Researchers suggest dealing with extremism as a threat to public health

Taylor Cesc

In recent years, in the capital and surrounding of Michigan, Rebecca has seen Cassen and heard things he had never imagined.

“We are living a very strange moment,” said Cassen, CEO of the company. Women’s Center in Lansening .

In November, the Women’s Center’s observation room seized a group of people mocking a sticker in a window and said “Black Lives Matter”. One of these individuals is to sabotage the free community. In the same fall, the institution’s employees stated that he was harassed.

A few buildings from there, around East Michigan Street, the strange coffee cafeteria – which supports progressive reasons in society – had to bear it.The first amendmentCassen said that the people who were planted in front of the building carry weapons or cameras, and sometimes screaming for President Donald Trump.

Las Extremist activities and behaviors They have happened throughout the United States in recent years, in many cases it has been paid before Political polarization growth A rebellion feed on misleading information about the responses on the Covid’s pandemic.

Recently, the reaction against immigration and against initiatives for diversity, fairness and integration of tensions has increased.

Last year, and Southern Poverty Law Center register 1,371 extremist groups and hatred Which is active throughout the country and that encourages disturbances through a wide range of tactics, sometimes violent.

Researchers have found that in recent years, the political right has been increasingly moving towards “a Christian superiority Tyranny and the Patriarchate, dedicated to the erosion of the value of comprehensive democracy and public institutions.

Analysts Research and Innovation Laboratory, polarization and extremism The American University risks argue that in the online spaces, “hate cross”.

For example, Pasha Dashjard, PERIL Research Director, explained, platforms that also enhance male superiority are also anti -therapy. Conversations that seem illogical can lead to assault very quickly. The premiere of the movie “Minecraft” launched a wave of criticism against an alleged mile for choosing black actresses and uninterrupted people.

The climbing of radical positions led to the Peril team and the Southern Poverty Law Center changed the focus and the treatment of extremism as a general health problem.

Los Community consulting centers, resources and education (Care) works in Lansing (Michigan) and Athens (Georgia). It provides training, support, derivation and resources for societies affected by hatred, discrimination and ideologies, as well as the most vulnerable people in fundamentalist ideas, especially young people.

Researchers define extremism as believing that the group itself is directly inconsistent with a different identity – ideology, race, identity, or sexual expression – which encourages the mentality of “we against them” and convinced that the conflict can only be resolved through separation, hegemony or genocide.

Those who study extremism guarantee that since the federal government eliminates violence prevention funds, state governments and local communities realize that they are alone to counter the challenge. (The Federal Finance Care does not receive.

Aaron Flaanagan, Deputy Director of Prevention and Alliances at the Southern Balfir Center, explained that their organization and risks joined about five years ago to try to answer a question together: “What will have to create a model that works all over the country, and prevents the extremism of young people, rooted in societies and providing solutions in which residents can trust?”

They were inspired by a German model to fight extremism, which had been present for decades and created “mobile counseling centers”. The aim is to provide “all levels of civil society tools necessary to identify extremism” and facilitate dialogue on how to address it, Dashtgard explained.

“It is not about how to answer when a group like the front Patriot of your city is running,” explained by Kortz Glaovas, who until June was the deputy director of the regional alliances of the risks, during the training in January.

Michigan has been seen for a long time Fertile terrain For extremism. Timothy McViait and Terry Nichols, who were convicted of the attack in 1995 against a federal building in Oklahoma City, was linked to a military group in that state. Some men accused in 2020 Plan to kidnap the democratic ruler, Grechen They also had relations with an armed militia calling itself Wolverine Watchmen.

Although Lansing and Neighbor East Lansing – where Michigan State University is not exempted from conflicts.

Will Vercherau clearly remembers the first days of the epidemic: a truck that is distributed at the utmost speed through its neighborhood, in Lansing, while moving the Federation and Music flag in full size. The truck later joined a protest convoy that collapsed in the streets around the Capitol building of the state to demonstrate against the detention measures in Wittir.

Little by little, society began to respond to these extremist expressions. After the clashes at Strange Matter Coffee, Vercherauu – Member of the Board of Directors Safety CenterThe organization that defends the rights of the LGBTQ community – said that people began to gather to talk about “how to stay safe at that time and how to calm lives when and place the place.”

The care initiative enhances this type of efforts. Centers offer tools that adapt to different fans. Among them, one A guide for parents and care providers On online extremism, a Society evidence for youth extremism A document entitled “It is not just a joke: to understand and prevent intolerance on the basis of sex and sex“.

Flaangan explained that the team considers that this public health approach is independent of police interventions, but it is completed with them. The goal is that the police intervene as minimal: the idea is to determine the first alert signals and act before the authorities exist.

These resources help discover factors that belong to people who are more likely to manipulate extremists. For example, she does not address mental health problems or fragility, such as a shock or a member of his family.

Erine Bountinerb, residing in Lansing, witnessed how the demonstrators – the militants – entered the Capitol building in the state during the epidemic to protest against the measures of imprisonment and the use of masks. It is Buitandorp in favor of the public health approach. It is “a way to give people tools for behavior and strategies to progress.” It is a way to guide energy “and you feel that a change in society can already be created.”

Lansing and Athens were chosen for several reasons, including their proximity to universities that could act as partners, and their proximity to rural societies.

In the small town of Hawul, about 40 miles southeast They raised Nazi flags While “Anna Frank’s memoirs” were represented at the headquarters of the American Legion.

In Diite, a nearby city, the educational area suggested a brief lesson on pronouns for the first category, which included reading the photo book, “He was me: free!” But threats were received against school staff and the authorities canceled the activity.

Since then, the sponsorship team has provided support to teachers to talk about controversial issues in separation and deal with suspicions of some parents.

“It is very important that rural societies are not excluded,” he said..

The sponsorship team hopes to expand its program worldwide.

Similar initiatives have been issued elsewhere, such as Boston Children’s Hospital Shock and community center flexibility and Deep programIt is directed by the Crime Committee for citizens in New York City.

In addition, in June a new tool was launched: Access to the resource centerThe online resources center provides guidelines to prevent violent extremism.

Beit Simi, a professor of sociology at the University of Chapmann and the expert of extremism, believes that the challenge is enormous, because it has become more frequent in the past 25 years.

“It is a devastating matter,” he said .. “

Simi said that although there is recently about the changes in the “Overton window” – where the set of ideas that are political acceptable to society is defined – “I would now say that the window is completely broken.” He added that the violent extremists “feel their release, supported by a new administration that supports them.”

He warned, “We are in a more dangerous moment than anything else in my life.”

Priest Pepin Whitaker is directing his united world colleague in Athens, in Georgia, who last year received a set of ammunition without any note. Whitaker considers that extremism and lack of awareness of people in this regard represent a general health issue.

“If there is a germ around it, but people do not know it is a truly problem and that you can simply protect your hands, you will not take basic protection measures.”

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