The medieval brutality of the founders of ISIL, the beheading of a French citizen in Algeria by jihadists linked to ISIL, the abduction and enslavement of schoolgirls in Nigeria, slaughter in a Kenyan shopping mall. Every day seems to bring fresh reminders of the growing strength and reach of extremist groups.
From Sub-Saharan Africa to the Far East, extremists are not declining. They are rising. They continue as the principal global security challenge of our time, threatening the peace and stability of nations and the core values of people everywhere.
Extremism is destabilising entire regions and not a single region of the world is completely free of its threat. To be clear, extremists are not only found in Muslim communities. But the most significant threats today come from those groups that pervert Islam for their own extremist ideology.
Whether their gains are achieved by force, terror or politics, whether they undermine modern pluralistic societies or create extremist states, the extremists’ goals are the same: to impose an insidious ideology, commit acts of violence, reject basic human rights and suppress economic and social progress.
Of course, it should not be a surprise that people most immediately threatened by extremist groups are the most concerned about their progress, as a recent Pew Research Center poll of opinions in 14 Muslim societies confirmed. But growing aversion to their goals and practices has not prevented extremist groups from using modern communications, social media and sophisticated business practices to spread their ideology, violence, and to recruit new followers and means of support. Some of their newest recruits are arriving from Europe, North America and Australia, where they may eventually return.
Extremist movements can grow anywhere, and in the face of growing animosity from the societies in which they originated present a complex and urgent challenge.
Governments must contend with this challenge but they also must deal with other threats and domestic problems. Some governments will lack the political will or the resources to combat extremists effectively by going after their means of support. Others will require public encouragement.
There is not just a role, but a responsibility for private groups, genuinely motivated by concern for global stability and the security of modern, pluralistic societies, to organise in opposition to extremists and to give their support and communication networks the kind of sustained and detailed scrutiny necessary to thwart them.
That is why we formed the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), a not-for-profit, non-partisan, international action and policy organisation that employs a global network of experts and policymakers. Its advisory board members include former homeland security adviser Fran Townsend, former White House coordinator for arms control and WMD terrorism Gary Samore, former ambassador of Pakistan to the United Nations Munir Akram, Australia’s former defence minister Robert Hill and former German BND chief August Hanning.
The CEP has four main purposes. The first is to expose, degrade and stop the financing and other economic support of global extremist organisations, doing so fairly, persistently and fearlessly.
The second is to build the world’s most comprehensive and sophisticated clearing house and database of extremist groups and their supporters, mapping the complex social and financial relationships, tools and methodologies on which these groups rely.
The third is to build a worldwide network of experts to promote our collective security and the universal values and interests that are threatened by extremist ideology, recruitment and practices.
Finally, we intend to counter the spread of extremism by utilising all the tools of modern communication to offer counter narratives that reveal its true purposes and injustice, and make a compelling case for the compatibility of traditional values with globalisation, peaceful coexistence and opportunities for progress in modernising societies.
It is our intention to play a strong role in stemming recruitment by extremist groups in at-risk communities, particularly among the young. We will build support for the global fight against extremists. And we will serve as a resource in that fight for governments, the media, NGOs, academia, business and the public.
This is a fight that can be won and will be won. As the Pew poll made clear, the rising strength of extremists is not attributable to their growing popularity. On the contrary, extremists are succeeding in spite of rapidly spreading public disapproval in societies whose values they claim to defend. Give the public in those countries and around the world the information necessary to fight them effectively and their governments will find the means.
That is why the Counter Extremism Project was organised: to help empower people threatened by extremists with the information, means and will to stop them, to make our ever shrinking world more stable, and safe for the security, values and opportunities of all people.
Joseph Lieberman is a former US senator from Connecticut and Counter Extremism Project advisory board member
Mark Wallace is the CEO of the Counter Extremism Project and is a former United States ambassador to the United Nations
