Federal Law 114 on countering extremist activity defines extremism as an ideology that requires extremes, including measures. Acts classified in this way can be committed on the basis of addiction to a certain religion, due to motives related to nationality, race, social affiliation, political views. Extremism is always associated with some hostility, it can be a consequence of hatred, hatred. The danger of this phenomenon, according to the law, is in violation of the constitutional order. In addition, it jeopardizes the safety of society and order in society, and undermines the morality of citizens.
Geography and Nuances
In our country, quite often calls for extremist activity are made in the southern regions, and youth becomes the first victim and target of extremists. It is easier to attract young people to hostility associated with religious preferences and political choice. The mood in the youth environment is gradually becoming more and more radical. A considerable influence is exerted by the proximity of areas that are traditionally characterized by tense situations.
Often establish involvement in extremist activities of residents of the Caucasian regions, especially the northern part of this area. This is due to the prevalence of Wahhabism. Russian residents begin to fear those who profess Islam, avoid communicating with them. Although government bodies are compelled to be loyal to any population groups, nevertheless, mutual work is significantly limited due to social tension.
Studies show: in traditionally dangerous areas, almost half of the residents do not see anything wrong with radicalism and activity of movements of this kind. It so happened that many call visitors guilty of troubles, inadequate living standards. A relatively small percentage of citizens of our country, however, is convinced that the proximity of representatives of different faiths, nationalities and nationalities is the key to successful growth and development.
Features of the issue: historical background
The broad strata of the population of our country learned especially about who such extremists were a couple of decades ago. Ethnic nationalism has come into particular power in the Caucasian regions, which over time has replaced pure Islam, the main extremist ideology. The extremism associated with belonging to Islam, as well as due to nationality, have much in common, and the phenomenon has become national and at the same time religious, legal and political. The phenomenon is controversial, complex, and working with a radical population is extremely difficult. At the same time, an impressive percentage of young people quite passively escaped from political social life, due to which the democratic values promoted by the authorities did not find real support. The most active representatives of the young group turned out to be prone to radicalism - a critical perception of the power system.
Terrorism and extremism are familiar to many, they are not surprising. Surveys were conducted to determine the level of awareness in society, according to which they concluded: only about 15% of the country's population believe that there are no extremist movements in principle. About one in five respondents could not immediately recall the name of the organization, which could be attributed to the radical. Speaking about extremist activity, usually they primarily recall skinheads, Limonovites, Wahhabists, Salafists. Somewhat less often people mention jamaatists, muvahhiduns.However, regardless of which group we are talking about, ordinary people have a negative attitude to the activity of this category.
Rules and restrictions
Our country adopted the Federal Law on Countering Extremist Activities, and the Criminal Code contains several paragraphs at once that disclose responsibility for activity that corresponds to the concept of extremist activity. The phenomenon is considered secretive, and it happens that over the course of several years not a single offense is recorded under the relevant articles throughout the country, while a month or two thousands of such acts can be committed. Much depends on the characteristics of the public environment.
The Federal Law on Countering Extremist Activities not only reveals the characteristics of responsibility, but also gives an explanation of the accepted terminology. It is it that obliges us to interpret the activity of associations, organizations, individuals, as well as media representatives as extremism, if the goal of the object can be called a change, undermining the foundations of the power system, as well as violating its integrity. Extremists conduct activities aimed at eliminating the security of the state, create forbidden formation rules, arm their members, urge the public to commit acts that undermine the integrity and security of the country, and also finance such activities.
Forms, Types, and Definitions
Currently, there are many types of extremist activity, and much depends on the particular views of a particular specialist. In particular, the division into racist, belief-related and nationalist actions is accepted. Such a gradation was proposed by A. Sementsov. Zhalinsky identified legal, extremist types of terrorism, and Martynenko spoke of a political variety, national, nationalist and related to religion. In the first case, the goal of the movement’s participants is to establish a dictatorship and a new order, the second is aimed at protecting the rights and interests of a particular culture, nation. Nationalist extremism seeks isolation, while religious extremism aims to get rid of representatives of other faiths.
We can say that the areas of extremist activity are either international or domestic. Each of the categories contains a huge number of cases, and among them it is already reasonable to single out those related to political, racial affiliation, religion and other aspects.
From extreme to extreme
Lawyers, explaining who these extremists are, call for evaluating the actions of a certain group of people in the aspect of legal nihilism. Extremism is evidenced by activity, views and words indicating willingness and a call for extreme measures. Quite often, extremism refers to political adherents of extreme views. The multifaceted term includes the desire to consolidate class inequality, division into classes and on other grounds, including belonging to a religious denomination. Extremism is a term that refers to violence, illegal activity aimed at achieving what was described earlier.
Terrorism and extremism predominantly occur as a rejection of the current system of norms of politics, culture, morality, religion, as well as the procedures by which a stable social life is ensured. People who succumb to such ideas tend to get rid of the current government, to undermine its power. Representatives of movements are characterized by intolerance of opinions that differ from their inherent. Young people are more inclined towards this, whose characteristic feature is maximalism. In recent years, tendencies calling out for considerable concern have been noticeable: ideas similar to extremism can be heard even from schoolchildren. From the history of the planet it is known that in certain forms and variants the manifestation of extremism was characteristic of any people, and in any power there were victims of such an ideology.
