Sawab Centre launches #SourcesOfExtremism campaign on its media platforms

ABU DHABI, 5th February, 2018 (WAM) — The Sawab Centre, a joint UAE-US initiative to combat the online propaganda of Daesh and other violent extremist groups and to promote positive alternatives to extremism, has launched a new campaign on its social media platforms.

Under #SourcesOfExtremism, the three-day campaign will run from February 5th – 7th in Arabic and English on Sawab’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube platforms.

Extremist ideologies and their corrupted worldview have poisoned the minds and ruined the lives of vulnerable youth, displaced and fragmented families, and led to the social disintegration of entire communities. In its latest campaign, the Sawab Centre examines the roots of this affliction and the drivers of recruitment which can include social isolation, the lack of education and opportunity, faulty and distorted religious discourse, and the simple lack of awareness or taking proactive steps to interdict violent extremist ideologies.

The campaign also offers countermeasures to extremism such as creating tight, cohesive family structures and promoting an inclusive and tolerant culture of accepting the “other” within communities.

#SourcesOfExtremism is the Sawab Centre’s 24th proactive social media campaign either to directly counter terrorist messages or present positive alternatives to their violent and divisive ideologies. Other Sawab campaigns have focused on terrorism’s devastation of families, communities, and ancient civilisations, as well as positive themes such as the important contributions of women in preventing and resisting extremism and in advancing their societies.

Since its launch in July 2015, the Sawab Centre has encouraged governments, communities, and individual voices to engage proactively to counteract online extremism. Over this time, the center has given voice to the millions of people around the world who oppose Daesh and other violent extremist groups, while supporting efforts to expose terrorist groups’ brutality and criminal nature.