Who Becomes a Terrorist and Why: A Dialogue with Mubin Shaikh and Arno Arno Michaelis

Who becomes a terrorist and why? That is the question we invite you to explore with us on April 28th at 3:00 PM in the Boston University Law Auditorium, 765 Commonwealth Avenue, through dialogue with two individuals who personally experienced entering, exiting, and then working to counter extremist movements. Mubin Shaikh turned to Salafi-jihadist extremism in his late teen years in an attempt to resolve an identity crisis. Arno Michaelis found escape from his alcoholic home in the racist skinhead music scene, a gateway to his involvement in violent white supremacist groups. Both men left extremism behind many years ago and today are working to prevent young people from being pulled down that path. Now more than ever, students, parents, educators, and civic leaders can benefit from gaining a new perspective on extremism, an issue that our society is still struggling to understand and confront in a productive way. By bringing together former extremists from different ideological backgrounds, we can begin to appreciate how much these seemingly polar opposite movements have in common in terms of vulnerability, recruitment, and narrative themes. We hope all who attend will leave knowing that although extremism is undoubtedly a complex challenge, we can all be part of the solution. This event is organized by the Inkblot Project, a challenging extremism initiative led by students of BU’s Pardee School of Global Studies and overseen by their professor Jessica Stern. Inkblot has also partnered for this event with Parents for Peace, a non-profit founded by families who had loved ones recruited into extremism, some of whom are incarcerated for their actions or died fighting overseas. Hoping to prevent others from experiencing similar tragedy, Parents for Peace has established a helpline - 844-49-PEACE - that concerned friends or family members can call for support. We hope you are able to come for this compelling conversation, but even if you can’t make it, please take the opportunity to follow the work of these bright students who are striving to make a difference, and consider how you might support Parents for Peace in its mission to help families and friends protect their loved ones from extremism.