Update the knowledge on polarisation, violent extremism and resilience
The BRaVE Concept Paper develops a working definition of the three, often contested, terms of polarisation, violent extremism and resilience: Polarisation refers to the process through which complex social relations come to be represented and perceived in Manichean ‘black and white’ terms; ‘Violent extremism’ is defined as the use of violent acts, or threat thereof, by irregular actors in the pursuit of political aims to erode democratic processes and pluralistic values; Resilience is about the ability of people to face and respond to adversity, and the capacity to draw on various sources of strength (individual or social) to adapt and cope with challenges.
The BRaVE project offers an online database and interactive map of nearly 700 projects, policies, institutions and studies from 10 European countries: BE, DK, FR, DE, GR, HU, IT, NL, PL and the UK see
http://brave-h2020.eu/database(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) .
A Special Issue on Resilience and Resistance in Illiberal Regimes at the peer refereed journal Intersections – East European Journal of Society and Politics
https://intersections.tk.mta.hu/index.php/intersections/index(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie).
A Special Issue on Exploring Societal Resilience to Online Polarisation and Extremism will appear in May 2022 in the online peer refereed journal First Monday:
https://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/fm/index(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)To design new tools for policy-making
The BRaVE Toolkit
http://brave-h2020.eu/toolkit(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) consists of two sets of indicators: indicators of polarisation and indicators of resilience. Polarisation indicators are mirrored by a set of corresponding Moderation indicators Likewise, Resilience indicators are mirrored by a set of corresponding non-resilience indicators. The toolkit is designed for a wide range of users: researchers, policy makers, NGOs.
A Policy Brief entitled: Preventing Violent Extremism: A Delicate Balance which brings together policies and practices from 9 European countries, identifies good practices, practices that do not work and why, and makes recommendations to both national and European policy makers.
New tools for education
A Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to explore interfaith responses to violent extremism and polarisation:
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/interfaith-dialogue(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) The course is open access, free of charge and has had over 2,500 participants during its first four runs.
Five educational outreach online webinars and workshops (instead of the initially planned one) in Feb, May, June and October 2021 –in partnership with the eTwinning educational Platform involving middle and high school teachers in different European countries
Five online training workshops (the BRaVE Academy) engaging with the BRaVE Fair projects (all those who applied to the competition) as well as other civil society actors discussing issues of advocacy, gender and at risk communities, online work, sports and the arts in building resilience:
http://brave-h2020.eu/braveFair(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) Net networks and opportunities
The BRaVE platform showcases the online database, the Polarisation Indicators Toolkit, information on publications and workshops:
http://brave-h2020.eu/(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) A blogging space entitled ‘Global Extremes’
which has had near 100,000 users with over 130,000 views by 31 December 2021, each user spending more than 3 minutes on the platform(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie).Our Twitter account has more than 1,100 followers and has been particularly active showcasing our project events and results
https://twitter.com/BraveProjectEU(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) Concluding remarks on exploitation and dissemination
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to less terrorism events but more online polarisation and extremism particularly among Far Right groups. Several new issues have come to the fore: the mainstreaming of misinformation and conspiracy theories; new articulations of racism and anti-migrant sentiment; and the exacerbation of financial and social inequalities. The BRaVE project has managed to capture some of these challenges through its additional online educational tools (particularly with secondary education teachers across Europe), through its online training and networking activities in spring and fall 2021 with civil society actors, and with its publications – the two Special Issues that addressed the challenges of polarisation in illiberal regimes and the factors and strategies of resilience to extremism in online settings.
