Problems with "Countering Extremism"

The Network for Critical Research on the Ethics of Researching the Extreme & Far Right (EthEx) aims to provide a platform to discuss the ethics of undertaking research on the far and extreme right as well as the dangers and responsibilities this type of work involves.

EthEx Network

Please join the EthEx network for a webinar featuring Liz Fekete, Megan Kelly, Aaron Winter, and Tarek Younis.

Far-right and fascist movements are often deemed a problem of "extremism". This framing, however, can dangerously miss the point. Such an approach depicts their ideologies as deviations from the mainstream, while also failing to distinguish between the "extremism" of far-right movements and the "extremism" of other movements condemned by the state (including leftist emancipatory movements and so-called "Islamist" groups). Attempts to identify "warning signs" and "risk factors" for individual involvement in "extremism" have disproportionately targeted Muslim communities or communities of colour. Consequently, they have institutionalised racist stereotypes and justified the expansion of surveillance. By targeting individuals, "counter-extremism" overlooks the ways in which white supremacy, elements of fascism, and other oppressive ideologies, shape mainstream political ideologies and state institutions—including the institutions that oversee "counter-extremism". Taking this situation as its starting point, this panel will interrogate the pitfalls of counter-extremism as a strategy for challenging the far right and white supremacy. Panellists will discuss topics including the mainstreaming of the far right; the damaging effects of the UK's legal Prevent duty requiring individuals to report the warning signs of "radicalization"; the problems involving use of former members of "extremist" movements to propagate counter-extremism; and the failure of the "counter-extremism industry" to deal with the racism of the state, including in policing.Speakers will include Tarek Younis, Aaron Winter, Megan Kelly, and Liz Fekete. The event will be chaired by Joan Braune. Following an intervention by each speaker, we will hold a question and answer session with attendees.Speaker bios:Liz Fekete is Director of the Institute of Race Relations and head of its European Research Programme. She is the author of A suitable enemy: racism, migration and Islamophobia in Europe (Pluto press, 2009) and Europe’s Fault Lines: racism and the rise of the Right (Verso, 2018) which won the Bread and Roses award for Radical Publishing 2019.Aaron Winter is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Lancaster University. His research is on the far-right with a focus on racism, mainstreaming and violence. He is co-editor of Discourses and Practices of Terrorism: Interrogating Terror (Routledge 2010), Historical Perspectives on Organised Crime and Terrorism (Routledge 2018) and Researching the Far Right: Theory, Method and Practice (Routledge 2020), and co-author, with Aurelien Mondon, of Reactionary Democracy: How Racism and the Populist Far Right Became Mainstream (Verso 2020). He has published in the Journal of Political Ideologies, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power and Sociological Research Online, and is also co-editor of Identities and the Manchester University Press (MUP) book series Racism, Resistance and Social Change. Megan Kelly (she/her) is a doctoral student at the University of Basel and a research fellow at the Institute for Research on Male Supremacism (IRMS). Her research interests include identity formation and (de)radicalization processes in online supremacist and other far-right movements and responses to these movements.Dr Tarek Younis is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Middlesex University. He researches and writes on Islamophobia, racism in mental health, the securitisation of clinical settings and the politics of psychology. He teaches on the impact of culture, religion, globalization and security policies on mental health.

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Problems with "Countering Extremism"

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