FOURTEEN BARANGAYS in Zamboanga City have partnered with The Asia Foundation’s Project Converge which is a part of the “Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism and Terrorism” or PCVET program.
Aside from Zamboanga City, Ipil and
Tungawan towns in Zamboanga Sibugay province, are also participating in the
Project Converge.
The project includes a series of meetings and planning, and community plan of interventions which are designed to reduce drivers of violent conflict and increase community resilience in their respective area.
Understanding Violent Extremism
According to publication of The Asia Foundation “Understanding Violent Extremism: Messaging and Recruitment Strategies on Social Media in the Philippines,” violent extremist activity on social media in the Philippines is a relatively new phenomenon in the complex conflict environment that exists in the southern region of Mindanao.
It noted the rise of online violent
extremism emerged despite the Philippines’ significant strides in the Mindanao
peace process.
The 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the
Bangsamoro between Manila and the rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front was
a landmark achievement. Yet a number of armed groups rejected the deal, many of
which are now engaged in online extremism.
It said the apparent affiliation of these
groups with issues beyond Mindanao and the Philippine state signalled a
potential new era of conflict in the country.
Violent extremist activity on social media in the
Philippines is a relatively new phenomenon in the complex conflict environment
that exists in the southern part of the country, according to The Asia
Foundation.
Following the proclamation of the Islamic State (ISIS)
caliphate in Iraq and Syria in 2014, a significant number of pre-existing
Mindanao-based terror groups were seen posting images and video online pledging
allegiance to ISIS and its caliph.
In the months leading up to the May 2017 Marawi siege,
extremist groups used social media to reach and recruit Moros across Mindanao. These
actions were followed by the deliberate and tactical use of online media to
spread materials about the attacks on the city, as well as online conversations
linking local extremists to larger international violent extremist networks.
The island-region has been facing armed rebellions for more
than four decades now, caused largely by local grievances against the state.
Protracted negotiations with two major rebel groups in Mindanao ended in two
peace agreements: the first in 1996, between the Ramos administration and the
Moro National Liberation Front, and the second in 2014, between the Aquino
government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
With these concerns as a backdrop, The Asia Foundation and
Rappler worked together to explore how young Filipinos interact with social
media networks, and look into the prevalence and characteristics of violent
extremist messaging and recruitment in the Philippines in 2018.
The project was built around the following key concern: How
are youth young Moros in the Philippines radicalized online?
The rapid four-month study from March to June 2018 tested
these questions through an in-depth examination of extremist activity on
Facebook as well as discussions and interviews with at-risk youths in Mindanao
who spoke about their personal online experiences and interactions.
The project observed numerous instances of violent extremist
activity, and discovered complex networks of online coordination. A majority of
the interactions are organic and unsophisticated, and mirror the daily social
interactions of digitally active youth. Some of the key findings are the
following:
• The vast majority of violent extremist activities online
are opportunistic and unsophisticated. Content is often basic or reactive to
larger online discussions, while the range of contact is confined within small
community networks.
• Online networks replicate offline communities. This means
that the scope for radicalization and recruitment often follows pathways
already identified as being influential in the Philippines. To target individuals
they already have a connection with, whether through their local communities or
other channels, most recruiters regularly use networks such as Facebook and its
messaging platform.
• Extremist messaging in the Philippines is highly
localized, and connects with local grievances that often spring from the
municipal or provincial level. Content expressing support for violent extremism
is commonly shared in Moro languages, particularly Maranao, Maguindanaoan, and
Tausug.
• The dissemination of highly viral media on global Islamic
State channels, as witnessed during the Marawi siege, has diminished. This
suggests that those engaged in these activities were either killed or detained
when the conflict ended in October 2017, or have shifted tactics.
Violent extremist activity on social media remains a
security concern in Mindanao, particularly since it is locally driven and not
easy to detect. Further, the continued existence of private networks of
communication means that efforts to eradicate public expression of violent
extremism will only have limited effect.
The lessons from this study show that the emerging risks of
violent extremism on social media are hard to predict. While in general the
immediate danger may appear low, the evolution of specific threats suggests
that all actors must remain vigilant and engaged in monitoring developments in
online activity.
One recommendation based on this research is the crafting of
niche, timely interventions to respond to the opportunistic approach extremists
have taken online. The tactic of simply removing offensive content from social
media sites has proven to be ineffective.
The Asia Foundation said more proactive measures preventing
and countering violent extremism in both online and offline environments need to
be pursued. “It is the aim of this study to inspire evidence-driven policy and
programming options for effectively countering and preventing violent extremism
messaging and recruitment in the Philippines,” it said. (Zamboanga Post)
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