Vom 4.-15. März nahmen Projektteilnehmer*innen von „Extrem Demokratisch – Muslimische Jugendarbeit stärken“ und Multiplikator*innen der muslimischen Jugendarbeit z.B. von JUMA an einer internationalen Besucherreise in die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika im Rahmen des  International Visitor Leadership Program des U.S. Department of State und der U.S. Embassy Berlin, koordiniert durch den U.S. Exchanges Coordinator, teil.

Sie bekommen einen Einblick aus erster Hand in die Arbeit von zivilgesellschaftlichen Akteuren und Minderheiten in den USA, besonders der Arbeit, den Methoden und Ansätzen muslimischer Organisationen in den Vereinigten Staaten. Durch das Programm erfahren die Teilnehmer*innen, welche Möglichkeiten Minderheitengruppen in den USA nutzen zur zivilgesellschaftlichen Teilhabe, politischen Mitwirkung und zum Dialog, um gesellschaftspolitische Themen mitzugestalten, und Teilhabe zu stärken sowie Intoleranz und Rassismus entgegenzutreten.

Es ist für sie eine großartige Gelegenheit, über das unterschiedliche Verständnis von Diversität und Identität zu diskutieren, historische und rechtliche Rahmenbedingungen zum Schutz von Minderheiten und die Herausforderungen, die mit einer diversen Gesellschaft einhergehen zu erörtern und neue Perspektiven kennenzulernen.

Für die jungen Aktiven aus der muslimischen Jugendarbeit, die im Rahmen ihres Engagements Resilienz muslimischer Jugendlicher gegen Extremismus stärken und Konzepte entwickeln gegen religiös begründeten Extremismus, ist es besonders wichtig, neue Ansätze zur Stärkung von Teilhabe und gegen extremistische Ideologien kennen zu lernen.

Besonders der Austausch und die Anregungen aus Gesprächen mit Advocacy Gruppen, zivilgesellschaftlichen und Antidiskriminierungsgruppen genauso wie mit akademischen und Regierungseinrichtungen über die Arbeit für gleiche Rechte und gegen Diskriminierung, Extremismus, Xenophobie, Rassismus und Islamophobie, soll ihre eigene Arbeit dahingehend bereichern, dass sie neue Ansätze und Methoden kennen lernen, zum Beispiel zur erfolgreichen Durchführung von Onlinekampagnen und Erweiterung der Kompetenzen im Umgang mit hate-speech im Netz, von der gerade auch Akteure der muslimischen Jugendarbeit verstärkt betroffen sind.

Accomplishments International Visitor Leadership Program

„Community Outreach and Youth Engagment – A Project for Germany“

My name is Dennis Sadiq Kirschbaum and I am one of 10 young Muslim multipliers, who had the opportunity to attend to the International Visitor Leadership Program „Community Outreach and Youth Engagement – A Project for Germany“  by the Department of State, the US Embassy Berlin and Cultural Vista. This educational trip had been offered to us as participants of the project “Extrem Demokratisch – Muslimische Jugendarbeit stärken” by the RAA Berlin.

NETWORKING AND OUTREACH

Our journey started in Washington D.C. There we met executives of the Global Engagement Center,  the Bureau of Counterterrorism, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Office of Terrorism Prevention Partnerships. Succeeding in community outreach they emphasized the importance to get in contact with NGOs, especially those NGOs that are concerned with minority groups. Compared to Germany, where NGOs and community leaders have weaker connections to their local or national authorities, it was quite impressive to grasp the positive impacts of good networking to improve solidarity and social cohesion. We expressed our hope to also strengthen these ties in Germany to improve cooperation efforts as seen in the United States.

We experienced a special moment of empowerment when the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties told us about his past as a community leader at the “Muslim Youth North America Association”.

It became quite obvious for us that in the US it is possible to become an Officer in the US Department of Homeland Security, although you are a religious individual that actively supports a religious community.

That was a striking experience for us and wasn’t expected at all, as Muslims are not used to this in Germany.

PREVENTION, EDUCATION AND WEBACTIVITY

Concerning prevention, US activities are much more based on social media and YouTube. Their approach is to build up more resilience against extremist ideologies by enhancing counter narratives and increasing web content with professional quality. In Germany there is still a lack of web based approaches of prevention. But there is hope. In the course of the project “Extrem Demokratisch – Muslimische Jugendarbeit stärken” one of our groups has just recently started a Youtube channel on countering extreme Islamic scholars. We now decided to support them even more as it seems to be a successful strategy to prevent radicalization.

During our meeting at the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Office we got truly impressed by their education program which reaches out to 1,2 million teenagers and 5 million adults. Currently they are operating in 14 different countries across the globe. We are really looking forward to start this education program in Germany soon. We also met one of our current partner organizations: “The American Institute for Contemporary German Studies” at John Hopkins University. For the last couple of years we realized exchange programs for youngsters from Washington D.C. and Berlin and we are glad to welcome our next guests from Washington D.C. in May 2018.

PARTNERSHIPS AND ONE VOICE

Another important aspect of our work in Germany is the fight against islamophobia, racism, sexism and anti-Semitism. We are additionally engaged in interfaith work in schools, at panels of several institutions and in the media. Therefore it was very interesting to get in contact with officers of the Anti-Defamation League, members of Faith Award Coalition and guides of the Holocaust Museum. Both institutions are well connected with Muslim organizations across the country. In case of an incident their long-term partnerships enable effective counter media narratives and practical help. Their experiences raised our awareness for partnerships and the need to reach out even more than before for the Jewish, LGBTQ or Black communities.

Some of our sessions enabled us to meet young leaders of Muslim community groups like the ADAMS Institute or the Valley Ranch Islamic Center. It was really impressive to realize that American Muslim Organizations have overcome their language barriers. One of our major challenges is the vast diversity within Muslim communities. Therefore it is very important to build up strong communities which are operating with one voice, using the common language of the majority and giving benefits to all of society.

In Germany the communities are still divided and strongly influenced by their cultural ancestries. We got encouraged by these positive experiences and agreed to support a similar approach to leave cultural differences behind.

All of us received so many ideas by many truly inspiring people. It is hard to decide which step we will take first to improve our engagements for peace and tolerance. But we are eager to start. So, during our first week back in Germany we stepped up our networking activities and now we are curious about the enduring developments and change it might bring.  It was a really inspiring journey with long lasting effect for our work.

The Prophet of Islam (pbuh) taught me: “Whoever does not thank the people does not thank Allah”. Therefore in the name of all participants I like to express my sincere appreciation and thanks to all individuals and organizations who realized this International Visitor Leadership Program.