Today, I thought back, reminiscing over what prompted me to issue posts against extremism and hate on LinkedIn. I still recall quite vividly that when I attended secondary school, I was lucky to come under the wings of an instructor of religious education. I had the chance to discuss with him academic concepts of morality, after classes, which gave me insights and food for thought. The dialogues opened new windows of understanding regarding the links between social and religious theories. The said instructor would at some point take the position of Anti-Aggression Commissioner at the school that I attended, intervening against both physical and verbal incursions.

At the same time, I took senior classes in ethics, learning not only about the foundations of deontology but also responsibleness, which constitute a symbiosis. The former approach was framed with a reference to Kantian texts, while the modern and post-modern ways of seeing things reflected society as it has become more completely. All of this made a lasting mark on me as a person.

I soon enrolled in Political Science and State Law at the University of Mainz, taking undergraduate courses and hearing lecures. My studies helped me attain a more ample theoretical perspective of equity, for instance with regard to the connection between justice and legal rules. I read about the relativeness of some of the aspects of legal positivism in the German context, and in a renewed and more profound way about the lasting validity of the lessons learned from the horrible historical events of the Third Reich.

At the time as an undergraduate student, I bought my first books about violence occurring in foreign settings, and had my first articles on extremism published by established German national newspapers. At the same time, I addressed aspects of human rights in Northwest Africa for the German Section of Amnesty International.

The fact that I post, on a daily basis, about Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) and against hate speech is also connected with my time as IT editor. My first office seat was next door to a pro-bono consulting foundation whose goal it is to reach more equity in the spheres of the economy, in society, politics, and culture and of which associated experts provide guidance against bullying in the workplace.

I have always felt the need to foster equity, and I am more than sure that I can make a difference by promoting viable strategies and steps in that direction. The key events mentioned above have prompted me to share, since 2017, more than 12,000 documents, articles, and multimedia links in the realm of P/CVE on the LinkedIn platform. In recent years, I have also been issuing a bi-weekly list of resources which can be found on the website counter-terrorism.org. I am more than thankful for all the support that I have been receiving.

Thorsten Koch, MA, PgDip
Policyinstitute.net
22 November 2023