Blair: ‘Peace and Knowledge’ Needed in Fight Against Extremism

Tony Blair, the former prime minister of Britain, talks at a podium at the 9/11 Memorial Museum.
Tony Blair, former prime minister of Britain, talks at the 9/11 Memorial Museum. Photo by Jin Lee.

Security designed to contain and prevent terrorism since 9/11 is important, but not the only answer in confronting violent extremism worldwide, said Tony Blair, the former prime minister of Britain. The ideology that propels religious-based extremism also must be met head on with far-reaching education and true understanding. "If the roots are deep, we have to go down to them and uproot the poisonous growth," Blair said yesterday, speaking at the 9/11 Memorial Museum. "We have to replace the seeds of hatred and ignorance with those of peace and knowledge."

Since leaving office, Blair, through work at the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, continues the fight against religiously-based extremism, 9/11 Memorial President Joe Daniels said. "Many of us here recognize the great debt that America owes to Tony Blair, who pledged immediately after 9/11 that the UK would join fully in the fight against al-Qaeda and violent jihadism," Daniels said. "[He] stood by his word, at a real political cost, and remains one of America’s strongest and most loyal friends." Blair’s speech coincided with the release of a report by his foundation’s Centre on Religion & Geopolitics. The "Inside the Jihadi Mind" report investigates the common ideology shared through propaganda by three leading extremist groups.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

Previous Post

A Look at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania

Four visitors walk by the wall of names at the Flight 93 National Memorial in southwestern Pennsylvania.

The first time I saw it, on a foggy autumn day several years after that fateful September that thrust it into history, the windswept field atop a hill in southwestern Pennsylvania into which Flight 93 crashed appeared remote and desolate.

View Blog Post

Next Post

Teaching Students About 9/11 With Personal Stories

Shannon Elliott, a 9/11 Memorial education specialist, gives a Museum tour to students in Memorial Hall. The students are holding clipboards as they listen to her.

As an education specialist at the 9/11 Memorial Museum, I find the most meaningful moments are when students, many of whom are too young to have lived through the day, make connections to the event through personal stories.

View Blog Post