January, 2004
What are "Extremists?"
The practice of dealing with extremists is highly controversial, as even the word "extremist" is controversial. Peter Coleman and Andrea Bartoli discuss this issue in their essay Dealing with Extremists elsewhere in this knowledge base. My use of the term is similar to theirs: "activities (beliefs, attitudes, feelings, actions, strategies) of a person or group far removed from the ordinary. In conflict settings it manifests as a severe form of conflict engagement."[1]
There are many different ways of confronting extremists in intractable conflicts. The appropriate approach depends on the conflict, the power-balance between the two adversaries, their cultural backgrounds, the potential consequences of the conflict and whether or not an adversary can be labeled as an extremist. It is essential to assess these approaches and determine which one is most conducive to making a conflict tractable and to ending violence. This paper is an effort to tentatively establish some basic guidelines that can serve as a compass to navigate a confrontation with an extremist.
There are two main approaches you can take towards an adversary you are in conflict with. The first is an "enemy image" approach, which tends conceal your adversary's humanity. The second approach is to look at your adversary as a human being, what I will call the "search for humanity" approach.
Enemy Image as a Tool
"Enemy image" is a well-known term, both in social psychology and in conflict theory. My purpose here is not to define it, but to focus on its use as a tool.
Since the second cold war the world has entered since September 11, the "enemy image" approach can be easily seen in most mainstream media and in the speeches of those in power.
The enemy image normally has a core of truth. However, this core appears expanded in the image, as if surrounded by a ghostly halo. The image denies the humanity of the adversaries. It melts together the actual characteristics of the enemies with elements projected onto them by their opponent. Eventually, it becomes difficult to weigh the real threat of an enemy against the projected shadow, especially when there are situations in which an enemy publicly behaves in ways that seem to confirm the projected shadow.
If your enemies are devils, there is no common ground to be shared and their identity becomes exclusively connected with their evil deeds and purposes. They deserve to be eliminated, excluded from the community of human beings. If they are imprisoned, they should not be rehabilitated, but sent to the death chamber. Human rights do not apply to them, whose life is perceived as their antithesis. Their wickedness comes from an ingrained perversity and not their personal history. In fact, it is best to ignore that history as it may reveal a previous partnership with you. Suspicion becomes undisputable evidence and demands pre-emptive actions in order to prevent the greater disaster that would come from reacting too late. To wait for a legal procedure to produce evidence is a dangerous lack of responsibility. Association becomes complicity, and there is no space for neutrality. If you are not with us, you are against us. The confrontation may appear as a crusade of good against evil, and you become a hero against whom no criticism is allowed.
The bigger the shadow and smaller the core of truth in the enemy image, the stronger the tendency to indulge in double standards, to establish hierarchies and to reject equal rights. The reasons given for resisting and destroying the enemy hide the real purposes for provoking the confrontation. Today's global agenda reveals this dramatically. The enemy's alleged weapons of mass destruction matter less than access to cheap petroleum. The enemy image is strongly reinforced by the mass media and public opinion leaders.
It is difficult to distinguish the core of truth from the shadow. This requires critical analysis and testimonies from independent sources. However, such a distinction may not be desired, because the enemy image can be a very useful tool.
The enemy image is not useful as a target. The bigger the shadow and smaller the core of truth are, the less precise it is. No general would trust such a shadowy image to pinpoint an enemy. This does not matter, however, because the enemy image is not a tool for targeting, but a rallying flag calling people to unite against the "enemy."
When faced with a shadowy enemy, the alliance leader's violent confrontation of the enemy appears to be protective, gallant, courageous and strong. Their violence becomes palatable. In such a way, the destructive character of weapons is concealed, and they become symbols of strength and leadership.
In order to be convincing, the enemy image has to be shared by all allies. The more fact-finding processes shake its credibility, the more cynical the alliance becomes towards you. Then a crisis of credibility might develop and turn into crisis of legitimacy. An enemy image devoid of credibility backlashes, making not the chosen enemy but yourself vulnerable.
