Finding Your Passion

We challenged young people from all over the OSCE region to share with us a passion, something that drives them, and to tell us their stories of positive commitment, inspiration and resilience. We received 257 photos and videos illustrating their #DailyThrills: wonderful hobbies, projects, even work, through which they find fulfillment and sometimes even push their limits.

Why is it so important to find your passion?

People are often attracted to violent extremism because they seek purpose, belonging, recognition, respect, or some thrill and adventure. We want to tell them that there are so many other ways of fulfilling these goals, positive ways.

We invited three young people, who also have their own story to share, to become the #DailyThrills ambassadors: a ballerina, who loves contemporary dance; a student, passionate about his band; and an events manager, who spends his weekends riding a BMX bike. Their stories have been seen on social media almost half a million times – across the 57 OSCE participating States and 11 Partners for Co-operation.

Telling different, better stories

Violent extremists are competing for attention, tailoring their propaganda to appeal to different groups. There are plenty of different, better stories to share about cohesion instead of division, building instead of destructing, earning respect instead of instilling fear.

These alternative narratives can have a great impact if they are formulated and spread at the grassroots, amplified through social media.  The #DailyThrills entries on Instagram gained more than 13,000 likes. The live stream of the first joint OSCE - Facebook edition of the Peer-to-Peer: Global Digital Challenge for students against violent extremism was watched by thousands of people on social media.

The #LetsDoodle competition, which invited artists and designers to come up with a character that would challenge stereotypes, brought to life MIX the Sheep – a cartoon ambassador for tolerance, diversity, solidarity and inclusion – which has helped to raise the awareness of millions of people on social media and beyond.

Through the OSCE United in Violent Extremism (#UnitedCVE) campaign, we provide a platform for everyone to engage and highlight how we can all work together towards preventing violent extremism.