Helping young people overcome extremism: What works?

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Open and curious conversations are key to effectively reaching out to radicalised young people. Credit: SBS

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Addressing violent extremism has typically been seen as an issue for law enforcement. But experts say local communities could be the key to change.

Lee Brennan works with young people, schools and councils to help counter violent extremism.

He wants to see parents and local community members take a more active role in engaging with young people at risk of radicalisation and violent extremism.

When they're shut down, it's reinforcing some of those viewpoints that they might have.
Lee Brennan, Reroute Australia

Experts told SBS Examines open and curious conversations are key when speaking with radicalised young people, who are primed by recruiters to be defensive.

This episode of Understanding Hate looks at how we can help young people being targeted by extremist ideology.

Transcript

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SBS acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia.

Peta Lowe

Parents that I've worked with will say, 'every time I bring it up, it becomes quite explosive and argumentative', because that young person is already prepared for a fight.

Nic

From SBS Examines, I’m Nic Zoumboulis. In this episode of Understanding Hate, we’re looking at how to help young people combat radicalisation and the threat of violent extremism. Here’s Peta Lowe, a countering violent extremism practitioner.

Peta Lowe

It's the othering, it's the us and them that occurs in that radicalisation process. So you're really trying to understand it from their perspective. And if someone asks you genuinely about what you believe in, you're much more likely to be open and forthcoming in a conversation about that, rather than if they start with, ‘no, that's wrong, but tell me why you believe it’, you become much more defensive.

Nic

Young people tend to be naturally passionate around issues concerning justice and fairness. Peta said that’s something extremist recruiters often exploit.

Peta Lowe

A lot of times with young people, it is about seeking justice. It is about righting wrongs from their perspective. So then it's about helping them understand what other ways they might be able to achieve those sorts of things, rather than this idea of belonging to an extremist group.

Nic

One group that’s giving young people a space to constructively hash out their concerns, is the Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network. They provide young people with opportunities to speak about the issues that are important to them. And it makes them feel heard.

Kate Yeung

We make a safe space for people to ask questions that they might feel like they don't know where else to ask, and that really supports a healthy environment and discussion. We have lively discussions about feminism and representation of young men in our youth advisory group. They get to meet with decision makers at Parliament House to talk about things that they are passionate about and the change that they want to see.

Nic

That's Kate Yeung. She said part of their organisation's success comes from the way they bring diverse voices together.

Kate Yeung

I think it helps young people understand that there is difference of opinion. It helps people not feel alienated, which in turn makes them even more isolated.

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In our previous episode, we heard from Jamie, who as a teenager, was caught up in an online world filled with hateful language and ideology. But Jamie’s views began to soften and eventually change after he met different sorts of people who could challenge what he had heard within his bubble.

Jamie

A lot of it was exposure to different groups of people, queer people, more women, gay men, people who didn't traditionally fit the masculine, straight male friendship groups that I had at the time. I learned a lot from people about their real lived experience about how they see the world, about the struggles they face. And it helped me realise that there's more to the world than basically just being a misanthrope and not caring about other people.

Nic

Solutions to this complex issue involve more than directly working with young people. Experts have told Examines that parents are often shocked when police knock on their door and tell them their child has been involved in an extremist group.

Lee Brennan

There are many examples where potentially parents don't even know that their kids are digesting some of this content online and when communities aren't being educated around those risk signs, they're not able to understand the amount of exposure these young people have.

Nic

Lee Brennan works at Reroute Australia and counters violent extremism through a combination of diversion programs and education. He runs information sessions in local councils and schools to educate and empower communities to prevent extremism before it takes hold.

Lee Brennan

A really positive prosocial community group combined with the proper education and the proper access to the supports that they need and ultimately those groups are empowered to feel as though they can be the first ones to start calling out that sort of behaviour. Definitely isn't just one situation where you'll say this young person is no longer at risk.

Nic

Lee wants parents and community members who are concerned about a young person to know there’s a middle ground, between law enforcement or simply shirking off their fears.

Lee Brennan

No one wants to look at their child and say they're engaging in terrorism. They might be like, ‘oh, they're slightly problematic teenager, they're going through some sort of social teething’... So we want to actually get out there and start communicating to some of these people so they can be the one to have that conversation. If they've got the knowledge and awareness where they can come to support groups and actually get that assistance they need, it would go a long way to assisting young people to know that there's an alternate pathway.

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This episode was produced and presented by Nic Zoumboulis. To find out more, visit sbs.com.au/sbsexamines

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