The Search for the Human Nature in the Adversary
The second approach, the "search for humanity," is a less common approach than the "enemy image" approach. Many people think that because this approach seems to avoid confrontation, it is a peacenik line characterized by weakness and an inability to respond to the challenges of reality. It is seen as Chamberlain yielding to Hitler as opposed to Churchill transforming defeat into victory. Because this approach has such a low profile, I will use a relatively unknown but compelling testimony from common people facing terror in Colombia to show how effective this approach can be.
The search for and recognition of human traits in the adversary can overcome antagonism and denial. This is exemplified in the linked interviews recently conducted in Oriente Antioqueno, Colombia where members of rural communities under severe threat have non-violently faced "armed actors" as they call paramilitaries, guerrillas and the army.
When an armed actor imperiously demands a face-to-face meeting, it is usually a community leader who goes to meet him or her. The community leader behaves respectfully and shows appreciation for the armed actor's arguments and values. The leader then confronts the armed actor with the needs of his community and shows him the harm, destruction and pain that have resulted from the armed actor's violent behaviour. In a way, he acts as a mediator between the actions of the armed actor and their effects on the community.
Even more importantly, the leader constantly refers to the shared humanity of both the community and the armed actor and points out their joint undertakings and shared past. Patiently and clearly, the leader attempts to persuade the armed actor to adhere to his values as before, but to step aside from the dynamics of violence he is entangled in. The leader listens attentively to the needs the armed actor expresses, shows empathy and readiness to help, but refuses to show the slightest complicity with either the armed actor's destructive dynamics or with the armed actor himself. The leader then returns to the community and tries to prove to them that they are not siding with their enemies. The leader explains how the community is forced to behave due to the threat of the armed actor. The armed actor is held accountable for the harm caused by his violent behavior, but he or she does not become linked and identified with it. The leader does not ask for his or her exclusion or extermination. The armed actor is not treated as an alien, but instead as integrated and rehabilitated. In this sense, the armed actor is identified by his or her human traits and potential.
The experiences reported in these interviews have led to proposals to the Regional Government of Antioquia and to the National government of Colombia made by 23 municipalities of Oriente Antioqueno plus the neighbouring ones. The proposals have mostly been accepted.
Shortcomings of the "Search for Humanity" Approach
The testimonies in these interviews confirm something that has become more and more evident in the last few years; non-violent confrontations of armed adversaries can humanize a conflict and contain violence. However, this alone cannot solve an intractable conflict or end the threat of terror. Furthermore, if it raises expectations that it cannot fulfill, this approach may even become counterproductive. This seems to be the case in Colombia where the failure of three years of talks between the government and FARC has resulted in the frustrated public's increased support for the paramilitary forces. Similarly in Israel, the Oslo agreements have not been able to achieve a settlement and establish peace. In the Basque Country, the end of the ETA's 14-month ceasefire has only hardened the two sides against each other. In all three cases, failed negotiations have only strengthened the extremists on both sides of the conflict.
On one hand, a non-violent confrontation with armed extremists that reinforces both sides' humanity is an essential step to overcome violence. On the other hand, an inability to enforce these changes can make the confrontation ultimately self-defeating.
However, the choice is not between a violent and a non-violent confrontation. In democratic countries, a combined civil and military confrontation can complement each other. But what matters here, is the choice between the enemy image and the search for humanity. The decision must be to search for the humanity in others instead of relying on the shadowy enemy image.
Oriente Antioqueno as a Peace Laboratory
A laboratory experiment explores the ways one agent interacts with other agents in a given environment in order to achieve an intended purpose. Oriente Antioqueno can be looked at as an experiment in attempting to find a peaceful solution for the intractable conflict in Colombia. The results of the experiment suggest two faces of peace: positive peace and negative peace.
Negative peace is commonly defined as no war and no violence. Its purpose is to protect and shelter positive peace, which is the peace of a broad, shared life as opposed to the narrow pursuit of your own interests. Positive peace can be understood as the core of peace and negative peace as its protective shield.
The key agent for overcoming terror and establishing peace is a civil society based on positive peace actively participating in a democracy. This civil society is essential, but alone it is not able to achieve peace. Consequently, researchers should focus on finding ways civil society can interact with other sectors of society in order to overcome terror. There are five crucial sectors of society that are needed to support civil society:
- a democratic state,
- a thriving egalitarian economy,
- mass media and public opinion leaders impregnated by a culture of peace,
- knowledgeable peace practitioners and
- a friendly international community.
