Interview with Ahul-Taqwa

I spoke with Jesse Morton and his team at Light Upon Light and Parallel Networks over mobile and video call, and agreed to become a “Shapeshifter” for their platform. Light Upon Light is a project of Parallel Networks, an organisation joint-founded by Jesse Morton, a former Islamist extremist, and Mitch Silber, the NYPD Intelligence Officer that monitored him; they work to combat hate and deradicalise individuals across a number of different methods and programmes. “Shapeshifters” are the organisation’s name for affiliated campaigners who support their aims of working for peace and against extremism and hate. I was then interviewed for the counternarrative, deradicalisation magazine that they produce: “Ahul-Taqwa”, aimed at seeking to reach out to those at risk of radicalisation or who are already involved in extremist groups by producing a magazine in similar style and fashion to those used by the groups themselves to spread hate and falsehoods.