December 11, 2009

Alejandro Beutel, MPAC Govt. Liason

At a press conference held earlier today at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, leaders of the Muslim Public Affairs Council said dealing with issues of radicalization and violent extremism in our communities is of utmost importance and requires an approach that is more complex than condemnations and offering condolences.

See: U.S. Muslims Pen Strategy to Wrest 'Narrative' from Militants (CNN)

Download: "Building Bridges to Strengthen America: Forging an Effective Counterterrorism Enterprise between Muslim Americans and Law Enforcement" (MPAC)

At the press conference, Community Development Director Haris Tarin and Government Liaison Alejandro Beutel released a special report entitled, "Building Bridges to Strengthen America: Forging an Effective Counterterrorism Enterprise between Muslim Americans and Law Enforcement." The report focuses on the need for a strong partnership between Muslim communities and law enforcement to prevent radicalization and intercept violent extremism.

Specifically, the paper addresses three issues. First, it thoroughly details the various theories surrounding the "radicalization process" and stresses the need to move beyond simplistic theories which limit themselves to theology as a cause of radicalization.

Second, it spells out the need for a partnered solution between police and Muslim communities. Such a partnership must be defined by a division of labor: police should focus on criminal activities while Muslim communities should deal with the social, political and theological aspects of radicalization.

Finally, it stresses the need for community policing as a more effective approach than other methods of policing thus far. Rather than adopting an unnecessarily confrontational approach with Muslim American communities, a more cooperative version of law enforcement outreach would engender greater information feedback and be a more effective counterterrorism strategy.

MPAC is continuing its engagement on these critical community issues with a three-pronged approach:

• supporting effective counterterrorism through this special report and our National Grassroots Campaign to Fight Terrorism

• fighting extremism through religious literacy. MPAC hosted an important community townhall in Los Angeles which was webcast live, in order to deconstruct the distorted Islamic teachings featured in Maj. Nidal Hasan's infamous PowerPoint. We will continue to host such forums to enhance religious literacy and empower Muslim Americans

• empowering young Muslim American leaders through our national and local leadership development programs, including our National Young Leaders Summits as well as our soon-to-be-launched "I Am Change Civic Leadership Program"

Related Downloads

All files are in PDF format and require Adobe Reader for viewing (download Adobe Reader).

• All - Download the paper in its entirety
• Part 1 - Executive Summary
• Part 2 - Understanding the Problem
• Part 3 - Community Policing and Counterterrorism
• Part 4 - Appendix - Sources from the Quran