8 Kickass Online Campaigns Fighting Extremism

Since ISIS established their self proclaimed ‘Caliphate’ in 2014, thousands of people have died and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. ISIS have been using the internet to spread their propaganda but now the internet is fighting back. We’ve rounded up eight kickass social media campaigns to get you inspired.

1. #MessageToISIS

Active Change Foundation / Via acf-young-leaders-programme.tumblr.com

Our own campaign at The Active Change Foundation encouraging everyone who’s had enough of the actions of ISIS to send a message showing their feelings, has led to hundreds of tweets from people determined to make their voices heard. More than 300,000 people have watched our campaign films too, further urging anyone from around the world to join us by creating something that makes a statement, and that others will be inspired by.

2. Muslims Against ISIS

Muslims Against ISIS / Via Facebook: 1444672609121662

More than 15,000 people follow the news from this group on Facebook and Twitter, and despite the title, those of any faith or belief are encouraged to join them. Once again, the message is one of peace and unity. They say, “We want to show the beauty of Islam in contrast to the distortion other groups make….we are all children of Adam and Eve, and we are all brothers and sisters in love.”

3. Poets For Peace

Poets For Peace / Via Twitter: @poets_for_peace

With thousands of views on YouTube, this channel promotes the peaceful nature of Islam - and aims to show it through poetry. Films include “There Is No I In ISIS” - and use the inspirational power of words to not only show what Islam is all about, but also to show how un-Islamic ISIS really is.

4. Eid Pray Love

Eid Pray Love / Via eidpraylove.com

A campaign working hard to spread the message that peace, unity and respect of all religions is ingrained in Islam. This is the group behind the popular “#Muslims4Lent” hashtag - encouraging Muslims to give something up for the Christian period of Lent, which even went on to inspire a #Christians4Ramadan campaign. The founder Bassel Riche says “Despite what extremists have done to hijack our religion, we believe in peace, love, tolerance & harmony with other faiths.”

5. #FightbackStartsHere

fightbackstartshere.com / Via pbs.twimg.com

Over 100 community leaders, charities and interfaith organisations from across the UK joined with the grieving families of British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, beheaded by ISIS terrorists to back the #FightbackStartsHere campaign. They shared a joint open letter calling on like-minded people to work together to find a solution to the problems caused by extremism and radicalisation. The letter states “We can – we must – win this battle together. The fightback starts here.”

6. #Unite4Heritage

Unite4Heritage / Via unite4heritage.org

Thousands of people protested online at the sight of ISIS destroying the ancient statues and artefacts at Palmyra, a 2000-year old UNESCO site in Syria. Syrians were devastated to see their country’s rich history reduced to rubble, but brilliant campaigns like the UN’s #Unite4Heritage show that there will always be people working to find a way to protect and restore it. Join in by posting a photo of your favourite world heritage site, explaining why it’s important to you.

7. #NotInMyName

Media Diversified / Via mediadiversified.org

Where it all began...young British Muslims standing up to the violent acts of ISIS, with a simple message - Not In My Name. With millions getting involved around the world - and even a shout-out from Obama during his UN address - it was an amazing way to use the voices of young people to show that terrorists have nothing to do with the religion recognised and loved by the overwhelming majority of Muslims.

8. #AskIslamicState

@mrlizard13 on Twitter / Via Twitter: @hashtag

Last, but by no means least, humour has also proved to be a powerful weapon in taking the sting out of Islamic State’s tail online, with a whole load of GIFs, memes, parody accounts and hashtags. One of the best examples of this recently was #AskIslamicState, with some hilarious “questions” to ask of the “Caliphate”. Used in the right way, there’s no reason why being funny can’t send a powerful message.