Rising Up Against Extremism

MOVE Foundation, a non-profit voluntary organisation, has been motivating the youth to share their ideas and values since 2013. Recently they launched an online and on-the-ground campaign titled 'REDcard', with the slogan "Rise with Heroism, Stand against Extremism".  

The REDcard campaign is part of the 'Peer to Peer: Challenging Extremism 2017' programme. The groundwork of the campaign started back in January this year and continued till May. The online campaign was arranged in Barisal which started from May 25, 2017.

MOVE Foundation shared counter narratives and interacted with youths through different creative content and public events as part of the campaign. There were 8 "MOVErs" – Faez Belal, Tanjila Tabassum, Jannatun Tagrin, Nasrin Jabin, Abir Ahmed Khan, Mostafijur Rahman Apu, Md. Al-Arefin, Mostafizur Rahman Omi – who worked under the mentorship of Saiful Haque, founder of MOVE Foundation.

On June 2, the MOVErs organised a dialogue with the youth on the topic of radicalisation followed by a documentary and video message exhibition at a local auditorium in town. Later on in June 4, they arranged a wall art event in front of the Oxford Mission Church School, followed by a cartoon exhibition. 

Some renowned personalities were interviewed for the campaign. They were asked to discuss exclusively about countering and preventing extremism from different angles. Dr. AAMS Arefin Siddique, Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University, urged the youth to refrain from extremism and get engaged in social and cultural activism. Joint Secretary General of Bangladesh Awami League, Mahbubul Alam Hanif, and Mahfuz Anam, Editor and Publisher of The Daily Star, spoke on radicalisation of youth in Bangladesh. Shama Obaed, Organising Secretary of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, asked women to not engage themselves in extremism or self-harming activities through her speech. Islamic scholar and media personality, Mufti Saiful Islam, requested the youth to stay away from terrorist activities while conveying his opinion.

Saiful Haque, founder and President of MOVE Foundation, said, "We want the youth to focus on their education and get more engaged in social and cultural activities. Our aim was to generate interest in social activities and motivate them to take a stand against extremism."

The intention of this campaign was to disseminate knowledge and raise awareness through different creative contents. It was a successful campaign which reached almost 1 million people.