This is what a homegrown jihadi might look like, according to France

[HigherGround]

Timothy McGrath
January 28, 2015 17:20

This is what a homegrown jihadi might look like, according to France

#Stopdjihadisme: The French government's new counterterrorism plan involves a website and a hashtag.

A portion of the infographic distributed with the #Stopdjihadisme communications kit. (Screengrab)

On Jan. 21, two weeks after two gunmen killed 12 people and wounded 11 others at the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced a plan to invest $490 million in counterterrorism efforts over the next three years.

Today we're getting a glimpse of how that money's being put to use. Among the first new blows the French government is striking against terrorism are a website and a hashtag, Le Monde reports.

Welcome to #Stopdjihadisme. It's a new online campaign that attempts to prevent the radicalization of French citizens at home and battle the Islamic State (IS) on the social media front.

There are more or less two messages.

For French residents who might be feeling attracted to jihadi ideologies and are considering either joining IS or answering its call to launch terrorist attacks at home: Don't do it. Bad idea.

The centerpiece of the website is a video that presents some idealized visions of foreign jihad and then offers the "reality." So you might think you'll travel to Syria to "help children," but once there, you'll be complicit in the "murder of civilians," according to the video.

#Stopdjihadisme : Ils te disent… by gouvernementFR

The site also speaks to French residents who, in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo killings, are increasingly concerned about radicalizing neighbors and homegrown terrorism.

The site notes that every case of radicalization is unique, but still provides an infographic — the effectiveness of which remains uncertain — that lists what it claims are common signs that a person is becoming radicalized.

(Communications Kit/www.stop-djihadisme.gouv.fr)

So that's what a homegrown jihadi might look like, according to France.