"Die Propaganda der terroristischen Miliz "Islamischer Staat" hat für Aufsehen gesorgt und die Debatte um das Internet und vor allem das "Social Web" als Risikotechnologie oder Gefahrenraum mitbestimmt. Dabei setzt der IS auf ein breites Spektrum medialer und gestalterischer Formen und Formate eine
...
r globalen, digitalen Medienkultur, um ein internationales Publikum zu erreichen: Online-Videos, anashid (Lieder) und Computerspiele; Internet-Meme, Social Media Posting oder Selfies. Der Sammelband gibt Einblick in die Bandbreite dieser jihadistischen Kommunikate, ihrer Ausdrucks- und Darstellungsweisen und zeigt dabei Möglichkeiten der Einordnung und der Auseinandersetzung auf." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
more
"The book includes an extensive section on the echoes of Rwanda, which looks at the cases of Darfur, the Central African Republic, Myanmar, and South Sudan, while the impact of social media as a new actor is examined through chapters on social media use by the Islamic State and in Syria and in other
...
contexts across the developing world. It also looks at the aftermath of the genocide: the shifting narrative of the genocide itself, the evolving debate over the role and impact of hate media in Rwanda, the challenge of digitizing archival records of the genocide, and the fostering of free and independent media in atrocity's wake. The volume also probes how journalists themselves confront mass atrocity and examines the preventive function of media through the use of advanced digital technology as well as radio programming in the Lake Chad Basin and the Democratic Republic of Congo." (Publisher description)
more
"Der sogenannte Islamische Staat nutzt in seiner Kommunikationsstrategie vor allem eine Form von direkter Zielgruppenansprache über eigens produzierte Videos und Nachrichtenkanäle. Die Verwendung von massenmedialen Multiplikatoren ist zwar weiterhin ein wichtiger Bestandteil zur Verbreitung von An
...
gst, die der Terrorismus evozieren will; allerdings eröffnet diese Möglichkeit der direkten Kommunikation eine völlig neue Ansprache der Rezipienten. Bei der Verbreitung über traditionelle Massenmedien muss seitens der Terroristen eine ausgleichende Berichterstattung in Kauf genommen werden – das klassische Medien-Framing. Dagegen können bei direkter Ansprache relevanter Publika strategische Kommunikator-Frames und Narrative gesetzt werden. Über die Wirkung von Propaganda wird nach wie vor debattiert. Daher stellt sich die Frage, ob diese Botschaften grundlegend anders auf Rezipienten wirken als Medienberichte, in denen ebenfalls ideologische Botschaften kommuniziert werden. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird in einem experimentellen Design die Wirkung terroristischer Kommunikationsinhalte auf die Emotionen der Rezipienten untersucht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen unter anderem, dass strategische Kommunikator-Frames negative Emotionen verstärken können. Politisches Wissen und Themeninteresse können jedoch diese Reaktionen und damit die Hauptwirkungskomponente des Terrorismus – die Angst – reduzieren." (Abstract)
more
"Digitale Kommunikation spielt in unserem Alltag eine immer größere Rolle. Vor allem Jugendliche nutzen insbesondere das Internet zum Austausch mit Freund*innen als Informationsquelle und zur Unterhaltung. Extremistische Akteure wissen das und nutzen Internet-Plattformen und -Dienste zur Kommunika
...
tion, zur Rekrutierung neuer Mitglieder, zur Verbreitung von propagandistischem Material, zur Agitation und zur Vernetzung untereinander. Sie profitieren dabei von einer (größtenteils) unkontrollierten, schnellen und kostengünstigen Informationsvermittlung nahezu in Echtzeit und über Ländergrenzen hinweg sowie einer (vermeintlichen) Anonymität. Laut Verfassungsschutz nutzen extremistische Akteure das Internet um zu mobilisieren und potentielle Anhänger*innen hinzuzugewinnen." (Einführung)
more
"Die Medien und die breite Öffentlichkeit zeigen sich oftmals verwundert über die Perfektion der IS-Propaganda. Dabei wird übersehen, dass der Medienkrieg des Pseudo-Islamischen Staats auf einer ‚Großen Erzählung', einer ‚Meistererzählung' basiert, an der dschihadistische Organisationen se
...
