When I was 19, I decided to move abroad, wanting to explore the world and give myself a better professional chance than what my hometown could offer. While it has been an incredible experience, it came with its own set of struggles (both expected and unexpected): one of them being the growing disconnection between me …
Despite the last few years witnessing sweeping and hopeful social justice movements such as #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, climate strikes, and repeated protests against deportation efforts, instances of hate crime and discrimination in England are far from declining. COVID-19 had a particularly compounding effect in not only increasing violence against women, girls and minorities, but …
It seems almost impossible nowadays to go online without being inundated with alarmist news and polarising headlines. In the age of fake news, this information overload can make it hard to distinguish useful discourse form intentional misinformation. With constant news coverage often comes harmful shortcuts and ready-made conclusions, especially as it pertains to crime and …
Extremist groups are drawing in women by presenting a warped vision of female empowerment and gender roles. Considerations of radicalisation have, for many years, focused solely on men and the factors that drive them to join extremist groups. Yet, as the gender gap in radicalisation gradually narrows, it’s time to ask one very important question: …
Recently, there has been an increase in reported cases of members of the armed forces or police being found to have engaged in racism or extremism. Historically, the security forces — in this piece, referring collectively to the military and police — have had a complicated relationship with minority communities. Whilst this is a general …
Why freedom of expression has never been an unlimited right to be offensive. The phrase “political correctness gone mad” has become synonymous with “I’m no longer allowed to say what I want”, and is commonly used with some sort of reference to freedom of expression being violated. Applied to a variety of personal characteristics — …
Following the January 6 attack on the Capitol in the States, many far-right groups have left Parler to go to platforms such as Telegram. The far-right trend has subsequently been felt all over the world with groups like QAnon gaining attraction. So how and why has this sentiment reached the UK? Growing far-right sentiment …
A recent ‘wave’ of racist abuse against players highlights a persisting culture of discrimination. In 2011, then-head of FIFA Sepp Blatter controversially claimed that “there is no racism” in football, arguing that football has “moved on” from the relentless and often violent racism of the 1970s and 1980s. However, racist chants and taunts from the …
Radical change in countering far-right extremism will only be achieved when right-wing politicians take responsibility for their actions. Prior to the turn of the century, the fight against terrorism in the UK was concerned with domestic affairs, specifically related to the actions of the Irish Republican Army. The introduction of the Terrorism Act 2000 marked …
In 2014 when ISIS declared its caliphate thousands of women around the world migrated to join debunking the myth that woman did not participate in violent extremism. In fact figures show that with the proclamation of the Caliphate, the number of female departees from EU member states increased significantly for example in Germany the percentage …