Politics: Nuances
Often, responsibility for extremist activities lies with politicians whose activity, reasoning, and appeals go to extremes that are not permissible by laws. Political extreme methods are usually aimed at adjusting the power system, the regime. Social extremism, economic, aimed at eliminating the current system that reigns in society, in its economy. A rather typical and illustrative example is left-wing radicals active in imperial Russia, by whose forces a coup was organized in 1917. Some countries in the East today - the area of localization of religious, political extremism. Adhering to such currents, people can consciously initiate unrest, and are also able to organize a terrorist attack.
If extremism and extremist activity in the field of politics reach extreme measures, it is customary to talk about terrorism. This term designates a situation of systematic intimidation, the influence of provocative factors on society and other ways of destabilizing it with instruments of violence. Such activity is separatist actions, terrorist attacks, including attacks on citizens of a certain country who are outside their homeland. In our country, one of the most high-profile terrorist acts of recent times was what happened in Budennovsk.
Races and Religions
The main goal of extremist activities related to nationality is to provide a certain social group formed on a racial basis with the best living conditions and a privileged social position. A good historical example familiar to any educated person is Nazism, which invaded Germany in the last century. In the last few decades, purges took place in some Balkan, African powers, and in the regions of Russia. Shortly before the collapse of the USSR, national pogroms took place in some Asian and Caucasian regions.
Religion-related extremism and extremist activity are expressed in irreconcilability to participants of other faiths, in addition to their own. People who hold such views do not agree to accept the values of other believers. Events of this kind were observed when supporters of Catholicism and Protestantism entered the struggle in Ulster, and in some Ukrainian regions conflicts began between Catholics and Greeks. Nowadays, the greatest risks are associated with Islam.
It's curious
As part of the fight against terrorism and extremism, attention should be paid to the everyday subspecies of the phenomenon. This is usually observed against the background of some mental disturbance of a particular personality. Most often, the soil becomes a phobia. According to statistics, xenophobia is the most widespread basis for domestic extremism.
Factors and their consequences
Extremism and extremist activity are possible against the background of a crisis of the economy or social structure, with the destruction of the value system that dominated society, as well as against the backdrop of the intensification of antisocial movements. There is a higher likelihood of this kind of manifestation when power is weakening, political institutions are losing strength, respect among people, politicians cannot solve the problems that are currently prevailing. Performing discipline is weakening. In addition, an overly aggressive struggle against the opposition and the feeling of a certain nation that its dignity are being infringed can cause extremism. Some social groups can, through radical approaches, try to achieve what they want, realize the ambitions of managers. Initially, this phenomenon was characteristic of marginal circles where counterculture dominated, but over the past several decades, more economically prosperous citizens have also tended to such ideals. People with a high and stable position in society can be infected by the ideas of extremism.
From the moment of its formation on the fragments of the Soviet Union, extremism and extremist activity have become and remain an actual problem in our country. Federated politics, national programs of earlier times created the foundation for such difficulties, which was subsequently reinforced by the nihilism of the inhabitants and the arbitrariness of those in power. The reforms did not bring the results that were promised, and the economic situation did not meet the expectations of the majority, however, social imbalances worsened. Extremism began to actively develop amid a decline in living standards, corrupt structures and the presence of opposing social groups. The emergence of illegal formations with a wide selection of weapons, as well as formations created on the basis of racial, national, religious affiliation, played a role. Any resident of our country lives with fear of being the target of aggression by the crowd, everyone fears mass behavior. All these factors create the conditions for the further prosperity of latent and overt extremism.
Is it possible or not?
Countering terrorism and extremism in our country is organized through the prohibition of this kind of activity. On the territory of the country, the powers do not have the right to be active in forming social groups based on religion, commercial and non-social, belonging to different countries if the activities of such a group are officially called extremist and meet the criteria mentioned in the law. The complexity of the issue is that some of the wording given in the regulatory act can be interpreted in different ways. This makes it possible to abuse existing standards, which means that the effectiveness of the application of the rules is reduced.
In the law, in particular, it is mentioned: extremism can be attributed to such activity, which is aimed at obstructing the work of state structures. This also includes cases in which a person adhering to radical ideas (a group of people) threatens violence or uses it. The law calls for slander of an official state official to be considered extremist if the slanderous person accuses the minister of extremism. Finally, among the controversial language, jurists include a paragraph on the interpretation of violence against an official who is a member of state structures, as well as members of his family. The threat of violence is likewise considered.
The nuances of prevention
The main principles of counteracting extremist activity are to familiarize the masses with the essence of this phenomenon, with the norms of legislation stipulating its prohibition, as well as social work with young people who are most prone to categorical views in order to immunize against radical ideologies. Preventive work in our country is assigned to the federal government, individual bodies, state power of the subjects, as well as administrative local structures. Each institution should work strictly within its own competence, without violating the rules and regulations. Prevention includes propaganda, education, prevention of extremist threats. For this, social movements and formations are organized, focused on teenagers and youth.
The most timely, early adoption of preventive measures is an effective method of eliminating the focus on extremist activity that is contrary to the law. Associations, groups, and social groups should hold talks with a certain frequency, within the framework of which each member could realize the essence of extremism and the dangers associated with it. Preventive measures and the inevitability of punishment for breaking the law become the foundation of adequate education, which will be passed on to the future generation.People brought up correctly will have an extremely negative attitude towards people who commit extremist acts; they themselves will take measures to prevent terrorism, nationalism, and extremism.
Anti-extremist preventive measures include primary prevention, that is, the exclusion of interest on the part of ordinary people in illegal groups. This requires massive immunization through anti-fascist agitation and the expansion of the level of education. Secondary prevention are measures of interaction with those who have already become a member of such a formation. The primary warning is considered the most significant, but both aspects deserve considerable attention.