.
Lesson 4 contains a call to peaceful fighting. Political action presupposes militancy. By focusing on conflict instead of maintaining harmony, we do young people a great service in a polarized society.
Lesson 5 uses the training camp as an ambiguous symbol to highlight the need for moral authority and the transformative power of education. If young people are not taken into rites of passage by adults, they will develop their own versions. That rarely ends well.
In the last chapter, the author mentions that a weakness of deradicalization is that it is imposed from the outside. This can’t work. Neither with military clout, nor with re-education, nor with “counter-narratives”. The “fight” against extremism must come from within. Through “reradicalization”, such as could be supported in a “counter-environment” in response to the “counter-narratives” of extremist recruiters against Western democracy. However, the author also states: “It is fair to say that we can hardly prove the direct link between social programs and the prevention of terror.”
Title: Reradicaliseren – Ronselen voor een betere wereld, Author: Stijn Sieckelinck, Publisher: Lannoo Campus, ISBN: 9789401442695