Activities
29. September 2009
Schools/Students Against Violent Extremism
A SAVE (Sisters Against Violent Extremism) Campaign
Schools/Students Against Violent Extremism! is a new global campaign to sensitize school pupils and university students to the threat of violent extremism and to empower them to use readily-available resources to challenge extremist ideologies. High-school students and university-aged youth face a special threat from extremist groups capable of harnessing their latent activist energies for use in fundamentalist activities, and it is critical to provide the young generation with the tools to stand up for peace and non-violence.
Developing a culture of peace and security in the current young generation is the primary way of ensuring an enduring shift in the extremist paradigm. Listening to young people's voices and concerns and providing them with the means to take ownership of their actions will create a new vision for a future without violent extremism.
Schools/Students Against Violent Extremism!’s main objective is to provide students with a platform to discuss their experiences with violent extremism and to support each other in their efforts to curb radical activities. By drawing on resources the students already have - theatre clubs, school newspapers, online social networking sites and blogs, as well as student assemblies - Schools/Students Against Violent Extremism! will facilitate dialogue and allow students to spread awareness for violent extremism in ways they deem most effective and feasible.
Women without Borders has already conducted very successful Schools and Students campaigns in Delhi and Lucknow, India. A local partner showed students a short documentary about Indian students’ views on terrorism that Women without Borders had filmed during a previous trip, and held a subsequent discussion about their reactions to the film. Please click here to watch the film.
Women without Borders then worked with the students to create press clubs, for which Women without Borders produces materials and in which students discuss current events and explore their ideas about curbing violent extremism. A short documentary highlighting the campaign has been sent to numerous other schools around the country, which have expressed an overwhelming desire to become part of the campaign.
The Schools/Students Against Violent Extremism! campaign will be expanded in the UK, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Yemen, and Pakistan. Women without Borders will work closely with the students to develop individual programs, but will conduct comparative analyses to determine continuities in students’ wishes and needs in societies susceptible to violent extremism.
“I, Dhruv proclaim SAVE yourself. SAVE the world.”
“I, Mahika, would like to urge you to leave in peace and not in pieces. Be a citizen of the global world and not of a nation.”
“I, Ananya, know that the slogan ‘terrorism has no religion’ is often contradicted but one thing I am sure we can all agree on is that peace definitely has no religion.”
