Radicalisation study finds strong interplay between anti-Muslim extremism and Islamism

 
3 July 2018, Berlin: A new study by the Institute for Democracy and Civil Society (IDZ) in Jena, in cooperation with the London-based Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) shows that hostility towards Muslims and Islamist fundamentalism are profoundly interlinked.

The study, “Loving Hate: Anti-Muslim Extremism, Radical Islamism and the Spiral of Polarization”, found that mobilisation and recruitment strategies mirror each other, and that there are often ideological overlaps, particularly in internet propaganda on social media. The results of the study, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, were presented last week in Berlin.

Political scientist Maik Fielitz, one of the study’s authors, observes: “The extreme right and Islamists both reject individualism, pluralism and liberalism. Their aim is to replace democracy with an authoritarian and homogenous society based on rigid and totalitarian values, through the use of violence if necessary.”

Linguistic analysis of the posts of Islamist and far-right social media accounts show an overlap between the vocabularies used by both sides. Surprisingly, Islamist terms are used more commonly by far-right users than Islamist ones. Another insight gained by the authors showed that Islamist content on social media is monitored and removed more often than racist, far-right content.

Julia Ebner, co-author and extremism expert at ISD commented: “Our analyses show that Islamist communication has been massively restricted, which has led to a more moderate rhetoric than in early 2017. This does not apply to the propaganda and networks of the far-right to the same extent. The extent of openly far-right and anti-Muslim contents easily surpasses the extent of Islamist contents.”

The social media contents analysis showed that more than half of all victim and foe narratives spread in Islamist Facebook groups made reference either to perceived hate directed against Muslims (42 per cent) or against ethnic minorities or racism (13 per cent). Likewise, over 54 per cent of victimhood narratives propagated in far-right Facebook groups focused on Islamist extremism. The word “terror” appeared most frequently across all far-right pages, by far (a total of 2,372 times). Our ethnographic research in European pro-ISIS Telegram groups furthermore showed widespread use of anti-Muslim hostility and far-right demonstrations as a justifier of jihad and anti-West mobilisation.

In the aftermath of Islamist terror attacks, the volume of anti-Muslim posts on social media typically increases, and new terms to devalue Muslims and paint them with a broad brush are created by far-right extremists online. Matthias Quent, IDZ-director and sociologist: “Racism, right-wing populism and extremism form the spaces of resonance for international jihadists. The effects of Islamist attacks are amplified by far-right agitators, especially online.”

On the other hand, Islamists react to events such as far-right demonstrations or the election results of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), to create an image of the West as being hostile to Muslims. In turn, this image of the West is used in their attempts to radicalise Muslims.

Jakob Guhl, co-author and extremism researcher at ISD said: “These processes of reciprocal radicalisation are not only happening in Germany, but in many Western societies. Islamist and anti-Muslim extremists use social media to transcend borders. They justify the concern and connection of their target groups by pointing at events from all over the globe.”

Timo Reinfrank, Director of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, called for these dynamics to be taken into account in the political debate as well as in prevention efforts: “The study demonstrates that anti-Muslim prejudices and rhetoric play into the hands of Islamist and racist fanatics, who want to divide our societies. Islamist radicalisation, anti-Muslim racism, and Antisemitism have to be considered and confronted together. Many civil society organisations have already internalised this. But in the public debate, there remains the idea that right-wing anti-Muslim extremists are the counter-weight to radical Islamists. This is untrue: Both have much in common and threaten open societies.”
 
 
About the study:

Based on qualitative and quantitative social media analyses, the Institute for Democracy and Civil Society (IDZ) in Jena, in cooperation with London-based ISD (Institute for Strategic Dialogue), analysed anti-Muslim and Islamist online content. More than one million pieces of German-language internet content between 2013 and 2017 were analysed for the study. The research project was financed by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.