In this short clip that was part of a larger podcast by LowKey, Dr Layla Aitlhadj speaks about how Prevent evolved from being about countering violent extremism to countering extremism.
Dr Aitlhadj argues that data proves that this was an extension of the Prevent strategy. It extended its vague nature, granting individuals making the referral immense power, and expanding the pre-crime space.
Dr Aitlhadj explains how this shifted the focus from a perpetrator in the criminal justice sense, to how ‘vulnerable’ or ‘susceptible’ an individual is to ‘extremism’ – and yet all of these terms are undefined and have no benchmark in legal terms.
LowKey picks up on how this perpetuates a kind of ‘spatial Islamophobia’, and he then prompts an important discussion on why far-right extremism is seen as an individual problem and not a community problem.
You can view the clip here.
Related…
- The People’s Review of Prevent and the Response to the Shawcross Review (Reports, 2023 & 2022)
- Expert View: What ‘improved’ Prevent training really means (News, 2023)
- LSE Blog: Conflating charity and extremism is a political mistake (News, 2023)
