British counter-extremism think-tank the Quilliam Foundation has unveiled its own anti-radicalisation video to challenge the jihadist narratives of ISIS recruiters.
The video, which has received over 28,000 views in total since its release on August 3, depicts an British fighter sitting alone in a small, damp room in Iraq or Syria with the sound of gunfire and bombs outside. A young fighter, who is wounded and exhausted, reads a letter sent from his older brother in the UK, who apologises for contributing to his younger brother's radicalisation.
"I'd tell you I was sorry," says a voiceover. "I wish I could take back every time I sent you a Tweet or got all gassed up saying about how the West has turned its back on us."
The letter says the older brother's violent rhetoric aimed towards his little brother was little more than a bid to make people notice him. "Every brother wants his kid brother to look at him, like I was some kind of hero."
The video, which was crowdfunded by 150 donors across ten different countries, is accompanied by a line from Quilliam which reads, "ISIL are radicalising our brothers to fight in Syria. They are tearing families apart. Enough is enough."
Quilliam is a London-based counter-extremism think tank that was set up to address problems of extremism and Islamic radicalisation. It was co-founded by former British radical Islamist Maajid Nawaz who is now an adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron.
The video, which is part of Quilliam's #NotAnotherBrother campaign, aims to highlight the dangers of online radicalisation to those who may be susceptible to extreme jihadi rhetorics.
The video was produced following four months of research by military experts, psychologists and linguists. It was produced with a video agency called Verbalisation, following a plea from Google for organisations to fight back against the jihadi narrative espoused by ISIS by exposing the group's "inhuman and atrocious" actions and viewpoints.
Haras Rafiq, the managing director of the Quilliam Foundation, told Newsweek that the campaign aims to get a wider section of society involved in producing and disseminating effective counter-narrative videos to prevent more people from being persuaded by ISIS recruiters.
"Using experts who have knowledge of ISIS's narratives online, former Islamists and the families of some of the people who have travelled out to Syria, the video has been designed to let people see that different aspects of extremist's messages can be countered," Rafiq says.
"If you look into the messages the video contains, which are written and spoken specifically in the same style and language ISIS uses, the clip shows people that the radical words and ideas they espouse have an major impact on vulnerable people who may actually go and join ISIS."
Rafiq says the dim and sinister backdrop was chosen purposely to "help people realise what the true conditions are like out there [in Syria]," despite all the glamorous details many fighters boast about online.
"Every aspect of the video was carefully included to show that it's not all action and heroes out there," Rafiq says.
However, Jonathan Birdwell, head of the citizenship programme at Demos, a leading cross-party think-tank that specialises in Islamic extremism research, said that whilst there are some effective aspects to Quilliam's video, the Quilliam foundation is "too tainted among the target audience they are trying to reach to have impact."
In the past, Quilliam has worked with the former leader of far-right group the English Defence League, Tommy Robinson, which drew a largely negative reaction from the Muslim community.
"In order for counter-radicalisation videos to have any chance of impact, the organisation and person communicating the message is absolutely critical. And in this instance - despite some of the good work that Qulliam arguably does - they do not have a brand that resonates with young British Muslims who may be sucked into extremist narratives. In fact, their brand tends to do the opposite - immediately engendering suspicion."
Whilst the video has received some positive feedback online, there are some viewers who have openly criticised the video, with some questioning the video's sympathetic stance towards foreign fighters.
One viewer of the video said: "This feeds into the logical fallacy that the main victims of Islam are muslims and so we should be sympathetic to those that hold the very ideology that causes all this strife and misery."
Other comments have also said the video could have done more to appear more authentic and, in turn, appeal to a wider audience.
Another comment said: "This should have been done in Arabic and Urdu, with English subtitles. Doesn't matter that the target audience knows English. That target audience already has a perception of what they believe is authentic."
Quilliam's next video, which aims to expose more of the harsh realities of joining ISIS, is scheduled to be released in September.
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