Events
On 8 September, MIGS hosted J.M. Berger, a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution and co-author of the new book ISIS: The State of Terror (Ecco, Harper Collins, 2015). As one of North America's leading experts on violent extremism, Berger spoke about ISIS’ online recruitment strategies and the roots of its propaganda narrative. La Presse journalist Vincent Larouche moderated the discussion for MIGS and Jean-Thomas Léveillé highlighted Berger’s analyses in an extensive interview with him in a La Presse article titled “Lutte contre l'EI: une guerre sur le terrain... et sur l'internet”. A student newspaper, The Concordian, published an article publicizing Berger’s talk.
MIGS is one of the signers of a letter endorsing a future Code of Conduct favoring Security Council action against genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes”. Also known as the ACT Code of Conduct, the document reaffirms the Responsibility to Protect and calls on all UN member states “to not vote against draft UNSC resolutions that aim to prevent or respond to atrocity crimes.” See here for the full letter.
MediaCloud Challenge
As among the winners of the Media Cloud Summer Data Challenge awards organized by MIT’s Center for Civic Media, Marie Lamensch and Youth Fellow Nicolai Poggadl made invited presentations in Boston of their work on “U.S. Media coverage of Sub-Saharan Africa.” Sponsored by the Ford Foundation, the MIT data challenge tested Media Cloud system, a new tool created by the Center for Civic Media to collect and analyze stories from over 50,000 media sources. Marie and Nicolai demonstrated through their research that the U.S. media continues to be self-centric and perpetuate a negative image of Africa – with risky consequences. Their collaboration with MIT, as well as with Global Voices, will continue in the future. MIT’s Ethan Zuckerman wrote a blog about the Data Challenge which mentions MIGS’ contribution.
In the Media
13 August
Kyle Matthews wrote a letter to the Montreal Gazette calling on Canada to prosecute Canadians who travel to Iraq and Syria to join the Islamic State: “Take a hard line on terrorism.”
18 August
Kyle Matthews and Youth Fellow Cédrick Mulcair published an op-ed titled “Do we have a responsibility to protect victims of terrorism?” in The National Post.
19 August
Kyle Matthews gave an interview to the CBC about efforts to ensure that the issue of genocide is taught in Quebec’s public schools.
Marie Lamensch and Noah Schouela wrote an op-ed titled “Who will bring peace for the people of South Sudan?” forThe Mantle. The authors focus on the role of regional actors in fuelling the current crisis in South Sudan. The article was also published in French on the Huffington Post Quebec web site under the title “A quand la paix au Soudan du Sud?”
24 August
Kyle Matthews spoke to CBC Radio about the security and foreign affairs platforms of each political party in the run up to Canada’s federal election in October.
27 August
In a long interview with the European magazine IDGConnect, Kyle Matthews explains some of the ways extremist groups use social media to attract recruits and the work of MIGS’ Digital Mass Atrocity Prevention Lab.
31 August
Kyle Matthews gave an interview to Breakfast Television about the current refugee crisis in Europe.
2 September
Kyle Matthews was quoted in an article on ipolitics.ca regarding Canada and the refugee crisis in Europe.
9 September
Kyle Matthews spoke with CTV Montreal’s Mutsumi Takahashi about the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe.
Google+ Hang Out interview Series
As part of this summer’s Google Hang Out series, Marie Lamensch and MIGS youth fellow Noah Schouela interviewed Skye Wheeler (Researcher at Human Rights Watch) and Akshaya Kumar (Sudan and South Sudan Policy Analyst at the Enough Project). The panelists focused on the regional aspect of the conflict, which has already driven two million people from their homes. The video is available onMIGS’ Youtube Page.