All these factors are, of course present and active everywhere in Colombia. However, they are not complete. The state is not purely democratic; it also promotes terror. In the case of globalization, the economy is not egalitarian, but beneficial almost only to the privileged. The media are not always influenced by a culture of peace, but also by a culture of war and they tend to project shadowy enemy images galore. Scientists compliantly administer their knowledge only to power-holders. The international community is not only friendly but also greedy. Peace seems to be out of reach. The question is how to improve the interactions of these sectors to make them more concerned with peace.
Civil Society
An empowered civil society can create change by moving into the open to express the community's values and identity. Citizens can attempt to communicate how rich and integrative positive peace is, how it is harmed and threatened by the agents of terror and what a common belonging means. This expression would acknowledge the human dimension of their adversaries, but would also hold them accountable for the harm they have caused.
Civil society includes the dead and to a certain extent, the still unborn, who are going to inherit the natural environment, historical background and identity of the present. It is essential to express the past. The future requires imagination, meaning, testimony, dignity, mourning, liturgies and biographies.
Such an expression would make the state a bit more democratic, the economy a bit more egalitarian, the media and public opinion leaders a bit more life-oriented, the scientific community a bit more concerned with peace and the international community a bit friendlier. It would even influence the civil society it portrays and encourage peaceful leaders to step forward.
For people oppressed by terror, expressing the harm and threat they have suffered is both an urgent need and a danger because the same terror threatens to suffocate them. Therefore, this expression requires protection. Civil society needs the protection of democratically controlled armed forces and police. Members of civil society are also dependent upon publicity from the media. This publicity fosters solidarity and attracts witnesses, another form of protection, whose testimony is extremely valuable in dissipating the shadows from the enemy image. Furthermore, members of civil society are encouraged when they realize their voices are being heard. Finally, truth-finding processes similar to the South-African Truth and Reconciliation Commission foster a culture of remembrance. This may become another form of protection when it convinces potential perpetrators that they will not get rid of victims by killing them and that one day the perpetrators will have to face even dead or missing victims.
The expression of civil society includes the expression of other agents including military, police, administrative, judicial and political voices. As human beings, all these agents can side with the civil society they belong to. Furthermore, because accountability is an essential requirement to distinguish core from shadow, the presence of independent, reliable observers watching in all directions is required.
The testimony of observers, although it is necessary to protect the expression of civil society, cannot fully replace it because this testimony refers to the crimes, to the black of death. It marginalizes the fullness, dignity, joy, glory, sound and color in the peace of life conveyed by the expression of civil society.
The expression should reach from the small, intimate circle of family and close friends, to the broadest international circles. This is why, by drafting this paper, I intend not only a contribution to the Beyond Intractability project, but also to peace in Colombia.
[1] Peter Coleman and Andrea Bartoli, "Dealing with Extremists" in the Intractable Conflict Knowledge Base. University of Colorado Conflict Research Consortium. Available at /essay/dealing_extremists/.
Use the following to cite this article:
Gutierrez, Juan . "Humanization of Extremists." Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: January 2004 <http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/humanization_extremists/>.
Sources of Additional, In-depth Information on this Topic
Additional Explanations of the Underlying Concepts:
Online (Web) Sources
Anti-Defamation League Extremism Page.
Available at: http://www.adl.org/main_Extremism/default.htm.
ADL is an organization that combats anti-Semitism and bigotry of all kinds. This page offers updates on extremist issues, such as news articles and tips on responding to hate and extremist acts.
Bias Crime, Hatred, Extremism. The Safe Schools Coalition.
Available at: Click here for more info.
This page offers information on extremism and hate groups, and how to combat their presence in schools.
Offline (Print) Sources
Hogg, Michael A. "A Social Identity Theory of Leadership." Personality and Social Psychology Review 5:3, 2001.
This article espouses a highly academic theory regarding how leaders are identified and come into leadership roles in social groups. Basically, the theory argues that the most prototypical member of a group, the individual that most people in the group are attracted to (charismatic), will be imbued with the the power to influence the group. The piece includes empirical support for the theory and a discussion of its implications, including intergroup dimensions, uncertainty reduction and extremism, power, and pitfalls of prototype-based leadership.
