A new year has only just begun on university campuses, and the National Union of Students’ (NUS) anti-Prevent agenda has been quick off the block to pick up where it left off last year. This has taken the form of the ‘Students Not Suspects’ campaign, which hosted an event in association with Queen Mary University […]
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The Prevent Guidance: Preventing extremism or promoting prejudice?
On Wednesday, Student Rights attended an event called ‘The Prevent Guidance: Preventing extremism or promoting prejudice?’ at University College London (UCL) which was co-hosted by the law firm Bindmans. With a balanced panel and independent moderator in the form of David Anderson QC, the event was a rare example of a robust debate on Prevent […]
Continue readingStudents Not Suspects Conference: Myths and Scaremongering
As well as hosting extreme groups at its conference last week, the NUS-led ‘Students Not Suspects‘ campaign also continued to spread inflammatory misinformation about Prevent. These myths include the notion that Prevent is racist and Islamophobic, that is being used to spy on service users, and that it is aimed at shutting down anti-government activism. […]
Continue readingStudent campaign continues to undermine Prevent
Over the past academic year, Student Rights has frequently criticised the ‘Students Not Suspects’ campaign which has toured campuses calling on students to undermine the government’s counter-radicalisation strategy, Prevent. Led by officials at the National Union of Students (NUS), the campaign has repeatedly spread misinformation and false claims about Prevent, some of which risk scaring […]
Continue readingMalia Bouattia faces questions over NUS leadership bid
Over 50 representatives from university Jewish Societies have raised serious questions about Malia Bouattia’s candidacy for National Union of Students (NUS) President. In an open letter, these students have called on Bouattia to explain past anti-Zionist statements and questioned her links to the Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK (MPACUK), currently no-platformed by the NUS. Bouattia’s […]
Continue readingStudent Rights at the University of Westminster
Last night, Student Rights’ Director, Rupert Sutton, spoke at the University of Westminster at an event asking whether students should “promote or prevent the Prevent Strategy”. Appearing alongside Abdullah Al-Andalusi and Jahangir Mohammed, as well as University of Westminster lecturer Dr. Dibyesh Anand, he addressed the clear need for Prevent and sought to challenge the […]
Continue readingPreventing Prevent at Goldsmiths
On Monday, Goldsmiths College hosted the latest event in the National Union of Student’s (NUS) ‘Students Not Suspects’ tour, which aims to undermine the government’s counter-radicalisation strategy, Prevent. Once again, NUS Black Student’s Officer Malia Bouattia used the event to defend CAGE and shared a platform with the group’s Director of Outreach Moazzam Begg, despite […]
Continue readingThe Prevent Duty on Campus – Reflections on First Term Experiences
On 21st September, a new statutory duty for universities to “have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism” came into force. This gave institutions a legal requirement to put policies in place to challenge on-campus radicalisation and guarantee compliance with the government’s Prevent strategy. While universities have broadly accepted […]
Continue readingHizb ut-Tahrir’s hypocrisy on freedom of speech (Update: Event report on HT website)
UPDATE 04/05/2015: Following last week’s event a report of Dr Wahid’s speech has been published on the HT website. In this, Dr Wahid states that his aim was: “exposing the UK Counter-Extremism policy called ‘Prevent’ for an audience that may not be well-acquainted with its most sinister and pernicious aspects”. He also claims that: “‘Deradicalisation’…is […]
Continue readingCAGE events show FOSIS failure to challenge extremism
Following its attempt to blame the radicalisation of ISIS executioner Mohammed Emwazi on the British government in March, prisoner rights group CAGE has returned to targeting UK counter-extremism policy in the past week. On Friday, the group began a nationwide tour of workshops attacking the recent passage of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act, as well […]
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