it beinahe 40 Jahren arbeiten. Die Entwicklung der dschihadistischen Propaganda lässt sich in fünf Phasen unterteilen. Die erste fällt mit dem 1979 bis 1989 gegen die Sowjetunion geführten Afghanistankrieg zusammen. Mehrere in dieser Zeit erschienene Filme setzen den von Abdallah Azzam, dem ‚Vater des modernen Dschihad', theoretisch begründeten Märtyrerkult ins Bild. Die zweite Phase umfasst den Bürgerkrieg in Bosnien von 1992 bis 1995: die Videopropaganda wird professionalisiert und erstmals werden Muslime außerhalb dschihadistischer Kreise erreicht. Die dritte Phase, 1996 bis 2002, fällt in die Jahre des zweiten Aufenthalts Bin Ladens in Afghanistan und Pakistan und kulminiert in den Anschlägen des 11. September 2001. Al-Qaida versucht vorzugeben, die einzig wahre muslimische Glaubensgemeinschaft zu sein. Die vierte Phase nimmt ihren Anfang mit der US-Invasion im Irak 2003 und dauert bis etwa 2007 an. Sie zeichnet sich durch eine Globalisierung der Propaganda, eine starke Präsenz im Web und das Auf treten des sogenannten ‚Pop-Dschihad' aus. Die fünfte und bis heute andauernde Phase beginnt 2010 und fällt mit zwei entscheidenden Entwicklungen zusammen: der durch die Entstehung des Web 2.0 bedingten massenhaften Nutzung der sozialen Netzwerke und dem wachsenden Einfluss des Dschihadismus im Zuge der Umwälzungen in der arabischen Welt." (Seite 147)
more
"Without a doubt, the combined power of the public arena and broadcast media is a very efective social tool for collective action in Afghanistan. Yet there are serious limits to both the media’s self-advocacy and the public’s strong and unwavering support. Te media-related crimes and murders men
...
tioned in this chapter are a few of the many. Yet no arrests are made and no one is prosecuted in most of these cases. Zoorawarah can continue to censor media makers with impunity and without fears of retribution. Broadcasting the incidents of violence and censorship against media personnel and the media writ large, as well as the subsequent protests and production of investigative and expository programs is indeed generative in creating dialogue and raising awareness about media rights and the important role of a free media in a society, but it is clearly not enough. Tus far, we have seen examples of two types of potential cultural imperialism. By aggressively promoting and offering their own media products, programs, and formats, at little or no cost, the argument can be made that foreign countries are impeding the development of Afghanistan’s own media industry, artistry, and media crafts. Additionally, we have seen examples of censorship, both from endogenous and exogenous forces, ranging from pressuring the government to ban programming or directly pressuring producers to do so. In extreme cases, we have seen an egregious third form of censorship becoming prevalent in Afghanistan. High-level media personnel and wealthy media owners who are ofen prominent public fgures, such as politicians, warlords, drug lords, religious leaders, and businessmen, hire body guards and live behind gated fortress mansions, while low-level television personalities and reporters are subjected to threats, physical attacks, and death for providing people with programming they want to watch and which gives them a platform to raise their voices. Hence, it is the mid- and low-level media professionals, not the owners of the television stations they work for nor the foreign governments that are the patrons of the stations, who bear the ultimate burden of media freedom and reform in Afghanistan. Caught between warring ideologies that range from Islamist to commercial to “developmentalist,” as brave as these Afghan media personalities and journalists are, and despite their high media a profile, their low socioeconomic status leaves them vulnerable to abuse and possible death." (Conclusion, page 168-169)
more
"La propagande de guerre de l'EI adopte les codes des genres cinématographiques afin de fictionnaliser le fait guerrier et dissimuler l'fenvers du décors. Cette fantasmagorie surréaliste fonctionne selon un double regime de fascination et de stimulation des pulsions de mort qui ont pour effet de
...
susciter des vocations djihadistes. Le pan institutionnel de la propagande de l'EI se presente plutot comme un discours rationnel en adoptant le reportage comme régime d'fecriture de la vérité. Cette caution de transparence d'fun Etat-providence, équitable et qui offre toutes les bonnes conditions de vie masque l'entreprise totalitaire et les exactions institutionnalisees de l'EI et le présente comme un espace citoyen et familial. Ces deux genres de mises en scene sont sous-tendues par des protocoles de desinformation singuliers qui confortent leur efficacité. D'abord, le jeux avec l'énonciation qui ne permet pas de déceler un message clair et principal dans les vidéos de l'EI participe de l'ambigüité foncière de son discours et permet de l'interpréter de plusieurs manières possibles. Ensuite, l'estompage des temporalités et la confusion géographique décontextualisent le propos et rendent possible la désinformation des recepteurs. En outre, la production de normes différenciées du djhad classique presente l'EI comme une nouvelle utopie et rend son idéologie extensible a de nouveaux publics. Enfin, l'association inextricable de registres disparates : le religieux et le politique, le transcendant et l'immanent, le réel et le discours sur le rél, le personnel et le collectif, etc. favorise l'identification d'un nombre plus grand de récepteurs au discours de l'EI. Tous ces procédés permettent à l'organisation de proposer des réponses adaptées à des publics dissemblables et ainsi recruter massivement. La désinformation est constitutive de tout discours de propagande mais la caractéristique inédite de celui de l'EI c'est cette hybridation des niveaux de significations hétérogènes qui rend son efficacité redoutable et qui nécessite, de ce fait, de l'examiner dans une recherche plus approfondie." (Conclusion)
more
"This report focuses on the interactional dynamics between anti-Muslim extremists and radical Islamists in Germany and beyond. It reveals ideological underpinnings, approaches to mobilization and communication patterns, which all prove to be analogous on both sides, and it places emphasis on the rec
...
