Dipok Biswas :: Historically, unity was the strength that our subcontinent has been familiar with. Since ancient times, people of this subcontinent were progressing when it came to education and science, because we believed in the same culture without letting one’s religion or race interfere. As long as this subcontinent was part of the same map, there were fewer chances of prejudice. After partition of the Indian Subcontinent; due to various reasons, questionable practices started to spread.

Fast forward to present times, the notion of extremism is increasing day by day around the whole world. The array of extremism and the violence it causes are dreadful, and now Bangladesh is also being affected by its radical influence. The effect of extremism has been noticeable in people from different age groups, religion or socio-economic classes. Initiatives taken by various NGOs and government organisations to spread awareness and strict monitoring by law enforcement agencies have been very helpful to tone down extremism, but often extremist groups try to assemble themselves. They target the youth to recruit, which is roughly 33% (BBS-2015) of our population. When we try to find the root that causes these extreme activities, the role of world economy comes on. Usually people living under poverty line engage into terrorism, but recently it has been noticed that even young people from well off families also pariticipate.

According to research, the increasing unemployment rate, absence of proper religious knowledge, propaganda regarding religion and the current internet state are causing the uprising of radical violence. Additionally, western countries have this exaggerated notoriety regarding religious believes that stir up conflicting thoughts in the minds of youth. As a result, people are getting confused and extremist groups are using the opportunity to exploit them. Their attempts would bear no fruit if there was harmony among the youth.

Social Action And Mobilization for Prevention of Radicalization and Extremism through Enhanced and Targeted Intervention (SAMPREETI), a project by Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) comes in at such a time of need, when bonds among youth of our society needs strengthening. This project works on creating awareness regarding radical extremism through creative activities and practices among university, college and madrasa students. These activities include debate, sports, enjoying drama, making cinema, drawing, writing, creating entrepreneurs, seminars and other awareness activities.

Beatnik is one of the organizations that work hard towards achieving the success of project Sampreeti. Established in 2013, Beatnik is a creative advertising agency. At this age of technology, social media is the most critical tunnel for creating value and meaning on all levels of our society. And through this tunnel, Beatnik is one of the forerunners in delivering the right message to the right people. Beatnik is working effortlessly to convey the main message of the SAMPREETI project to all classes of audience. And this is why, through sampreeti.com, the core message is delivered through blogs, case studies and collection of motivating videos.

All these content is also available on the dedicated SAMPREETI app available on playstore. Additionally, Beatnik is also responsibly active on a dedicated Facebook page of SAMPREETI that has the same goals. There is also a YouTube channel consisting of videos. Contents published in these mediums are getting encouraging response from the youth. We tried to explore the root of extremism to uproot it. And we realised, if we can get the young people into thinking, this process will greatly expedite. We tried to guide the youth in a proper manner, so that instead of driving away from society, they become more attached to it. Beatnik wants to play an active role to deliver such messages to all classes of audience if such initiative is taken in the future as well.