Seminar on Social Media and Violent Extremism in the Asia Pacific by Dr. Julian Droogan
The Graduate Program of International Relations Universitas Gadjah Mada in collaboration with Global Engagement Office Faculty of Social and Political Sciences Universitas Gadjah Mada held Public Lecture Seminar with Dr. Julian Droogan from the Department of Security Studies and Criminology, Macquarie University, Australia entitled Social Media and Violent Extremism in the Asia Pacific (30/08). Dr. Julian Droogan also served as the Director of Internationalisation and Director of the Terrorism Research Program in Macquarie University.
For about 45 students, most of them were the graduate students from the Department of International Relations UGM, joined the seminar. Dr. Siti Mutiah Setiawati, Head of the Graduate Program of International Relations UGM, gave her speech to welcome Dr. Julian Droogan first visit to Jogjakarta and officially open the seminar. The seminar was led by Dr. Maharani Hapsari, Secretary of the Graduate Program of International Relations UGM. The seminar were held for 2 hours.
Dr. Droogan began his seminar by promoting his Department. The Department of Security Studies and Criminology in Macquarie University began life as the Centre for Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism (PICT) in 2005 as a direct response to the 2002 Bali and 2004 Jakarta Bombings. Since then, the Department has grown rapidly to become one of Australia’s largest and most well respected hubs for academic and policy oriented research on strategic studies, intelligence, defence, cyber security, counter terrorism, and criminology.
Terrorism is one of the most-talked transnational issue, and the emerging of technology has also played important roles in spreading the notion of terrorism. Social media, including the growth of mobile phone technology and availability of faster internet speeds, provides platforms that facilitate users’ interaction with audiences. Consequently, this social media platforms also proved to have been utilized by terrorist groups to engage in propaganda campaigns.
Dr. Droogan stated groups such as Al Qaeda, Islamic State, Abu Sayyaf Group have adopted these platforms and technologies for a range of activities including financing, attack planning, recruiting, digital training environments and social networking. In this occasion, Dr. Droogan also explained about how the Urumqi riots happened in Xinjiang, Western China in July 2009 –left 156 dead and 100 injured, were highly influenced by the influence of social media.
Social media has also greatly facilitated the amplification of the impact of terror attacks. It has a demonstrated capability to impart fear to wider audiences in unprecedentedly immediate and dramatic ways. This feeds on the notion of terror as ‘propaganda of the deed’, where fear and the response caused by violent act far outweighs the importance of the act itself.
Penulis: Jelitasari Wiedoko
Editor: Novi Dwi Asrianti
