text: Building Dumbledore's Army to Fight ISIS | Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
  The question is: How? Given the numbers, it may seem an overwhelming task to imagine a strategy that could thwart extremist ideology's cancerous spread and appeal. Having spoken with thousands of Muslim millennials in 80 countries, I've seen firsthand the impact global extremism is having. But I've also come away convinced that viable solutions do exist.
  Boston is especially well situated to create and support a Countering Extremism laboratory as one tool in the fight against extremism. We possess scores of institutions devoted to understanding how knowledge, millennials, and communities connect in the digital age. The Broad Institute, the MIT Media Lab, and the Harvard i-Lab are but a few examples of innovative spaces designed to bring new ideas forward using a multidisciplinary approach. Why would we not design a similar space to combat extremist ideology? Think of what might be gained if we brought together the full range of wisdom currently being developed by Boston-based adolescent-mind experts, technologists, content distributors, historians, theologians, and cultural curators. The scores of start-ups growing up in Kendall Square and along Route 128 can and should also be at the vanguard of a sustained effort to thwart extremism's spread.
  A student named Inesha conveyed this idea in a way any millennial would understand, chiming in with a reference from the Harry Potter franchise. She said, "If you want this generation to understand what you really mean, we have to build Dumbledore's Army."
  Even with his formidable magic powers, Harry Potter still needed help from friends and peers in his battle against evil. He needed an army. And so do we. Boston has a long tradition of inspiring innovation, pioneering new approaches, collaborating across disciplines, sharing research, and thinking boldly. We've had the courage to face some of the world's hardest problems—and we've won. We owe it to our country and to a generation of youth to apply our resources fully to the cause of countering violent extremism.
  For Academic Citation: Farah Pandith."Building Dumbledore's Army to Fight ISIS." The Boston Globe, December 16, 2015.