Found 62 results for "Prevent Agenda"

The Telegraph: National Union of Students’ campaign has become a 'vehicle for extremist interests', report warns

“Tolerating the Intolerant”: A Report on ‘Students not Suspects’

A new report launched by Student Rights, a project of The Henry Jackson Society, has found that the Government and UK universities are consistently failing to do enough to combat extremism on campus. The National Union of Students (NUS) campaign ‘Students Not Suspects’ exacerbates, and even facilitates, this problem.

‘Students Not Suspects’ begin new tour with CAGE speaker convicted of terror offence

As part of ‘Islamophobia Awareness Month’, the NUS have announced that a new ‘Students Not Suspects’ tour will visit campuses across the UK. The first of these speaker events will be hosted by the UCL students’ union on 15 November 2017. The panel discussion will feature CAGE’s International Director Muhammad Rabbani. Disturbingly, Rabbani was recently arrested and convicted of an offence under the Terrorism Act for withholding information on his phone and laptop from counter-terror police. Future ‘Students Not Suspects’ events are due to take place in Manchester (20 November), Sussex (21 November), Bristol (22 November), and Leicester (27 November). We have long written about ‘Students Not Suspects’ and its close links to CAGE and other extreme groups. Like previous tours, these workshops and panel events will most likely spread misinformation surrounding Prevent. In doing so, they ignore the critical safeguarding aspect of the policy, its efforts at challenging far-right extremism, as well as its ability to prevent individuals from being drawn into terrorism.

‘Safeguarding Against Extremism in Higher Education’: Conference Review

Last week, Public Policy Exchange held a conference on extremism at the Strand Palace Hotel. The conference, entitled ‘Safeguarding Against Extremism in Higher Education: Preventing Hate and Protecting Freedoms’, featured distinguished speakers from a variety of fields, including law, academia, and the civil service. It gave an invaluable insight into the current legislation surrounding extremism as well as the debates surrounding Prevent. The conference accurately represented the diversity of views towards Prevent that exist across various sectors of British higher education. There were encouraging contributions that emphasised the necessity of the policy as well as its key successes. However, the number of critical voices reminds us that there still remains important work to be performed in relation to the communications and public relations side of the policy. Definitional clarity towards extremism remains an outstanding concern among many Prevent practitioners. It is absolutely vital that these perceptions and misunderstandings are robustly addressed.

Recent successes highlight support for Prevent

The past weeks have been awash with media stories of key Prevent successes. A high profile legal challenge to the government’s Prevent strategy was defeated at the High Court on 26 July. A few days later on 1 August, the Higher Education and Funding Council for England (HEFCE) released its assessment of universities’ compliance with Prevent, concluding that 95 per cent of providers were demonstrating “due regard to the Prevent duty”. Most recently, a senior Scotland Yard Police Officer, Cdr. Dean Haydon, has claimed that much criticism of Prevent is based on “ignorance”. These important developments demonstrate the legal foundations of Prevent as well as the extent of serious engagement with the policy within law enforcement and higher education. However, as Cdr. Haydon has identified, they also underscore the need to communicate Prevent more effectively to the wider community.

Universities UK unknowingly plays host to Hizb Ut-Tahrir

It has been revealed that Jamal Harwood, a spokesman for the British branch of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, was invited to give a talk earlier this year at the London headquarters of Universities UK. His talk, entitled “Is the Caliphate a viable alternative for the Middle East?”, took place in April 2017 at the Woburn House Conference Centre, a building that they own. It is highly unfortunate that this speaker and organisation managed to escape their attention. Universities UK have clarified that they “will not allow the organiser to book any future events at the venue”. It is especially concerning that this took place at the headquarters of a body that prides itself on its work challenging extremism. This is clearly an episode where due diligence could have mitigated risks associated with outside speakers and avoided wider embarrassment.

Prevent plays a decisive role in challenging Far-Right extremism

Home Office and Police figures have shown that the number of Far-Right referrals to Prevent’s Channel programme have risen significantly in recent times. This news has not received nearly as much publicity as inaccurate perceptions that the policy unfairly targets the wider Muslim community. Like its Islamist equivalent, Far-Right extremism provides its followers with a seemingly cohesive sense of meaning, purpose and identity. Recruiters prey on vulnerable individuals looking for an ideology or cause that can offer them absolute certainty in times of personal crisis. The Far-Right is especially dangerous for students from minority backgrounds. Prevent, on the other hand, is one of the most effective forms of defence we have against this pernicious form of extremism.

Salford Student President who opposes Prevent reveals troubling views on social media

Zamzam Ibrahim, President of the Salford Student’s Union and a member of the NUS’s National Executive Council (NEC), has been at the forefront of efforts to delegitimise Prevent and pressure her fellow student officials to stop engaging with it. Ibrahim has hosted the controversial group MEND and called the government’s Prevent strategy “disastrous” and “racist”. It has also been revealed that Ibrahim has controversial views on religious supremacism, racial differences and male-female relations. We believe that divisive comments are inappropriate for those occupying positions of responsibility in student organisations.

Controversial group CAGE uses Facebook to ‘suggest’ advertisement

Student Rights recently received a ‘suggested video’ on Facebook from CAGE, the controversial prisoner lobby group, which was entitled ‘10 Reasons to donate to CAGE’. Many members of the Facebook community who have received this advertisement will be unaware of CAGE’s history of extremist and Islamist connections as well as their record of opposing the government’s counter-terrorism measures. Troubling advertising of this kind is not sufficiently regulated or moderated by internet sites.

Mitigating the Risks? Compliance with the Prevent Duty on Campus

Eighteen months on from the imposition of the Prevent Duty on the higher education sector, how universities have responded was discussed in Parliament last week...