Gruen, Arno. "An Unrecognized Pathology: The Mask of Humaneness." Journal of Psychohistory 30:3, 2003.
Haslam, S. Alexander and John C. Turner. "Context-Dependent Variation in Social Stereotyping: III. Extremism as a Self-Categorical Basis for Polarized Judgement." European Journal of Social Psychology 25:3, May 1995.
Keltner, Dacher and Robert J. Robinson. "Defending the Status Quo: Power and Bias in Social Conflict." Personality and Social Pyschology Bulletin 23:10, October 1997.
Keltner, Dacher and Robert J. Robinson. "Extremism, Power, and the Imagined Basis of Social Conflict." Current Directions in Psychological Science 5:4, August 1996.
Schneider, Stanley. "Fundamentalism and Paranoia in Groups and Society." Group 26:1, March 2002.
Abstract: This paper will examine the concepts of fundamentalism and paranoia to contribute understanding to how extremist positions have developed. Fundamentalism is a rigid, dogmatic, and skewed view that dismisses other competing and conflicting viewpoints. Extreme feelings can only lead to extremist behavior. Fears in our inner selves will only fuel the fires of paranoia, encourage fundamentalist behavior, and lead to group conflicts. We will examine this on micro (group) and macro (society) levels.
Staub, Ervin. "Genocide and Mass Killing: Their Roots and Prevention." In Peace, Conflict and Violence: Peace Psychology in the 21st Century. Edited by Wagner, R. V., D. D. Winter and D. J. Christie, eds. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001.
This chapter delves into the topic of extreme violence such as genocide, and mass killings. It uses peace psychology to unearth the motivational roots behind extremist collective action, and explores ways that can lead to the prevention of these kinds of severe events.
Rippl, Susanne et al. "Interest in Evil: Hierarchic Self-Interest and Right-Wing Extremism Among East and West German Youth." Social Science Research 28:2, June 1999.
Abstract: Right-wing extremist attitudes can seem rational when they are viewed from the near-term, group-linked interests of individuals in their own well-being, ascendency, or domination. We test an elaboration of a rational choice theory of right-wing extremism that focuses on hierarchic and self-interested imperatives in market-driven societies. Our elaboration of this theory identifies a theoretical and empirical unification of four social psychological dimensions??involving competitive processes of social comparison, individualism, materialist preoccupations with success, and the acceptance of social inequality. These dimensions coalesce into a higher order, latent subterranean construct we call hierarchic self-interest. This latent construct is strongly related to right-wing extremism among samples of East and West German youth. Male adolescents experiencing the rapid transition to a market economy in an economically and socially depressed East Germany may be especially susceptible to extremist appeals to hierarchic self-interests. Male and East German youth express stronger hierarchic self-interests than female and West German youth, and these differences mediate the greater tendencies of male and East German youth to express hostility toward immigrants and foreigners, who are often a step below and in competition with them on the socioeconomic ladder of success. Hierarchic self-interest is a persistent and dangerous source of support for right-wing extremism.
Rickels, Laurence A. "Nazi Psychoanalysis: Response to Werner Bohleber." American Imago 52:3, 1995.
With the end of the Cold War and reunification of Germany, both the renewal of Eastern Europe and the Gulf War tuned or turned into the at once technological and group-psychological reception of phantasms, phantoms, doubles still coming home from the Second World War.
Chalk, Peter. Non-Military Security and Global Order: The Impact of Extremism, Violence and Chaos on National and International Security. Palgrave Macmillan, December 2000.
"The book examines the evolving nature of national and international security in the post-Cold War era, focusing on non-military threat potentials and how these may best countered. Six specific issues are discussed: terrorism, the heroin and cocaine trade, privacy, environmental degradation, the spread of disease and uncontrolled migration. The book concludes that greater national coordination, inter-agency cooperation and international collaboration is needed if these problems are going to be effectively dealt with." -Amazon
Gurr, Ted Robert. Peoples Versus States: Minorities at Risk in the New Century. Herndon, VA: USIP Press, July 1, 2000.
Following the book Minorities at Risk, Peoples Versus States addresses the risk that ethnic and nationalist conflict will place on minorities in the twenty-first century.
