How Islamist and White Supremacists Try to Exploit Civil Unrest

An article in Homeland Security Today discusses how both Islamist extremists and white supremacists share the strategy of taking advantage of current events, such as civil unrest, to recruit followers and spur them to take action on behalf of their movement. The article explains that both groups see today’s unrest as an opportunity to try to insert their messaging, disregarding and even twisting the messages of protest movements to serve their own purposes. As the article observes, extremists exploit, and both groups will use whatever messaging contortions are necessary as they try to grow their ranks on the back of civil instability. The article also presents specific examples of how these groups have done this, discussing how al Qa’ida encouraged revolts following the shooting of Michael Brown in August 2014 and white supremacists attempted to incite others and generally create havoc during the current demonstrations. Read the article at Homeland Security Today.