In the latest piece in his regular column for Islam Online, Inayat Bunglawala assesses the recent exposure of how the government’s Prevent programme is being used as an instrument for state surveillance of Muslim communities. His conclusion:
Category Archives: UK
Muslims: ‘give them an inch and they will take a mile’
“If people were convinced that Islamic extremists had little support among British Muslims it would be easy to write the off as an eccentric fringe element. In such a context, plans for rallies by fundamentalists to press claims for a wholesale switch to sharia law in Britain could be regarded with equanimity rather than alarm.
“Unfortunately, that is not the case. With the threat of Islamist terrorism a major factor in our national life and with a bewildering array of Muslim pressure groups always ready to press for new cultural concessions, the British public has come to a depressing conclusion: give them an inch and they will take a mile.”
The Daily Express tries to defend yesterday’s hysterical and entirely misleading front-page coverage of the planned al-Muhajiroun demonstration in London. Predictably, the leader goes on to attack “moderate Muslims” for failing to “marginalise extremists”, which of course entirely ignores the direct action taken against al-Muhajiroun by Muslims in Luton.
Update: See also ENGAGE, 16 October 2009
Further update: The Express editorial has been reproduced word for word in the latest issue of National Front News.
Anti-terrorism strategy ‘spies on innocent Muslims’ – with the support of Ed Husain
The government programme aimed at preventing Muslims from being lured into violent extremism is being used to gather intelligence about innocent people who are not suspected of involvement in terrorism, the Guardian has learned.
The information the authorities are trying to find out includes political and religious views, information on mental health, sexual activity and associates, and other sensitive information, according to documents seen by the Guardian. Other documents reveal that the intelligence and information can be stored until the people concerned reach the age of 100.
Tonight Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, branded it the biggest spying programme in Britain in modern times and an affront to civil liberties.
The intelligence is being gathered as part of the strategy Preventing Violent Extremism – Prevent for short. It was launched three years ago to stop people being lured to al-Qaida ideology and committing acts of terrorism.
The government and police have repeatedly denied that the £140m programme is a cover for spying on Muslims in Britain. But sources directly involved in running Prevent schemes say it involves gathering intelligence about the thoughts and beliefs of Muslims who are not involved in criminal activity.
How not to prevent violent extremism
A report published today by the Institute of Race Relations finds that the government’s Prevent programme for tackling extremism fosters division, mistrust and alienation.
Entitled Spooked: how not to prevent violent extremism, the report suggests that the Prevent programme has been used to establish one of the most elaborate systems of surveillance ever seen in Britain.
Moreover, there are strong reasons for thinking that the Prevent progamme, in effect, constructs the Muslim population as a “suspect community”, fosters social divisions among Muslims themselves and between Muslims and others, encourages tokenism, facilitates violations of privacy and professional norms of confidentiality, discourages local democracy and is counter-productive in reducing the risk of political violence.
IRR press release 17 October 2009
Download report (pdf) here.
The report also notes the influence of Ed Husain and his mates on the Prevent programme. It points out that Learning Together To Be Safe: a toolkit to help schools contribute to the prevention of violent extremism (pdf here), produced by the Department for Children, Schools and Families:
“endorses advice from the Quilliam Foundation thinktank about behaviours that ‘could indicate a young person is being influenced by extremists and developing a mindset that could lead them to accept and undertake violent acts’. The indicators listed include: expressions of political ideology such as support for ‘the Islamic political system’, a focus on scripture as an exclusive moral source, a ‘conspiratorial mindset’, seeing the West as a source of evil in the world and literalism in the reading of Muslim texts.
“The Quilliam Foundation is also backing up this advice with its Radicalisation Awareness Programme training for teachers and other local authority workers on how to spot the signs of extremism. The danger with this is that radical religious and political opinions become mistaken for terrorist indoctrination – especially given the potential problems with the Quilliam Foundation’s definition of ‘extremism’.”
Death threats against anti-fascist campaigner
Police are guarding an anti-fascist campaigner who has received dozens of death threats following a right-wing rally in Manchester. Julie Keller has been wrongly accused of disrupting a two-minute silence in honour of UK troops and is now receiving police protection.
She is the target of a Facebook group entitled “Julie Keller UAF SCUM” which has published her home address and telephone number. Next to a picture of Mrs Keller, the website says: “For Those Of You Who Dont Know This Is The Bitch On The Megaphone During Our 2 Minute Silence To Honour Our Troops.”
The webpage was set up by supporters of the English Defence League (EDL), a right-wing group that clashed with members of Unite Against Fascism (UAF) in the city’s Piccadilly Gardens on Saturday. Greater Manchester Police officers are now watching Mrs Keller’s home in Oldham.
“At the time of the EDL silence I was in a sushi bar having my lunch,” she told Sky News. “I’m absolutely mortified. I’ll stand up for the things I’ve done, but I’ve never been a member of the UAF. Enough is enough.”
Unbowed by the onslaught, she has given Sky News permission to show the Facebook page.
Inspector Dave Stopford of Greater Manchester Police is investigating the postings which include threats to “set her on fire”, “stab the slut” and the wish that she contracts cancer. “We are aware that a number of threats have been made,” he said. “These threats have been made via telephone, email and via Facebook. “The victim has been spoken to by my officers and appropriate measures are in place to ensure her safety.”
