British Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday called on Muslim communities and families to do more to help tackle extremism, warning that some risk encouraging young people to be radicalised by giving weight to such views.
Cameron highlighted two cases this week – a 17-year-old from Northern England who blew himself up in Iraq and three sisters who abandoned their husbands and are believed to be bound for Syria with their nine children – as examples of how people can slide from prejudice to extremism.
He told a security conference that people who, by way of example, believe democracy is wrong, women are inferior and religious doctrine trumps the rule of law, share the ideology of Islamist extremists.
“There are people who hold some of these views who don’t go as far as advocating violence, but do buy into some of these prejudices giving the extreme Islamist narrative weight and telling fellow Muslims ‘you are part of this’,” he said in a speech to the GLOBSEC conference in Bratislava, Slovakia.
“This paves the way for young people to turn simmering prejudice into murderous intent … Part of the reason it’s so potent is that it has been given this credence,” he said.
Cameron warned that a troubled boy or girl will find it less of a leap to go from British teenager to Islamic State fighter or wife if such beliefs are “quietly condoned online or perhaps even in parts of your local community”.
While the government has a role to play in tackling radicalisation, so too do communities and families, he said.