White, Jonathan R. "Political Eschatology: A Theology of Antigovernment Extremism." American Behavioral Scientist 44:6, February 2001.
Abstract: This article explores apocalyptic theology in four American extremist religions: Christian Identity; Nordic Christianity and Odinism; violent, "freewheeling" fundamentalism; and Creatorism. It is argued that violent eschatology interacts with criminology in the sense that politicized religions produce criminal behavior and, at times, terrorism. A brief history of the relationship between religion and racist violence is presented as well as an analysis of the social factors that produce political eschatology. The article concludes with an examination of religious terrorism and technological weapons. Mass destruction is the greatest threat of religiously motivated terrorism.
Simon, B. and B. Klandermans. "Politicized Collective Identity: A Social Psychological Analysis." American Psychologist 56:4, 2001.
This article presents a social psychological model of politicized collective identity that revolves around three triads. The piece attempts to outline how collective identity becomes politicized through power struggles, and what the consequences of politicized political identity may be.
Ray, J. J. "Racist Extremism and Normal Prejudice: A Comment on Grossarth-Maticek, Eysenck, and Vetter." Personality and Individual Differences 11:6, 1990.
Abstract: It is pointed out that the recent study by Grossarth-Maticek, Eysenck and Vetter (Personality and Individual Differences, 10, 547?558, 1989) used a measure of prejudice that was couched in very extreme language and that only about 5% of the respondents agreed with any given item. This suggests the possibility that the observed relationship between ethnocentrism and personality would show up as a negligible correlation if results were presented in correlational form. Other problems with the prejudice scale are also pointed out. A parsimonious explanation is suggested for the finding that prejudice was reduced by a programme of psychological training originally designed to ward off heart disease.
Candilis, Philip J. "Reply to Schafer: Ethics and State Extremism in Defense of Liberty." Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 29:4, 2001.
Opotow, Susan. "Social Injustice." Peace, Conflict and Violence: Peace Psychology in the 21st Century , 2001.
"This chapter shows how both direct and structural violence depend on distorted perceptions, thoughts, and moral decisions, and suggests a framework for fostering inclusion, social justice, and peace in the twenty-first century."
Stedman, Stephen John. "Spoiler Problems in Peace Processes." International Security 22:2, January 1, 1997.
This article discusses the important issue of spoilers, or extreme parties that purposely do whatever they can to disrupt peacemaking processes for fear of losing power. This study begins to develop a typological theory of spoiler management. The goal is to identify strategies that spoilers may potentially use. In addition, the research intends to outline strategies that policymakers and negotiators can use to diagnose the type of spoiler and effectively deal with them in order to keep peace processes on track.
Robinson, Robert J. and Laura Kray. "Status versus Quo: Naive Realism and the Search for Social Change and Perceived Legitimacy." In The Psychology of Legitimacy: Emerging Perspectives on Ideology, Justice and Intergroup Relations. Edited by Major, Brenda and John T. Jost, eds. Cambridge Univ Pr, 2001.
Hamilton, James C., Elizabeth C. Pinel and David R. Roskos-Ewoldsen. "The Effects of a Racist Act and Public Counter-Demonstrations on Race-Related Behavioral Intentions: A Natural Experiment." Journal of Applied Social Psychology 32:12, December 2002.
Blaker, Kimberly, ed. The Fundamentals of Extremism. New Boston Books, Inc., 2003.
"The politics, educational policies, and social values perpetuated by Christian fundamentalists are exposed in this critical perspective on the religious right's role in American society. Statistics and studies of the movement are offered that provide insight into the causes and characteristics of fundamentalism and its effects on minority groups including women, children, African Americans, gays, and lesbians. Essays from a variety of authors consider the path to theocracy, the effect of the theology of inerrancy on politics, and the state of fundamentalism in the United States after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks." -Amazon
Bohleber, Werner. "The Presence of the Past: Xenophobia and Rightwing Extremism in the Federal Republic of Germany: Psychoanalytic Reflections." American Imago 52:3, 1995.
"Xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and nationalism are complex, multifariously determined phenomena, that can only be explained within the framework of interdisciplinary cooperation. Although these phenomena are socially determined and get their dynamics mainly from social processes, a psychoanalytical description is needed to understand the attraction which they have for the individual and the extraordinary strong affects that are connected to them. Anti-Semitism and xenophobia are a "social disease" that has deep-seated roots in the unconscious. Although important psychoanalytic studies have already been done on anti-Semitism, not enough research on these phenomena has been undertaken as yet. In particular, the psychological connection between xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and modern nationalism has not yet been studied sufficiently. However, the present situation in Germany makes the analysis of such relationships essential, so that the reasons for this widespread xenophobic mentality can be found."
Durrheim, Kevin. "The Relationship Between Tolerance of Ambiguity and Attitudinal Conservatism: A Multidimensional Analysis." European Journal of Social Psychology 28:5, September 1998.
Abstract: The predictions of four social psychological theories of the relationship between cognitive style and conservatism - the theory of the authoritarian personality, extremism theory, context theory, and value pluralism theory - are examined in two empirical studies. Unlike previous research, these studies employ a measure of ambiguity tolerance, the Attitudinal Ambiguity Tolerance scale, which can assess cross-content variability in cognitive style. The results of the two studies conflict with the expectations of all four theories. In particular, only certain aspects of conservatism were related to ambiguity tolerance toward a particular content domain; and massive variability was evident in the shape of the relationship between ambiguity tolerance and conservatism across different content domains of ambiguity tolerance. The results are discussed in terms of value conflict which arises from endorsing conservative beliefs in a liberal institutional context.
Durrheim, Kevin. "Theoretical Conundrum: The Politics and Science of Theorizing Authoritarian Cognition." Political Psychology 18:3, September 1997.
Abstract: The historical development of the four main theories which have attempted to explain the relationship between cognitive style and ideological content -- i.e., authoritarianism, extremism theory, context theory, and value pluralism theory -- is analyzed from a rhetorical perspective. The discussion focuses on the manner in which the tensions between theoretical universalism and political critique have been "resolved" by theorists working in different historico-political contexts. While both these scientific and political values have been of central concern in theorizing the link between cognitive style and content, they are deeply incompatible because it is not possible to establish a fixed relationship between a personality dimension and the changing beliefs associated with different ideologies across time and place. This has prompted theorists aiming for universalistic accounts to define ideological orientation in terms of psychological processes rather than content, which, in turn, has compromised the critical potential of their theory. The paper concludes that the historical development of the literature may be understood in terms of dilemmatic counter-themes which, under different political circumstances, have been resolved in novel ways.
Kim, Young Yun. Unum and Pluribus: Ideological Underpinnings of Interethnic Communication in the United States.
This paper examines everyday public discourse on issues of interethnic relations to demonstrate how the ideals of the founding ideology, "classical liberalism", play out in contemporary American society. A qualitative-interpretive method is employed to examine a wide range of messages voiced in recent years by politicians, community and civic leaders, intellectuals, and ordinary citizens.
Frindte, Wolfgang, Friedrich Funke and Sven Walzdus. Xenophobia and Right-Wing Extremism in Germany Youth Groups -- Some Evidence Against Unidimensional Misinterpretations.
Abstract: The antecedents of violent and xenophobian orientations among young people have been extensively studied after the German reunification, producing various complementary or contradictory theoretical approaches. The present study presents statistical analyses of survey data collected from 1,177 adolescents in six German towns. These serve as the base for a bidimensional structural analysis of extreme right-wing orientation. The overlap between extreme right-wing social orientation and variables, such as gender, educational level or affinity to various youth cultures is analyzed and discussed. It is shown that there is a great danger of misinterpretation if one tries to generalize isolated results concerning xenophobian and violence-related orientations among German youths.
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Examples Illustrating this Topic:
Online (Web) Sources
As Attacks on US Soldiers Continue in Iraq We Talk to Robert Fisk who Just Returned from Fallujah. Democracy Now!. June 11, 2003.
Available at: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/06/11/1622243.
This interview by Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman with Roberty Fisk highlights the war in Iraq. As Britian "Independent's" chief foreign correspondent talks abou the increasing revolts among Iraqis, the "road map to peace" in the Middle East, and his meetings with Hamas leader Abdul Aziz Rantissi.
