European conference: European cities facing radicalisation: communication and counter-narratives

Speech by Leen Verbeek (Netherlands, SOC), Vice-President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe

Bordeaux, 27 May 2016

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[Minister, Distinguished guests],

Dear colleagues,

Esteemed  audience,

I am delighted to be with you today and I thank the European and French Forums for Urban Security and the City of Bordeaux for inviting me to this conference.

In my home country, the Netherlands, I am King’s Commissioner in the province of Flevoland.

A young province reclaimed from the sea almost sixty years ago. As a public provincial authority we celebrate our 30^th anniversary this year.

I have also served as Mayor of Purmerend, a suburb of Amsterdam.

Today, I am here to speak as Vice-President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.

Within the Congress I am thematic spokesperson for  anti-radicalization strategies.

For the Congress, the prevention of radicalization leading to violent extremism is one of our top priorities.

The violence and terrorist attacks that Europe and the world witnessed in the last years as a result of radicalization remind us of the terrible devastation that a refusal to understand and accept others can cause.

They also highlight the need for cities to do more in order to effectively tackle global phenomena such as radicalization and violent extremism.

The fight against terrorism as it has been waged since 9/11 has shown that military force alone cannot defeat violent extremism.

As a result, we are seeing that there is increasingly more recognition that pursuing only repressive measures is not a realistic strategy.

We must spend more time understanding how and why individuals radicalize and even become terrorist.

Otherwise, it will be impossible to understand what messages will resonate among terrorist recruits and be effective to counter this radicalization process with a sound communication strategy.

In general, I believe that this process, on societal level, is mainly connected to certain shortcomings of our own democracies.

Some of our citizens, whatever their religious, ethnic  or political background may be, have lost faith in the value of civil freedoms, in democracy and human rights.

These citizens do not feel integrated within society; they feel that society has turned its back on them.

And we know that social exclusion can be the cause of much frustration.

These citizens experience that democracy benefits some, but not all.

For some people this leads on an individual or group level to aggression, but also to radicalization, extremism and sometimes even terrorism.

It is mainly this issue that has to be tackled and taken into account when establishing communication strategies to reach this group.

No citizen or group should have the feeling to be excluded from society, how different they may be from other groups of society.

The Congress has been working for two decades on the development of inclusive and resilient communities that can serve as a protective shield to prevent radicalization at grassroots’ level.

Our contributions and activities help local and regional authorities to better understand the complex subject of radicalization with its different facets.

At the 28th Session of the Congress in March last year – immediately after the first Paris attacks – the Congress adopted its “Strategy to combat radicalization at grassroots level”.

Within this strategy we have adopted “Guidelines for Local and Regional Authorities on Preventing Radicalization and Manifestation of Hate at Grass-root Level.”

In our guidelines we encourage local authorities to adopt multi-agency strategies.

We urge to take balanced and well-designed rational measures, which must be communicated to the general public in a responsible way.

We have also prepared a toolkit for local authorities, which is a set of texts helping them organizing interreligious and intercultural activities to foster more social inclusion.

In the long run, prevention is more rational and cost-effective than combatting symptoms and last-minute crises.

Prevention and de-radicalization activities – rather than repressive ones – are the type of action that corresponds best to local authority competences.

Radicalization can be best contained at a level closest to the vulnerable individuals.

By the same token those who are leaving terrorist organizations need to be taken into account.

So-called repentis can play a pivotal role in the establishment of counter-narratives.

Municipalities and regional councils have a key role to play here through exit programs and partnerships with schools, civil society and other local stakeholders.

These are the points we highlighted in our resolution that was voted in the session of the Congress in October 2015.

We need to tackle these issues now more than ever, in order to build inclusive societies - societies where we can live together in all our diversity.

Societies where we can, with full respect of human rights, approach the issue of safety and security of citizens in a balanced manner.

This topic is of utmost importance to European local and regional authorities.

The Congress is also seeking to create an “Alliance of European Cities against violent extremism”.

We hope that this will provide a space to exchange experiences and information on promising practices, as well as existing programs and tools.

This challenge – of making our societies, our towns and our cities resilient against violent extremism – is one that we all face, whatever country we live in.

The goals we set are not hopeless.

Right now we see positive results for instance in cities in the Netherlands like Rotterdam, Amsterdam and in Denmark in the city of Aarhus. 

The 9^th of November, a congress will be organized in Rotterdam for mayors of larger cities who fight radicalization within their cities to meet and to exchange good working programs.

On this occasion I would like to invite you to participate in this conference.

Also other cities report successes in their approach to tackling extremism.

In my own province of Flevoland I have proposed the provincial parliament  to set up a broad program focusing on cultural education at schools.

This program, which is titled ‘’The Sentiment of Flevoland’’, is a program set up by two cultural organizations and financed by the province.

The idea was born after I perceived worries among the mayors in my province on the fear and insecurity that reigned among the inhabitants of their municipalities. Some of these inhabitants tend to radicalize too.

The world we are living in is rapidly changing and faced with several challenges such as the economic crisis, the refugee crisis and radicalization.

Some of our citizens feel insecure about the future and do not know how to respond to these changes in society.

This program aims to provide a platform to citizens to express their feelings and frustrations through cultural programs on primary schools, in theatres and other in public spaces.

As I previously stated, in order to establish a counter-narrative and a sound communication strategy we need to know what motivates our citizens to adhere to certain extreme or populist ideas.

We need to listen to them, no matter how extreme their ideas can be, and to not stigmatize them on forehand.

Education and especially culture can help to identify these sentiments and to build a coherent counter-strategy.

Finally, I think that we as European local and regional authorities can and will rise to this challenge.

We are able to do this by concerted action and by drawing on those very same values that are being attacked, and by pursuing our vision of diverse and integrated democratic societies.

I wish all the participants a stimulating exchange and new ideas for the future.

Thank you for your attention.