Global Unites founder and President Prashan DeVisser defines radicalization as the process by which a person is lured to hold extreme principles, demonize certain communities and embrace violence. Born into a bloody civil war, DeVisser spent his youth teetering on the brink of radicalization. Today he and his global organization mentor at-risk youth to pull them back from the clutches of extremists.
With social media having extended the reach of extremist organizations, DeVisser believes that our global society must begin to address the root causes of youth radicalization. “Today’s terrorist, today’s extremist, is yesterday’s young person looking for acceptance, looking for identity, looking for an opportunity,” said DeVisser.
Emerging research suggests young people are more susceptible to extremist ideologies when they feel unwelcome or rejected from the mainstream. “As a result of that,” DeVisser says, “they are lured slowly into the arms of extremists who are waiting to capture them and use them.”
DeVisser was born in Sri Lanka in the midst of a violent civil war that gripped the country for nearly 30 years. For DeVisser, suicide bombings were part of daily life. Whenever a terror attack happened, the anger within him towards an entire ethnic group grew. “It was just a bunch of terrorists who did this but we had animosity against the entire people, and we were filled with hate.”
Growing up DeVisser often found himself overwhelmed by emotions which had no outlet. It was in this precarious state that he was exposed to radicals who filled his head with extremist ideals, convincing him that an entire ethnic group was the source of his suffering.
DeVisser could have easily been recruited into an extremist organization if not for two factors. The first being vigilant adults, in his case, his parents who constantly questioned his increasing hatred. “These questions seared through my hate and protected me from embracing extremism,” said DeVisser.
The second factor DeVisser credits with preventing his radicalization was exposure to people outside of his ethnic and religious groups. “They constantly broadened my world.” DeVisser said, “They gave me a capacity to think in a bigger way.” DeVisser came to realize that there was a formula for true and lasting resistance against violent extremism.
He formed the mentoring organization Global Unites that works to expose young people to other ethnic groups and alternative narratives. “We created a movement for young people that would say no to violence, that will provide young people the opportunity to have a broader world view by interactions across ethnic lines,” said DeVisser. “We will give them the opportunity to be mentored by people who will love them and care for them. That will provide a resistance that extremists can’t break through.”
Global Unites aspires to have a team in every country across the global wherever there is conflict. “Wherever an extremist tries to go radicalize a young person, we are also there to provide the counter narrative – you say something, we have the alternative,” said DeVisser. “Too many young people today do not hear the alternative.”
Today Global Unites has organized movements in Sri Lanka, Congo, and Kenya with 27,000 members, and plans for movements in Uganda, Afghanistan and Myanmar. DeVisser wants us, the global moderate citizen, to know that we play a pivotal role in countering radicalization.
Prashan DeVisser’s experience, wisdom and mission is not a call to action reserved for those in the center of war-torn nations. Wherever there is tension, wherever the rights and dignity of marginalized communities are threatened, he encourages us to reach out across political, religious and racial lines to embrace those whom we have been taught to fear. “What if we could prove that [extremist] narrative wrong and say we do care, we want to accept you in, you are one of us?” asks DeVisser. “These marginalized communities want your acceptance, and that will create an amazing resistance against extremist perspectives.”
Girl On A Wire 