Thread by @khanserai

Germany's PVE/CVE approach has been "Demokratie Leben" with the assumption that if the governance systems in place are strong enough then a second Nazi takeover can be prevented /1

BBC News - Dresden: The German city that declared a 'Nazi emergency' bbc.com/news/world-eur…

This was done within the context that the "German identity" has been claimed by the far right and not reclaimed by the rest of the country. Regular people say "I am from Germany" rather than "I am German". People align more with their state of birth /2

[This obviously has an impact on issues like immigration and integration when newcomers can never become "German" (since that identity belongs to the far right) and are always from somewhere else] /3

What is also becoming more noticeable through the rapid growth of white supremacists and neo Nazis (and their attacks on Jews and Muslims) is that strengthening the civil process without bringing humans along is insufficient /4

Society at large has to grapple with issues of identity. What does it mean to actually belong? Germany has many stories of success as well so it's not all bad news. And they definitely have the political will to squelch extremism, which is light years ahead of many countries /5

But the number of arrests of far right extremists from within the German army and local police forces are a HUGE red flag of warning. There are plenty more EU countries in this same boat /6

Government CVE initiatives were happy in profiling when it was "those brown Muslims are all vulnerable to becoming terrorists" however what happens when those same assumptions are applied to right wing extremists? (Just look at the flawed 2019 RAND report for DHS) /7

What does prevention even mean when you cannot isolate a 'vulnerable' population based on religion or skin color? What happens when your majority population are suddenly all suspects if you apply your own criteria across the spectrum of extremisms? /8

And of course, the billion $ question. Who is responsible for creating and implementing solutions to prevent and counter violent extremism? Empty words around whole-of-society and whole-of-government will not get us out of the hole we have dug ourselves into /9

"Never forget" was forgotten when it came to the government led atrocities against the Rohingya and Uighurs. Really hoping that Europe and North America will have the moral courage to stand up for the values it claims. Demokratie Leben! /end