SALAM TO YOU (2017-2019)

Background

A lot of content on the internet reinforces experiences of discrimination, racism and exclusion, especially for young people, whose family of origin includes immigrants or refugees. This fact is frequently exploited by extremist actors online, whose messages can lead young people to doubt their position in society and trigger radicalisation processes. The online extremism prevention project Salam To You worked to counteract these negative online experiences of young people by producing online alternative narrative campaigns together with young online-activists.

The project Salam to You designed and implemented 12 multi-day media-trainings for young online activists. The trainings had the following goals:

• Build capacity for participants to effectively recognize the reinterpretation and manipulation strategies that extremist content exhibits online
• Increase participants resilience to extremist narratives through critical reflection and an increased tolerance for ambiguity
• Empower participants through experiences of self-expression, visibility, recognition and the increased sense of belonging that accompanies such experiences
• Support participants in developing their own alternative narratives that connect to their own experiences and that of their peers and social media network
• Enable participants to acquire the necessary creative and technical strategies and skills to produce their own media content (text, photo, video and film)
• Coach and mentor participants in the production of extremism prevention content

Once completed, the project Salam to You published the content produced by participants on various social media platforms, such as facebook, instagram, and YouTube. The publication of produced content stimulated reactions from social media users in the form of comments, direct messages, sharing or other interactions. Community management for the campaigns was accompanied by experienced P/CVE specialists.

Project Partners

Violence Prevention Network e.V.