Go Forth ND linked to Senate initiative

Nicholas Roberts, a graduate student in the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace, has initiated a new social media campaign in response to violent extremism. The program, entitled “Go Forth ND,” is a participation in the “Peer to Peer: Challenging Extremism” competition hosted by Facebook and the United States Department of State.  

The “Peer to Peer” competition is a global program which provides budgets for university students to plan and execute a social media campaign to counter violent extremism. Finalists from three universities are flown to Washington, D.C., to present their projects and results to representatives of Facebook and the Department of State, who decide the winner, according to the Peer to Peer program website.

According to Roberts, Go Forth ND decided to take a creative approach to the competition: “Most CVE [Challenging Violent Extremism] programs focus exclusively on Muslims. But ‘violent extremism’ is a reaction, and we know that every action has a reaction. So we take a unique view that Islamophobia is a major cause of violent extremism.”

In light of their approach to the problem of violent extremism, the campaign kicked off with a panel event on November 17. The panel, simply titled “Islamophobia,” explored the topic by addressing the causes and discussing potential solutions.

The panel began with introductory remarks by Ameena Jandali, a founding member of Islamic Networks Group, who explained a bit of the history of American Islamophobia. According to Jandali, the rise of anti-Muslim rhetoric can be traced back to 1993, with some experts claiming that anti-Muslim sentiment started in 1989 in response to the Iranian revolution.

Since then, the rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes has increased astronomically—between 2014 and 2015, there was the second greatest increase in hate crimes against Muslims since hate crimes began being reported in 1990, according to Jandali.

Jandali then continued to explore what she believed to be the cause of the increase in anti-Muslim ideology: a “general ignorance about Islam and Muslims” fueled by negative media.

She said, “If the media is the main source of information about Muslims, most of the information will be negative.” Jandali stated this not as a blame or attack on news media, but as a reminder to the audience that media is a business. “If it bleeds, it leads,” she said, expressing the idea that violence and crime sells newspapers and advertisements.

The panel of Notre Dame students Justine Uy, Francesco Tassi, and CJ Pine followed Jandali’s remarks by explaining ways in which students could begin making an impact.

Pine summarized the message of the panel: “Just become aware.” Uy pointed the audience to visit and share the Go Forth ND website, which includes a section called Islam 101, which attempts to dispel common misconceptions about Muslims.

The panel also discussed the importance of the creation of an integrated society in America. Tassi explained the problem of “parallel society” by referencing his research in France and stated that in France, Muslim applicants to jobs are two and half times less likely to be offered the job. Employers use traditionally Muslim names and neighborhoods to employ this discrimination. The result, according to Tassi, is two parallel societies—one consisting of French nationals, the other of Muslim citizens and immigrants.

Tassi described parallel societies as dangerous and conducive of radicalized extremists angry with the opposite society. Uy expressed that the creation of parallel societies are ways in which Middle Eastern extremist groups recruit young people, calling it “a narrative ISIS utilizes that makes this clash of civilizations … something to take personally.”

Notre Dame professor Mahan Mirza closed the event by telling two stories in which he and his wife were surprised by kindness from white men they had assumed would treat them poorly because they were Muslim. “It was a wake-up call,” Mirza said, “because here I was, the one who was judging.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I have other stories too,” Mirza stated, referencing times he had been discriminated against for his faith. He also referenced the three Muslim students who were killed in Chapel Hill in 2015: “One wrongful death is one too many,” he said in reference to this event.

Mirza closed by saying, “If you want to be afraid, be afraid of being randomly murdered … Be afraid of getting out of your car. Meanwhile, go hug a Muslim and make peace.”

Upcoming events include t-shirt distribution across campus and a white board campaign. To follow the news of the campaign, or to learn how to get involved, students can visit goforthnd.com.

Evan Holguin is a junior in the Program of Liberal Studies. He was once told he had too many books; he responded that he had too few bookshelves. Contact him at eholguin@nd.edu.