“Radicalisation is the most pressing problem of our age. Each violent act by extremists creates an increasing cycle of hatred which tears our communities apart.”

Deeyah Khan – TEDx Exeter 2016

Deeyah Khan

What we don’t know about Europe’s Muslim kids

Featured on TED.com

Aged 17, Deeyah fled from Norway confused, lost and torn between cultures. Unlike some young Muslims she picked up a camera instead of a gun. She now uses her camera (and her superpower) to shed light on the clash of cultures between Muslim parents who prioritise honour and their children’s desire for freedom. She argues that we need to understand what is happening to fight the pull to extremism.

Deeyah Khan is a critically acclaimed music producer and Emmy and Peabody award-winning documentary film director. Her work highlights human rights, women’s voices and freedom of expression. Her skill as a multidisciplinary artist led her to music and film as the language for her social activism. Born in Norway to immigrant parents of Pashtun and Punjabi ancestry, the experience of living between different cultures, both the challenges and the beauty, dominates her artistic vision.

Deeyah’s 2012 multi-award winning documentary Banaz: A Love Story chronicles the life and death of Banaz Mahmod, a young British Kurdish woman killed in 2006 in London. This murder was a so-called honour killing by her family. Deeyah’s second film Jihad involved two years of interviews and filming with Islamic extremists, convicted terrorists and former jihadis.

Deeyah has also received several awards for her work supporting freedom of expression, human rights and peace, including the Ossietzky prize by Norwegian PEN and in 2015, the University of Oslo’s Human Rights Award.

Watch our other 2016 speakers

Danny Dorling Featured on TED.com

Maps that show us who we are, (not just where we are)

Pragna Patel

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere

Anna Frost

Raising adventurous and brave children

TEDxExeter 2016