Fundamentals of Public Communication Campaigns

CHAPTER 16 Antiterrorist Public Communication Campaigns

Although governments, law enforcement agencies, and nongovernmental organizations occasionally take reactionary approaches to terrorist attacks, they are becoming increasingly aware that they should rather be more proactive and act more preventively in order to wise up to the terrorism game. Those entities are keenly aware that hard security tools alone are inadequate to tackle violent extremism. Instead, their approaches should also include ways that grapple with the basic roots of extremism. Radical ideologies are the glue that bind extremists together and nurture their grievances. Governments, law enforcement agencies, and nongovernmental organizations must understand terrorism to the fullest extent and develop antiterrorist communication campaigns.¹ As explained in Chapters 13 and 14, terrorist organizations themselves clearly understand the power of communication campaigns.

Enter Al-Shabaab. Al-Shabaab is a Somali terrorist organization that uses diverse communication technologies to publish an online jihadist magazine called Gaidi Mtaani. Through this magazine, Al-Shabaab promotes jihad in Somalia and neighboring countries like Kenya. Jihad is holy war against the Infidels (i.e., non-Muslims) and Apostates (i.e., Muslim “traitors”).² Defined as “Terrorist on the Street” in Swahili, Gaidi Mtaani is a propaganda magazine that is accessible online and that motivates Eastern and Central Africans to commit jihadist acts ...