- My name is Fatima Zaman.
And I'm a counter extremist.
I'll tell you what that means in just a second.
But first I'd like to tell you how I got here.
On Thursday, 7th July
2005,
I found myself in the wrong place at the wrong time.
That day, I witnessed the most devastating
terrorist attacks to ever face the United Kingdom.
It was a normal day.
I had got up and gone to school.
I was sitting in class
when I heard the loudest roar.
Then came the sirens.
Repetitive.
Blaring.
And deafening.
Then came the silence.
Sitting less than a few hundred meters from the blast
I was yet to comprehend what had happened.
And as I watched the frenzy unfold around me
I realized
London had been bombed.
I had just seen terror at its peak.
A direct attack on my community.
In that moment I saw what hate, anger and violence
can do when materialized inside a man-made contraption.
A bomb.
Never again, I said to myself.
7/7 was the first time violent extremism invaded my life.
It scarred me.
It affected me.
And it formed the basis of every choice
I have made in my formative years.
Earlier, I told you what I do for a living.
I'm a living, breathing, counter extremist.
I became an activist not out of choice,
but out of necessity.
In almost every corner of the East London
I heard radical voices.
I saw violence and I saw hatred.
I saw my community divided,
cohesion disappear and pave the way for a type
of populism that seems to make reconciliation impossible.
And so, I decide it was my duty to take action.
I was compelled to act for the sake of
my faith, for the sake of my community
and for the sake of my country.
While 7/7 was the event that tore my community apart
it is also the catalyst for all of my work.
13 years from the attacks
my work seeks to bring young people's involvement
in violent extremist to an end.
Now deradicalization isn't an exact science.
But if I had to summarize it,
I'd say it comes down to three p's.
Proximity,
partnerships
and passion.
Let us begin with proximity.
And I don't mean that in the geographic sense.
We've already learned over the last two days
that communities can be both local and global
and that place is simply one aspect of human connectivity.
In a similar vein, my approach to deradicalization
is based on peer to peer engagement.
That I am closer to my peers in terms of age
culture and creed, that I may be able to help
them desist from engaging with extremist rhetoric.
In 2016, I helped launch an initiative
called Extremely Together.
Touring communities across the UK,
I have worked to disengage vulnerable young
men and women from extreme violence.
I've developed and delivered training programs
that helps deconstruct and debate issues of identity.
Build resilience within communities
and strengthen the resolve of individuals
to challenge and dispel extremist propaganda.
This brings me to the next p.
Partnerships.
Any meaningful attempt to bring someone back
from the grips of terror
can only be achieved if we understand their grievances.
Often, validating a grievance is a
simple yet powerful act
of understanding grievance and empathy.
Every time I work with a young woman who's
willing to perpetrate violence
I know she is harboring a feeling of frustration.
A genuine feeling of anger that
left unchecked has been exploited by extremist groups,
where she is left to feel her only choice in life
is extreme violence.
Now I know this because I felt the exact the same anger
when extremists
attacked my home.
By understanding grievances and debunking the prestige
that extremists attach to violence
I am able to support her recovery
out of radicalization.
I am able to radically include her in our community.
It is passion that I come on to next.
And it is passion which has allowed me
to rebuild my community by relying on the power
of ordinary people to do
some of the most extraordinary things.
My work has shown me
that when you combine the resourcefulness of people with
the power of place, you can rapidly remedy the root causes
of violent extremism.
This isn't because I figured out
the key to deradicalization
although I hope,
rather my approach is more universal.
It can be applied to education, reformative justice
and social advocacy.
So next time,
you're troubleshooting a crisis
take a moment to think and ask yourself
how can I influence my proximity,
enhance my partnerships and use my passion
to deconstruct the silos that exist
within different groups of people.
Sometimes, you need to be
in the right place at the right time
to truly realize your position in this world.
The factors that converged on 7/7
have allowed me to see what was wrong,
to go on and build what is strong.
It is often
uncommon hope and uncommon stories
in the most uncommon of places that have the power
to change the world.
And so as I close, I leave you with a sentiment.
My former mentor, the late Kofi Annan,
would often tell me, if not now,
then when?
If not us?
Then who?
And if not here,
then where?
Thank you very much.
(upbeat dance music)