LAST Sunday, just a handful of hours after yet another far-right terrorist opened fire on innocent strangers in Buffalo, New York, intent on murdering people solely because they were black, I was chairing an event in Glasgow on how - or rather ‘if’ - democracy can counter extremism.
The murder of ten people - by a gunman motivated not only by racial hatred but absurd conspiracy theories around ‘White Genocide’ - took an abstract conversation and made it horribly real. Far-right terror now poses a bigger threat to western nations than Islamist terror.
My guests on Sunday were Charlotte McDonald-Gibson, who’s written a stunning portrait of individuals lost to hate called Far Out: Encounters With Extremists; and Professor Stuart Sim, who’s written the cri de coeur A Call to Dissent: Defending Democracy Against Extremism and Populism.
Among the audience and experts, there was one unifying thought: tackling extremism must start young. Media literacy and critical thinking should be taught in schools. Disinformation breeds extremism - it’s as simple as that.
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