RAN YOUNG Platform - RAN YOUNG exchange with RAN Practitioners, Online 03-04 October 2023

On 3 and 4 October, the RAN Young Platform (RAN YOUNG) organised an online meeting for its participants. The meeting brought together 23 young people from 10 EU countries, all with careers and/or studies in different topics and approaches focused on preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) or related societal issues. This meeting focused on collecting the most pressing issues facing the EU today (relevant for the field of P/CVE) from the experiences and perspectives of the young people. The young participants worked in five groups — based on the issue they felt was most critical — to draft a presentation that included desk research about why this topic is important to discuss and concrete examples from their respective countries. They also gathered input from peers in their communities with a specific focus to find different perspectives on the issue. They presented their findings to their fellow participants and three experienced P/CVE practitioners from RAN Practitioners to gain additional insights and explore varied approaches to addressing them.

The RAN YOUNG members researched and presented on the following five themes they feel most concerned about:

1. Violent right-wing extremism and decreasing support for democracy
2. Polarisation and the marginalisation of certain communities
3. Online dissemination of extremist propaganda
4. Gender: extremist misogyny and/or the role of women in extremist movements
5. Anti-Islam and anti-immigration sentiments

This conclusion paper documents key outcomes from this meeting.