Albanians in the Balkans. United States Institute of Peace.
Available at: http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr77.html.
This article looks at the complex issues associated with conflict in the Balkan region regarding the status of Albanian populations.
"Responding to Extremist Speech: 20 Frequently Asked Questions." , 1900
Available at: http://www.awcnet.org/documents/tools_respondextremist.pdf.
This article answers twenty frequently asked questions about how the government may legally respond when extremists choose to demonstrate in public.
Benjamin, Robert D. "Terry Waite: A Study in Authenticity." , November 2002
Available at: http://www.mediate.com/articles/benjamin7.cfm.
This article features Terry Waite, a hostage negotiator of international fame who knows both sides; after gaining the release of hostages in Libya, he himself was held hostage by a militant group in the Middle East for five years. The personal resolve and bearing that saw him through both situations offer important lessons worthy of note by all negotiators.
Offline (Print) Sources
Karstedt, Susanne. "Early Nazis 1923-1933 -- Neo-Nazis 1980-1995: A Comparison of the Life Histories of Two Generations of German Right-Wing Extremists." In Historical and Geographical Influences on Psychopathology.
George, John and Laird M. Wilcox. Nazis, Communists, Klansmen, and Others on the Fringe: Political Extremism in America. Prometheus Books, 1992.
This work examines historical extremist groups in the US. It offers profiles of the organizations, and seeks to find the motives of those affiliated with them in order to better understand what causes extremism and what might be done to prevent it.
Boehnke, Klaus, John Hagan and Hans Merkens. "Right-Wing Extremism among German Adolescents: Risk Factors and Protective Factors." Applied Psychology 47:1, January 1998.
Gardner, James. The Age of Extremism: The Enemies of Compromise in American Politics, Culture, and Race Relations. Birch Lane Press, April 1997.
This book looks at contemporary US attitudes of extremism, from film violence to separatist movements. It questions the origin of the extremist attitude, and asks, it is here to stay, or can it be transformed?
Rosseel, Eric. "Varieties of Political Radicalism: An Inquiry into Social and Political Attitudes of Flemish-Speaking Brussels Students." Politics and the Individual 3:2, 1993.
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Audiovisual Materials on this Topic:
Offline (Print) Sources
119 Bullets + Three . Directed and/or Produced by: Levanon, Yeud and Amit Goren. First Run Icarus Films. 1995.
This film looks at Zionist extremists. It focuses on the 1995 assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in Israeli and what occurred in Israel in its aftermath. Click here for more info.
Sabbag, Randa Chahal. "Souha: Surviving Hell." , 2001.
In this film Souha Bechara tells her story, how she attempted to assassinate General Antoine Lahad (an Israeli collaborator), how she endured ten years of torture in a Lebanonese jail under Lahads regime, and how after the withdrawl of the Israelis and the fall of Lahad, she was able to return back home. Click here for more info.
The Women of Hezbollah . Directed and/or Produced by: Abi-Samra, Maher. First Run Icarus Films. 2000.
This film explores the lives of two Beirut women who belong to Hezbollah. Click here for more info.
Resurgence: The Movement for Equality vs. the Ku Klux Klan. Directed and/or Produced by: Yates, Pamela, Tom Sigel and Peter Kinoy. First Run Icarus Films. 1981.
This film epitomizes both sides of the civil rights debate that took place in the US during the 1950s and 1960s. Southern hate groups are shown using tactics of fear and coercion to stop the progression of civil rights, while a group of black female workers are shown fighting for economic justice at the poultry plant were they work. Click here for more info.
The Bombing . Directed and/or Produced by: Bitton, Simone. First Run Icarus Films. 1999.
In its quest to understand and address the issue of suicide bombings, this film through the use of interviews with both the suicide bombers' families and the victims' families, hunts for the motivates that propel individuals to engage in this type of violence. Click here for more info.
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Teaching Materials on this Topic:
Online (Web) Sources
Education to Combat Extremism and Hate Crimes. Anti-Defamation League.
Available at: http://www.adl.org/education/default_combat_hc.asp.
This page lists programs available through the Anti-Defamation League that work to combat extremism. Programs are available for educators, youth leaders, and others.
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