Blog
The Role of the Internet in the Jihadist Mobilisation of Women in Spain
May 31, 2017
The mobilisation of women for the jihadist cause emerged in Spain within the framework of the current mobilisation in Western Europe linked to the conflict in Syria and Iraq and the appearance of the so called Islamic State (IS) as a new vanguard of global terrorism. The explicit call from Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to women ...
Blog
Online Responses to Terrorist Attacks: A #niceattack Case Study – Part 2: The Aftermath
October 26, 2016
This blog post is a follow-up to last week’s post on Twitter activity following the terrorist attack that took place in Nice, France, on 14 July, 2016 and associated real-world events during the ensuing week. It is part of a larger project exploring hashtag activism in CVE. The first posts traced the online reaction to ...
Blog
Online Responses to Terrorist Attacks: A #niceattack Case Study – Part 1: The First 20 Minutes
October 19, 2016
This blog post and a follow-up next week analyse Twitter activity following the terrorist attack that took place in Nice, France on 14 July, 2016 and associated real-world events during the ensuing week. It is part of a larger project exploring hashtag activism in CVE. This first posts traces the online reaction to developments during ...
Blog
The Semiotics of Violent Jihadist Propaganda: The Message and the Channel
September 30, 2015
by Massimo Leone On the one hand, terrorism is the antithesis of communication. It does not aim at transmitting any message to its victims, but at annihilating them. On the other hand, yet, terrorism is extremely powerful communication for those who witness the tragedy, directly or through the media, and are either terrified or fascinated ...
Blog
Extremist Forums Provide Digital OPSEC Training
July 15, 2015
by Aaron Brantly and Muhammad al-`Ubaydi The average netizen has terrible digital hygiene. We click on random links, open emails from unknown individuals, use public WiFi hotspots, leave computers and devices unsecured, and often do not even use basic anti-virus packages. Most Chief Information Systems Officers’ largest problem is not a talented nation state, but ...
News
VOX-Pol participates in [Y] Factor Conference
June 24, 2015
VOX-Pol contributed to this week’s [Y] Factor Conference, a Youth Conference organised by the trainees of the European Committee of the Regions in collaboration with CoR services at the end of their traineeship period. The main idea behind [Y] Factor is to tackle the topics and issues that concern young people by bringing together local ...
Blog
IS Radicalises Western Youth Via The Internet? It’s Not That Simple
June 24, 2015
by Samina Yasmeen The discussions around why young Australian Muslims are leaving home to join the fighting in Syria and Iraq on the side of or against Islamic State (IS) suffer from two kinds of reductionism. First, they assume that the phenomenon of young (or not so young) people leaving their homes to join these terrorist groups is largely ...
Blog
Pictures Matter : The Visual Culture of Jihadism
June 17, 2015
by Nico Prucha How the Arabic Ideology of Jihadist Movements Targets non-Arab(ic) Online Networks, Part 2 Jihadist narratives are fostered by the increasingly visual nature of online culture. Videos are the most important mouthpiece to show the manifestation and realisation of jihadist creed (‘aqida) and methodology (manhaj) for which they claim to live and die. ...
Blog
Words Matter – How the Arabic Ideology of Jihadist Movements Translates into Non-Arab(ic) Online Networks
June 3, 2015
This blog is being published in two parts. Part two on 10 June by Nico Prucha With Arabic as the most important language for Islam, as the Qur’an is the speech of God (kalimat allah), revealed in Arabic, the lingua jihadica is likewise Arabic. Arabic key words of the jihadist segment, as a consequence, have ...
Blog
The State of al-Qaeda
April 29, 2015
by Aaron Y. Zelin Ten years ago, an individual said: “We are in a battle, and that more than half of this battle is taking place in the battlefield of the media. And that we are in a media battle in a race for the hearts and minds of our Umma.” The individual was Aymen ...