Introduction
First of all, I would love to say that the world we live in is a jungle full of problems. Problems from different angles. Overcoming hate, violent extremism and terrorism through cooperation between Europe, Arab and Africa lies on LOVE. We have to understand what love symbolizes in order to make a progressive cooperation. If we don’t have this symbol of love, this cooperation counter mounts to nothing. What do I mean by this? It simply means accepting people’s views, beliefs, traditions, and relationship. The world is in this mess because we have not realized what to do. Everyday world leaders work out on strategies to bringing peace in areas affected by violence.
Terrorism
Let us first have a look at the facts: We hear about terrorism almost every day and it is a truly global phenomenon. Leaving more than 10,000 people dead according to the statistics of the United States Department. According to the United States Statistic, almost 7,000 terrorist attacks occurred worldwide, with more than 11,000 deaths and more than 21,000 injuries in 2012. But not all parts of the world are as much troubled by terrorism as others. That requires a demand for world peace through cooperation and solidarity. States, through their police agencies, in particular, have an obligation to take all the necessary measures to protect the human rights of all individuals within their jurisdiction from terrorism, as part of their positive obligations to ensure the right to life, the right to physical integrity and other human rights and fundamental freedoms. As a result, they need to put an emphasis on preventing terrorism through, and while simultaneously upholding, human rights and the rule of law. As countries look for ways to prevent terrorism in a more effective manner, greater efforts are being made to determine why and when individuals turn to terrorism, how this happens, and ways this can be prevented early on.
Note, Terrorism is a serious crime; it cannot and should not be associated with any nationality, religion or ethnicity if we want to increase cooperation in making peace for a sustainable world.
Terrorism attacks can come in different angles from the left wing terrorism to the right wing terrorism down the lone-wolf terrorism. Therefore, supporting young people from the Arab, Africa and European regions to engage in dialogue and cooperation against violent extremism and hate speech is a very important step in dealing with this mess especially education is a meaningful and powerful way to tackle extremisms and hatred.
Disunity Among States In Dealing With Terrorism and Radicalism
As nations, we cannot succeed in deradicalizing and defeating terrorism if there is still disunity among ourselves. For your information, the more divided we are, the weaker we become in eliminating this threat to our human race.
I know as states, we may differ in our values and interests, but the danger posed by hate, violent extremism and terrorism is greater than the differences between our nations.We cannot win this struggle if only a few states engage in the fight. We can not win it if all states are not part of the coalition and put the issue of terror and radicalism on top of their agenda. We can not win it if our only focus to defeat this mutual problem is only based on military might while leaving thousands of youths being radicalized and recruited through social media by terrorist groups.
We must move out of this traditional approach of dealing with radicalism and terrorism and launch global campaigns in media and social media that will promote a sense of respect to diversity and intercultural dialogues among youths. We must expose youth to other nations through either exchange programs or volunteer programs overseas so as to help them learn that no culture is better than the other.If they learn that, they will be able to live with people of different faith tradition and ethnicity without prejudices, stereotypes, and hate that may influence radicalism, populism and even worse acts of terror.
Overcoming Hate
Darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate only love can do that.Overcoming hate is something I consider a myth because the world we live in is filled with hate, religious segregation, amongst but even within religions groups. The world needs hope and love to move on. We can’t force people to love. Everything in this world is balanced by nature. We must have people who hate because love is like a positive charged electron and hate is a negative charge. Without the negative, the positive will not work. What do I mean by this? hate gives us the positive vibes to work towards our aims.
Theory two is that love should be at the center of our hearts. In overcoming hate we need to eradicate all forms of hate speeches and promote good morals towards accepting people opinions on their religion, traditions and other views. Young people today in the European and Arab regions grow up in societies exposed to various pressures for change, and resistance to change, that deeply impact on their understanding and exercise of active citizenship and on their role as agents for dialogue, cooperation, and learning. The fate of millions of children and young people caught up in conflicts, and fleeing them, has generated impressive reactions of solidarity for the victims and outrage to armed conflicts and their root causes. At the same time, these very same events have resulted in the spreading of exclusivist ideas and ideologies, generally accompanied by hate speech, Islamophobia and xenophobia at levels that put at risk diversity as a shared value in the 21st century. Common to these movements is the primacy of national interests over human rights and international agreements and the deepening of social, cultural and religious dividing lines as strategies to support confrontation and exclusion as justifications for discrimination.
All we need is LOVE. Let’s speak happiness, speak love and show it by proper cooperation with respective agencies. With love, there will be no more segregation against religions and colors. Let’s make love and not war! Because we don’t need any trouble, deaths or fights over things that has no meaning. What we need is love and understanding to guide and protect us on. Help the weak if you are strong now. Incorporating cooperation in overcoming hate, it should be a drastic decision taking that should be made. It’s time for us to get together and appreciate what love has for us all. Let’s stand for one love, one color, one mind, one world, and one space where our next generation to come will not experience the increase of hate but the blossom of love among one another. In cooperating these issues, let’s us look at the future of the next generation that will come after us. What do we want them to see in their own generation? A world filled with hate or a world blossoming in the abundance of love? This question should be in our minds.
Overcoming hate, violent extremism, terrorism through cooperation between the Europeans, Arabians and Africans will improve through three stages of our lives:
The first stage is the prevention stage. This brings us to meeting formative needs, promoting readiness, supporting healthy families, enhancing resilience, long-term social investment and avoiding at-risk kids.
The second stage is the educational stage. It promotes building reflective minds, emotional intelligence; cultivate empathy, perceiving bias, media awareness, civic engagement, teaching an honest history, social responsibility, cross-cultural awareness and ethnic training.
The third stage is the intervention stage. The stage brings about educating our leaders, training our protectors, social support, and inclusion, enforcing human rights, promoting dignity, resolving conflicts, facilitating peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness and healing the hurt.
Conclusion
Finally, let me call upon you all to join AfriNYPE on #LoveConquersHate online Global Campaign which was designed to deal with the issues of hate, violent extremism and radicalization of youth to engage in terrorism. Together we can make this campaign go viral and raise awareness to youths by involving stakeholders such as religious leaders, diplomats, politicians, civil society and local citizens.
Written by Seleman Yusuph Kitenge
Youth Development Expert,
PGD – Management of Foreign Relations, BA in Sociology (Hons),
Director of Media & Communication, AfriNYPE.
