After last week’s newsletter, many of you asked to hear about more of our cases. Some of these cases still make me reflect today, not only because of what happened, but because of the lessons they teach.
This week, I want to share one of my first Prevent cases. It involves a single mother with several children.
She held normative Islamic beliefs that triggered, not one, but multiple Prevent referrals.
During one of our conversations, she said:
“It wasn’t Prevent – it was how family and friends turned on me after the referral, believing the smears and excluding me and my children from social gatherings. One person even said, ‘I didn’t know you were like that.”
“It wasn’t Prevent – it was how family and friends turned on me after the referral, believing the smears and excluding me and my children from social gatherings. One person even said, ‘I didn’t know you were like that.”
Although it shocked me at that moment, it would take some years before I realised the full significance of these words.
In those years, like all oppressive policies, Prevent expanded.
And in time, remarkably, we started to receive calls for help from the very same people who had distanced themselves from that mother.
Now, they were caught up in Prevent’s dragnet for entirely different reasons. It was only then that they recognised the injustice of it – and it was through her recommendation that they found the support of Prevent Watch.
History reminds us that people often turn away, only to realise later where they should have stood.
From the rejection and vilification of Prophet Yusuf (AS), who was cast aside by his own brothers, to Prophet Muhammad (SAW), who was driven out by his own people, we see how those who once abandoned or opposed them later returned – some in need, others in regret.
Now, it’s our turn to be tested. But this time, we have over 20 years of documented evidence that Prevent is harmful – the truth is already written on the wall.
This mother stood firm despite being abandoned. When the same injustice reached those who had turned away from her, it was she who guided them to support.
Will we stand with those who need us now, or only realise too late where we should have been?
At Prevent Watch, we’ve made our choice – to stand with people like this mother so they are never forced to stand alone.
Make your choice today. Stand with us, stand with her. Donate now or set up a monthly contribution to Prevent Watch.