Mrs Keller, a mother of two and member of the anti-fascist group Searchlight, said she has had 96 death threats made against her online and has lost count of the phone calls she has received from right wing extremists. “People have been shouting abuse down the phone and sending emails, some of them very, very nasty.”
More Express scaremongering over Sharia law
A radical Muslim group sparked outrage last night as it launched a massive campaign to impose sharia law on Britain. The fanatical group Islam4UK has announced plans to hold a potentially incendiary rally in London later this month. And it is calling for a complete upheaval of the British legal system, its officials and legislation.
Members have urged Muslims from all over Britain to converge on the capital on October 31 for a procession to demand the full implementation of sharia law. On a website to promote their cause they deride British institutions, showing a mock-up picture of Nelson’s Column surmounted by a minaret.
Plans for the demonstration have been delivered to the Metropolitan Police and could see up to 5,000 extremists marching to demand the controversial system.
Jim Fitzpatrick: don’t call me an Islamophobe
The press conference was for Bangladeshi media only, but a small group of politicians were outside anyway. Jim Fitzpatrick, the current farming minister who has represented the borough since 1997, has smelled the rancid whiff of a racial smear swirling around his campaign, and hoped that a press conference would help clear the air.
The Labour incumbent’s problem stems from an incident back in August, in which he raised questions about forced segregation after leaving a Muslim constituent’s wedding at the London Muslim Centre.
Geert Wilders wins appeal against ban on travelling to UK
The far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders intends to travel to London next week after an immigration tribunal ruling overturned a ban on visiting Britain.
The Home Office said it was disappointed after the tribunal rejected its claim that his presence could “inflame community tensions and lead to inter-faith violence”.
The Freedom party leader immediately announced his intention to meet Ukip’s Lord Pearson of Rannoch to discuss a showing of his anti-Islamic film Fitna later this month in the House of Lords.
Judge CMG Ockelton, who chaired the tribunal, said that Wilders’s opinions were expressed strongly and in a way that was bound to cause offence but that the right of freedom of expression was important in a democratic society.
“Substantial evidence of actual harm would be needed before it would be proper for a government to prevent the expression and discussion of matters that might form the opinions of legislators, policy makers and voters,” he said.
The ruling said there had been no evidence of public order problems or damage to community relations as a result of a previous visit by Wilders to Britain. “It was more important to allow free speech than to take restrictive action speculatively,” said Ockelton.
The judgment goes further, saying that even if there were evidence that Wilders posed a threat to public order it would still not have been necessary to ban him because the police would have been able to ensure no disorder took place and remove him if there was trouble.
See also BBC News, 13 October 2009
Update: Ed West writes: “Wilders has called it ‘fantastisch nieuws”, and I for one agree.” After all, “Wilders for his part has never preached hatred against any people, only a religion”.
West concedes that Wilders “has talked about a growing Islamic population with dread. He said: ‘Take a walk down the street and see where this is going. You no longer feel like you are living in your own country. There is a battle going on and we have to defend ourselves. Before you know it there will be more mosques than churches’.”
But Wilders is not inciting fear and hatred against Muslims, you understand, only against their faith.
Anti-fascists run EDL out of town
Far-right thugs planning an anti-Islamic demonstration in Manchester were forced back on Saturday following a mass counter-protest by anti-fascists. The English Defence League (EDL) was outnumbered by more than three to one by people of all races determined to defend Britain’s diverse cultural mix.
Unite Against Fascism (UAF) said that the 700 EDL activists had been “run out of town” by 2,500 counter-protesters who occupied most of Piccadilly Gardens, destroying the organisers’ plan to hold a rally and sing the national anthem on the spot.
Greater Manchester UAF spokesman Mike Gilligan hailed it as a “very successful day for the anti-racist movement” against a far-right march on a scale unseen in the city for decades.
“The number of counter-protesters was inspiring, representing a multicultural Manchester,” said Mr Gilligan. “Our protesters reflected the energy, particularly of young people, who showed their disgust at the racists trying to group together in Manchester city centre,” he added.
Members of EDL, which is closely affiliated with hooligan outfits such as Casuals United and neofascist groups around the country, made nazi salutes and traded insults over a line of riot police which separated the two groups of protesters. They waved banners declaring “Make Britain Safe” and “Extreme Islamists Out.”
Five hundred police officers attended the scene and police made 48 arrests, around 32 from the EDL ranks. Grounds for arrest included suspicion of public order offences, affray, possession of an offensive weapon and racially aggravated public order offences.
UAF described the police as “heavy-handed,” with at least three anti-fascists bitten by police dogs. Fellow activists charged the police with “protecting fascists.” One protester was allegedly pushed into a van where a crisp packet had been shoved into the ventilation and the heating turned on full blast.
Links between the EDL and groups such as Casuals United and militant white supremacists Racial Force have sparked calls from some anti-fascist activists for increased activity in the struggle to suppress these groups. Thousands of anti-fascists are currently organising to neutralise planned far-right rallies in coming weeks by the English, Welsh and Scottish Defence leagues in Swansea, Newport, Leeds and Glasgow. Anti-fascists are also planning to hold a national demonstration to allow the British public to express its opposition to the far right.
Police officers on trial for racial assault
Six Metropolitan Police officers go on trial, accused of racially assaulting and abusing Muslim teenagers and then engaging in a cover-up. Prosecution and Kingston crown court told a jury that one officer said: “They needed to dealt with. We are like vigilantes.” The officers, who are part of the Territorial Support Group, deny racially aggravated assault, threats and misfeasance in public office.