Stay ConnectedBringing you vital facts and perspectives on Islamist extremism and how to combat it directly from leading activists in the field.
Clarion Podcast is brought to you by Clarion Project, dedicated to challenging Islamist extremism and promoting dialogue with Muslim human rights activists.
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Jeff Schoep is the former commander of the largest Nazi party in the United States. In a one hour conversation, Schoep and Qudosi cover the rise of the Proud Boys and delve into the culture of violence that supports extreme polarity pivoting groups of people against each other. What can heal the polarity and how can the media better approach these issues.
"In the war of ideas, people become the terrain." Psychological operations (PSYOP) are operations to convey selected information and indicators to audiences to influence their emotions, motives, and objective reasoning, and ultimately the behavior of governments, organizations, groups, and individuals. In episode 10, I speak with Derek Goeriz, a former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier trained in insurgency, and intelligence community professional. We cover the psyop against American identity. Why are we seeing a spike in antagonism against the law enforcement community and the American rule of law with such orchestrated precision? Where is it coming from and how do we counter it? About Derek Goeriz: Derek holds a BA in Political Science from Yale University and an MA in International Affairs from UCSD’s School of Global Policy & Strategy. Derek is active in helping transitioning veterans and military families through participation in various charitable organizations and resides in San Diego with his daughter enjoying politics, philosophy, & the arts. Currently works in the defense tech sector.
Episode 9 of Endeavor Against Extremism is particularly special for two reasons. First, we speak with former extremist Arno Michaelis on how becoming a father pulled him out of extremism. The preventing/countering violent extremism sector often enough looks at the role of gender in extremism, but only through the lens of motherhood. When it discusses masculinity, the focus is on how toxic masculinity concepts pull men in, but rarely is the a conversation on how authentic masculinity pulls men out of the ideology and into their power as men. We discuss that with Arno, but somewhere in there something quite incredible happens: a realization that the other is speaking a language that often isn't understood ...the language of compassion, kindness, love and vulnerability. I threw away any other question I had lined up and decided to move this conversation into a figurative open field. About Arno Michaelis: In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Arno Michaelis was a leader of a worldwide racist skinhead organization, a reverend of a self-declared Racial Holy War, and lead singer of the hate-metal band Centurion, which sold 20,000 CDs by the mid-nineties and is still popular with racists today. Single parenthood, love for his daughter, and the forgiveness shown by people he once hated all helped to turn Arno's life around, bringing him to embrace diversity and practice gratitude for all life. After spending over a decade as a successful information technology consultant and entrepreneur, Arno is now a speaker, author of My Life After Hate, co-author of The Gift of Our Wounds, and very fortunate to be able to share his ongoing process of character development as an educator working with Serve 2 Unite. Founded as an ongoing peaceful response to the August 5th 2012 Sikh Temple shooting in Oak Creek, WI, S2U engages students creatively with a global network of peacemakers and mentors in partnership with Against Violent Extremism, The Forgiveness Project, Search For Common Ground, and Parents for Peace. Visit: www.parents4peace.org www.lifeafterhate.org
Episode 8 features a clip of Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) educator Shireen Qudosi on Hill TV, speaking to the issue of childhood/youth extremism, and how to help parents understand the challenges their children might be facing
The Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) and Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) sectors long abandoned the conveyor belt theory -- that there is a straight pathway on which an individual becomes radicalized. However, when that story was discarded it wasn't replaced with anything that captured the communities we need fighting on the frontlines. In an episode on the power of storytelling in PVE, Shireen Qudosi shares the story she created for workshop trainings to help communities understand the allure of extremists recruiters.
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