iprocity of hate that may serve to intensify processes of individual and group radicalization. Our study presents the first systematic analysis of the interplay between both forms of extremism that plays out on different places on the Internet. It provides direct evidence showing that Islamist and far-right movements converge at different levels and mutually amplify one another. The analysis focuses on measuring the online interaction between extremist content, individuals and events. Overall, over 10,000 Islamist and far-right Facebook posts and over one million German anti-Muslim tweets between 1 January 2013 and 30 November 2017 were analyzed for this study. Additionally, we conducted three months of ethnographic research into encrypted pro-IS and pro-Al-Qaeda groups on Telegram as well as into far-right chat groups.
Key Findings
Radical Islamism and anti-Muslim racism, which manifest themselves in the form of far-right extremism and right-wing populism exhibit a symbiotic relationship. In the context of glocal interaction patterns, the far right operates as a national sphere of resonance for international jihadism. Both negate and dismantle basic democratic values such as the inviolability of human dignity and religious freedom. What’s more, racism against Muslims paves the way for radicalization through Islamic fundamentalists. We identified three key patterns that reveal common worldviews and argumentative resemblance: First, the demonization of enemies based on a clear distinction between friend and foe. Second, the victimization of one’s own group as both sides take advantage of the alleged discrimination of their own group and the constructed dominance of the other. Third, conspiracy, which is the basic explanation provided for why the respective milieus do not share their exclusionary claim to truth. The alleged systematic blindness caused by the Jews or fake news are needed to balance the dissonance between claims and reality as well as to contribute to demonizing other groups." (Executive summary)
more
"This ethnography uses the Syrian case to reflect more broadly on how the networked age reshapes contemporary warfare and impacts on the enactment of violence through images and on images. In stark contrast to the techno-utopias celebrating digital democracy and participatory cultures, Donatella Del
...
la Ratta’s analysis exposes the dark side of online practices, where visual regimes of representation and media production dramatically intertwine with modes of destruction and the performance of violence." (Publisher description)
more
"This edited volume offers the first extended, cross-disciplinary exploration of the cumulative problems and increasing importance of various forms of media in the Middle East. Leading scholars with expertise in Middle Eastern studies discuss their views and perceptions of the media’s influence on
...
regional and global change. Focusing on aspects of economy, digital news, online businesses, gender-related issues, social media, and film, the contributors of this volume detail media’s role in political movements throughout the Middle East. The volume illustrates how the increase in Internet connections and mobile applications have resulted in an emergence of indispensable tools for information acquisition, dissemination, and activism." (Publisher description)
more
"Based on a bibliometric and scientific study of research conducted in Europe, North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Arab world, parts of Africa and Asia on the links between the use of social media and the phenomena of radicalization, the Report analyzes more than 550 studies published i
...
n scientific literature and “grey literature”, covering outputs in English (260), French (196) and Arabic (96). It shows that very little research has focused on the effective role of the use of social media in violent radicalization. Although many articles deal with electronic strategies and the use of the Internet and online social media for recruitment, there are very few empirical studies that describe and examine the real effects of these strategies on youth, and they rarely examine gender aspects. The Report examines the specificities of online prevention initiatives: counter/alternative narratives and media information literacy (MIL). Several formal and informal MIL initiatives have been implemented around the world according to MIL as a pedagogical practice with a specific set of skills that can respond to narratives of anger and revenge." (Executive summary, page 5)
more
"Why has the Taliban been so much more effective in presenting messages that resonate with the Afghan population than the United States, the Afghan Government and their allies? This book, based on years of field research and the assessment of hundreds of original source materials, examines the infor
...
mation operations and related narratives of Afghan insurgents, especially the Afghan Taliban, and investigates how the Taliban has won the information war. Taliban messaging, wrapped in the narrative of jihad, is both to the point and in tune with the target audiences it wishes to influence. On the other hand, the United States and its Kabul allies committed a basic messaging blunder, failing to present narratives that spoke to or, often, were even understood by their target audiences. Thomas Johnson systematically explains why the United States lost this "battle of the story" in Afghanistan, and argues that this defeat may have lost the U.S. the entire war, despite its conventional and technological superiority." (Publisher description)
more
"Seib traces how terrorism has proliferated and increased significantly in menace in the relatively brief period between the rise of al-Qaeda and the creation of Islamic State. With close attention to the linkages between media, religion, and violence, the book offers incisive analysis of how organi
...
zations such as Islamic State, al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram operate and reflects on how terrorism may continue to evolve. Seib argues that twenty-first-century terrorism is enabled by new media and depends on social networks as connective tissue, while interacting simultaneously with religion and socio-economic and political grievances. As Terrorism Evolves prescribes new measures for counterterrorism efforts, underscores the importance of soft power, and makes a strong case for recognizing that we have entered an era of terrorism of undetermined duration." (Publisher description)
more