苏格兰探长（Scottish Detective Inspector）沙欣·巴伯(Shaheen Baber)表示，打击极端主义需要整个社区的努力。

这位资深警官说：“这不是一个以警察为主导的方法，必须有机地相互协调，必须从社区内部产生。很多工作由社区的众多部门承担。”

巴伯和另外13名在各自国家打击暴力极端主义和激进化行为的人士最近访问了美国，这是国务院(State Department)国际访问者领导力计划（International Visitor Leadership Program，IVLP）的一部分。

IVLP参加者了解了美国抗击极端主义的工作，讨论有哪些深层条件助长了极端主义，以及美国社会各部门如何共同努力抵制暴力极端主义，同时研究了以社区为基础倡导宽容的努力。

https://share.america.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Counter-Violence-1530-300x200.jpg沙欣·巴伯在苏格兰与社区开展对话。(© David Peterson)

来自奥地利的IVLP参加者克里斯塔·鲍尔(Christa Bauer)是毛特豪森委员会(Mauthausen Komitee)的总经理。该组织打击一切形式的法西斯主义，种族主义，新纳粹主义(neo-Nazism)，沙文主义和反犹太主义(anti-Semitism)。

毛特豪森委员会为青年举办研讨会，目的是培养宽容并分析偏见的来源。

鲍尔说:“[我们讨论]哪些因素构成身份认同，你如何明确身份认同，当你与其他文化，与来自其他宗教的人对话时怎样作出反应。我们为减少偏见而努力。”

这种方法显然很有效。

她说:“我们从老师、家长和年轻人那里就他们在研讨会上学到的东西征集了反馈，大部分反馈是正面的。”

丹麦社会事务和一体化部（Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration）高级官员卡琳·彼得森(Karin Petersen)说，她的国家为防止青年激进化行为建立的网络包括学校、社会工作者和警察在内。

她说，除了这个网络之外，她的办公室正在尝试一种新的方法：可以为年轻人提供指导的辅导人员。

https://share.america.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Counter-Violence-1503-300x200.jpg克里斯塔·鲍尔在奥地利做青年工作。(© David Peterson)

彼得森说：“我们正在建立一个全国性的辅导人员队伍，对他们进行教育。我们还在建立我们称之为父母教练的队伍，从而使每个城市都有辅导人员和父母教练。”

巴伯，鲍尔和彼得森都同意社区作用的重要性。巴伯说，社区内的许多团体已经在从事打击极端主义的工作。

他说：“社区或有关社团，甚至清真寺所从事的一些有益的工作，但他们并未称之为反极端主义。这些仍属历来的常规性工作，涉及好宗教、好公民、好行为。”

 

The organic, community-led approach to fighting extremism

 

According to Scottish Detective Inspector Shaheen Baber, it takes a community to counter extremism.

“This is not a police-led idea, it has to be organic, it has to be from within the community,” said the veteran police officer. “Many good bits of work are being done by many sections of communities.”

Baber and 13 others who combat violent extremism and radicalization in their countries recently visited the United States as part of the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP).

The IVLP participants learned about counterextremism efforts in the U.S., explored the underlying conditions that fuel extremism, discussed how sectors of American society work together to resist violent extremism and examined community-based efforts that promote tolerance.

https://share.america.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Counter-Violence-1530-300x200.jpgShaheen Baber holds dialogues with the community in Scotland. (© David Peterson)

Austrian IVLP participant Christa Bauer is the managing director of Mauthausen Komitee, an organization that fights “all forms of fascism, racism, neo-Nazism, chauvinism and anti-Semitism.”

Mauthausen Komitee holds workshops for youth that build tolerance and analyze the sources of prejudices.

“[We discuss] what makes an identity, how do you make an identity, how do you react when you talk to other cultures, with people from another religion, and we try to minimize the prejudices,” Bauer said.

Apparently, the approach works.

“We get feedback from teachers, from parents and from young people about what they gained in the workshops, and most of the feedback is positive,” she said.

Karin Petersen, a senior official with Denmark’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration, said her country’s network to prevent youth radicalization involves schools, social workers and the police.

In addition to this network, she said her office is trying a new approach: mentors, the kind of people that youth can look to for guidance.

https://share.america.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Counter-Violence-1503-300x200.jpgChrista Bauer works with youth in Austria. (© David Peterson)

“We are building up right now a national corps of mentors that we are educating, and we are doing the same with what we call parent coaches, so that each municipality has access to mentors and access to parent coaches,” Petersen said.

Baber, Bauer and Petersen all agree on the importance of the community’s role. Baber adds that many groups in the community already combat extremism, they just don’t call it that.

“Some of the good work the communities do, the community groups do, even mosques do, they don’t label it as counterextremism, it is just business as usual,” he said. “It is good religion, it is good citizenship, and it is good behavior.”