If 2025 will be remembered for anything, it will be the surge of hate based violence which has surged throughout the world. Massive atrocities have occurred in Sudan where Sudan's army and the breakaway militia, the the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been responsible for hundreds of thousands of Sudanese civilians being killed. In Gaza, more than 70,000 civilians, half of which are women and children, have been killed by Israeli forces. While these are the worst examples, violence has spread well beyond the Middle East. What can be done in 2026 to stop the violence epidemic?
The argument here is that the world's political and religious leaders have failed to address the spread of violence, especially that promoted by sectarianism and politicized religion. In 2015, Professor Jean-Marc Coicaud and I organized a conference at Rutgers University, "Youth and the Allure of Terrorism: Identity, Recruitment and Public Diplomacy." We invited Muslim (Sunni and Shi'a), Christian and Jewish clerics and scholars. The idea which informed the conference was to use an inter-faith dialogue to address the question of why youth are attracted to sectarian violence.
Why can't members of the international community follow this example and organize conferences throughout the world to draw attention to the causes for the spread of hate-based violence. United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and Pope Leo, seem to be the only prominent world leaders speaking out about such violence. Each could serve the goals of both understanding its causes and developing policies to quell it by organizing conferences of the type just mentioned in New York and Rome.
The killings of Australian Jews who were celebrating Hanukkah on Sydney's Bondi Beach earlier this month belies the argument that restricting immigration can prevent sectarian violence. Both the father and son who attacked Bondi Beach were Australian citizens. After the shooting, it became clear that they had been radicalized by the Islamic State. Fortunately, one of the gunman was tackled and disarmed by a Muslim citizen who originally immigrated to Australia from Syria, preventing many more deaths, while subjecting him to being shot himself.
Hate-based violence has also been fostered by culture wars. The right-wing in many liberal democratic countries has chosen to attack the transgender and LGBTQ+ communities. A motive behind the killing of Charlie Kirk the right-wing head of Turning Point Action Charlie Kirk in September was his attack on transgender Americans. The shooter was romantically involved with his transgender roommate which led him to plan and carry out Kirk's assassination.
