Questions of social cohesion, social conflict and social responsibility are dominating the thinking of researchers on resilience to social harms such as violent extremism and terrorism in the current COVID-19 environment. These questions are at the forefront of some of the new research we are now embarking on, and informing our thinking on current research already in progress.

COVID-19 has had a direct impact on the research we do in the area of terrorism and violent extremism, community resilience, and community engagement and reporting on combating social harms.

We are already seeing the ways in which right-wing extremist networks and social influencers are exploiting COVID-19’s challenges and uncertainties by attempting to accelerate social division, anxiety and blame onto perceived ‘outsiders’ such as migrants and minority groups, and to foster increased distrust in government legitimacy. Movements like Islamic State are also attempting to capitalise on the coronavirus crisis by issuing propaganda claiming it is divine punishment against ‘Crusader nations’ and advocating local attacks, even as they advise against travel to coronavirus hotspots in Europe. There is also emerging evidence that recruitment efforts are intensifying by using COVID-19 as the hook to draw in new recruits to violent extremist radicalisation, particularly in right-wing extremist contexts.

This photo was shot with a Canon EOS 5D Mark III and L-series lens.

At the same time, in some countries we are seeing a drop in the levels of referrals by communities of concerns and information relating to current and emerging terrorist threats as COVID-19 preoccupies public consciousness and resources. This highlights the need for further research on how we manage to retain community focus and participation when confronted with risks and threats from multiple sources that may converge at various points in time.

It also highlights the importance of understanding how we understand, maintain and grow our resilience in times of crisis, not only as individuals but also at the levels of our communities and our systems. COVID-19 is rapidly revealing some of the gaps and unevenness in how resilient our systems are, and why the idea that individual resilience alone is sufficient to meet complex crises like coronavirus is a myth. And it exposes some of the vulnerabilities that we need to better understand and combat around political manipulation of crises and the threat this poses to democratic order.

Alongside this are ongoing issues relating to the rise of hate narratives towards minorities; unsettled attitudes toward immigration and cultural and religious differences, and crises in community trust for institutions and governments. These challenges have been intensified by the COVID-19 crisis, but there is also evidence that existing or new kinds of resilience are emerging that we can build on for the future, including the strengthening of local and online community networks, openness to new ways of thinking and doing, and greater compassion towards those facing especially critical hardships in the face of COVID-19. We can learn from both the negative and the positive here, and our research will continue to focus on these elements as we move through future stages of how we respond to COVID-19 and its aftermath.

Professor Michele Grossman is Research Chair in Diversity and Community Resilience at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, and the Director of the Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies.

This article is part of a series of COVID-19-related analysis and opinion articles from ADI researchers.