RAN FC&S multi-meeting Violent right-wing extremism in communities, online meeting 23-24 November 2021

The RAN meeting of the Families, Communities and Social Care (FC&S) Working Group addressed the topic of violent right-wing extremism (VRWE) in communities. The meeting served as an opportunity to explore how VRWE groups manifest themselves on a local level and to exchange ways in which administrative as well as civil society-led approaches can contribute to preventing or tackling VRWE local activities.

The meeting gathered 25 practitioners, including practitioners running local civil society-led initiatives as well as local preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) coordinators. In short, some of the main recommendations were:

• Before setting up strategies and/or initiatives against VRWE, set clear boundaries by defining the problem to be addressed and strive for a common understanding of what VRWE is in the local community.
• Avoid stigmatisation that results from labelling entire groups of people as violent right-wing extremists and misunderstanding the phenomenon, as this can lead to ineffective stereotyping and foster polarisation.
• Set clear goals for collaboration between different actors (such as police, municipality, civil society organisations (CSOs), etc.) and discuss the distinctive role of each in countering VRWE. An indirect approach can contribute to find a common motivation to act for all actors (more information can be found in this paper).
• Take inspiration from campaigning or mobilisation tools used by VRWE movements and use them to organise alternative events and promote a positive narrative.

This paper outlines the highlights of this meeting and presents some inspiring practices in the EU, followed by recommendations for first-line practitioners and (local) authorities.