RAN Y&E - Dealing with anti-system and anti-government extremism and attitudes of youngsters

Background and aim of this meeting

Many European countries are facing a surge in anti-system and anti-government sentiments, and in some cases even extremism. According to youth practitioners, this is also the case amongst youngsters. It is not unusual for young people to question authorities, and critical thinking is essential in a functioning democracy. However, something more fundamental is happening now. Negative feelings towards governments and authorities have become more common since the pandemic. This goes further than criticising lockdown measures and includes questioning the intentions of the government, scientific institutions, or mainstream media. This distrust has already resulted in delegitimisation, hostility, and even violence against democratic and public institutions.

For this meeting, we use the term ‘anti-system and anti-government extremism’ (ASAGE). Including ‘anti-system’ alongside ‘anti-government’ emphasises the highly diverse grievances and protests underpinning this phenomenon. People involved might be against authorities, scientists, the media, the courts, private businesses, and ‘shadow elites’ they see as working against the interests of regular people. The word ‘extremism’ is used to point out that we're not talking about peaceful protests but rather harmful and dividing narratives against the system or government, and violent actions aimed at physical targets.

The aim of this meeting is to look into current citizenship education and formulate an approach for youth practitioners to reengage youngsters who reject democracy and display strong anti-system and anti-government sentiments. To do this, we will look into the experiences and needs of young people that lead them to this specific disengagement and resentment.

Target audience: teachers and youth workers who work with youngsters between 12 and 25 years old who show ASAGE attitudes; practitioners involved in (developing) citizenship education; and others working in formal or informal education who aim to prevent vulnerability to ASAGE.

During this meeting we will discuss the following with the participants:

• What factors create breeding ground for young people to adopt ASAGE sentiments?
• What are the working elements in citizenship education that foster resilience against ASAGE?
• What would be the ideal approach to reengage youngsters who adhere to anti-system and anti-government attitudes or even extremism? 

How to register

If you can provide concrete examples from daily practices, or if you experience challenges around this topic, please register here. We will invite participants based on the information provided in the registration link.

Please note that we can only invite a limited number of participants to this meeting to ensure valuable exchange and interaction, so participation is not guaranteed. 

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact b [dot] broedersradaradvies [dot] nl (Boy Broeders), c [dot] binnendijkradaradvies [dot] nl (Carlijn Binnendijk) or s [dot] lenosradaradvies [dot] nl (Steven Lenos).