Transcript Violence and Extremism

Violence and Extremism
Lynn
Davies
Centre for
International
Education &
Research
Educating Against
Extremism
Trentham, 2008
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Nature of extremism
Identity, joining and leaving
Segregation, faith schools
Justice, revenge and honour
Free speech, offence and humour
Towards critical idealism
Background of extremists
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Can be highly educated
Preference for absolutism, singular
truths, polar differences
Sense of mission and unique place in
this
Religious/political justification
Drawn into a ‘brotherhood’
Terrorists are altruists, not criminals
Educational alternatives
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Comfort with ambiguity and
provisionality
Acceptance that political and religious
leaders may have got it wrong
But not a relativist stance
Need for a value system
But a value system which can be
critiqued
Issues relating to faith
schools
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Locking in of cultural identity
Promotion of belief system as superior
Disposition to favour others with same
devotional orientation
Exclusionary beliefs very powerful,
especially for the young
Therefore a need for critical reflection
on doctrinal errors (e.g. defence of
slavery)
Tolerance
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Tolerance is a negative value (we only
tolerate things we don’t like or believe
in)
If we are less judgemental, do we slip
into moral indifference?
Distinction between beliefs and actions
in terms of tolerance
Therefore we need a means to know
what to disrespect
The myth of equal value
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Modern multifaith education tries to teach
that all faiths are equal and not in
competition
But this is hypocritical and untrue
Unlike cultural identities, religious identities
are exclusive, not able to be overlaid or
have parts exchanged
To present the view that religions are in
harmony is to presuppose that they are all
good
So R.E. should look at claims to ‘truth’, past
wrongs in the name of religion, and also
religion alongside other ideological systems
Is education meaningless
without a religious
dimension?
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View that religion has a concept of human
dignity and worth that exceeds any secular
account (in spite of UDHR)
Radical Islam teaches that there is no such
thing as morality in Islam – simply what
Allah taught.
View that secularism is a moral ‘vacuum’
Contemporary curriculum (such as sex
education) seen as immoral and devoid of
responsibility
Citizenship education
dilemmas
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‘Citizenship education is both the
promotion of (assumed) common
values (freedom, responsibility,
honesty), irrespective of class, sex,
gender, ethnicity, cultural and religion
and, at the same time, is about
encouraging young people acquire the
skills to question and evaluate values’
(Watson 2004)
Nationalistic values?
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Teaching national curriculum and
culture can (as in Occupied Palestine)
provide confidence
But promoting ‘Britishness’ is actually
more divisive than cohesive: what is
distinctive about ‘British’ values?
Patriotism can promote ‘civic illiteracy’
and uncritical support for government
Rights: cutting out the
middle man
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Conventions accepted by (nearly) all
countries of the world
Provides independent criteria for
assessing other value systems and
actions
Because of the continual juxtaposition
of rights and responsibilities, it
circumvents the problem of ‘tolerance’
Rights is not a belief system, it is an
ethical system: can be ‘spiritual’
Rights Respecting
Schools (UNICEF)
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Developed in Nova Scotia and UK
Premised on UN Convention on the Rights of
the Child as basis for all school life
All children, teachers, parents and ancillary
staff learn about the convention
Teaching/learning methods and
relationships match this
Active participation in decision-making
Emphasis on working for change
Why does it work?
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It appeals to children’s self-interest
It connects them to children everywhere
It derives from a higher authority (all but 2
of the world’s nations) and is not simply the
school’s rules / mission statement)
It links to what enables people to learn
Does not give permanent behavioural
identities
Why does it work? (2)
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Use of UNCRC avoids moral or cultural
relativism; knowing what is a right and what
isn’t
Realisation of conflicting rights promotes
higher order thinking and reasoning skills
Changes teacher behaviour
Research shows adolescents in RRSs have
higher self-esteem, greater participation
Contagion effect: learning about own rights
results in support for rights of others
Rights and culture
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Need to learn ‘about cultures’ or
‘diversity’ as it affects rights, not as
stereotypical properties
a) when rights of a group are infringed
b) when the rights of others are
infringed in the name of a culture or
religion
Critical idealism
Answer to extremism is not ‘moderation’, but a
highly critical and informed idealism. This
needs 5 types of criticality in education :
1. political education including conflict studies,
comparative religion, non-nationalistic
citizenship education - critical scholarship
2. Understanding of rights and responsibilities
-critical (dis)respect
Critical idealism (2)
3. Skills to weigh up alternative ideals
and means to pursue them – critical
thinking
4. The acceptance that ideals should be
provisional – critical doubt
5. The acceptance that ideals and their
holders may be mocked – critical
lightness
Café joke after unsuccessful
attack on Saddam Hussain…
Following the attack, the Iraqi
Information Minister has summoned all
Saddam’s body doubles to a meeting to
tell them:
‘The good news is that our beloved
leader has survived, so you all still have
jobs. The bad news is that he has lost
an arm’.