If the concept of “terror” – both its perpetuation and
prevention – continues to live in the popular imagination
as a largely male battleground, the time to readdress that
is now. We hardly need reminding how Shamima Begum- the British-born schoolgirl who left the UK aged 15 to
join Isil in Syria – dominated headlines in spring. And, on
the flip side, in the past few years a new group of women has
come to prominence as some of the keenest minds in counter-
extremism. They are not spies, nor running intelligence
services – their broad skill sets are also enigmatic ones – but
they are among the key people keeping us safe today.
Take Yasmin Green, the 37-year-old Iranian-born,
British-raised, New York-based director of research and
development at Jigsaw, a Google think tank, the aim of
which is to build more safety into a world of fear. Most
days, the work involves a short hop from her Brooklyn home
to her office in Manhattan, where she takes meetings with
coders, academics and engineers to help shape important
conversations – be it about best YouTube practice around
hate-filled video posts, or what role virtual reality may come
to play in the war on terror.
Then, there are the other days. “We went into the
maximum-security wing and there were captured pirates
and Al-Shabaab, who are kind of the Somali wing of Al-
Qaeda,” she recalls of one of her fact-finding missions to a
prison outside Mogadishu. “The way they looked at me...”
she says, exhaling at the memory of what felt like actual
death stares from the prisoners. “I was wearing cargo pants
and a T-shirt, so it’s not as though I was in a minidress. But
it was triggering for those inmates.”
Domestic settings have their complications, too. Sara Khan,
who leads the government’s Commission for Countering
Extremism, earlier this year travelled to Birmingham in the
wake of the row between Muslim parents and local primary
schools over the introduction of LGBTQ+ inclusivity lessons.
“When I spoke to the teaching staff there,” she says, “they said
how intimidating and frightening it was. We heard how some
of these protesters were saying, ‘The children are being made
to watch pornography.’ Completely false. Extremists whip up
the issue to create that atmosphere of division and hatred.” >
The increasingly high-stakes
world of counter-extremism is
home to three extraordinary
women, and each one is proving
key to the fight. By Giles Hattersley.
Styling by Hanna Kelifa.
Photographs by Boo GeorgeINEXTREMIS23711-19-Well-CounterExtremism.indd 237 13/09/2019 08:04