Prevent Watch reports back from Northern Race Equality Conference

On the 9th of April Prevent Watch was invited by Race Equality Network and Ella Baker School to deliver a workshop at the Northern Race Equality Conference held in Bradford.

The event brought together a wide range of organisations, academics, and practitioners committed to addressing structural racism across the UK.

Prevent policy reinforces structural racism

The inclusion of Prevent in this forum reflected a growing consensus that the Prevent duty has entrenched racial inequality in public services.

The fact that this conference was held in the North of England is of particular relevance given the long history of anti-racist organising in the region, from community resistance to the National Front in the 1970s and 80s, to the landmark Bradford 12 trial in 1982, when a group of young Asian men were acquitted of preparing petrol bombs in self-defence against racist violence.

Northern cities like Bradford, Manchester and Sheffield, which are home to large working-class and racial minority communities, have frequently been at the sharp end of state policy interventions.

These interventions are often framed as “social cohesion” efforts but in practice have blurred the lines between support services and national security.

Two Prevent Watch cases

The Prevent Watch workshop that was delivered at the Northern Race Equality Conference explored how Prevent, a counter-terrorism policy that was clearly introduced as a security measure, has been reframed as a safeguarding measure.

In doing so it has placed public sector workers at the front-line of state surveillance, so this “rebranding” of Prevent demands much greater scrutiny.

To aid this Prevent Watch presented two of the nearly 800 cases we have documented to date, to show what this rebranding means for the very people safeguarding has meant to protect.

The first case was of a young autistic boy whose interests were misinterpreted as signs of radicalisation.

Referred to Prevent by a teacher who described him as a “young man” and placed ambiguity over his nationality, this British primary school child was adultified, racialised, and treated as a threat, rather than a pupil in need of support.

The second case was that of an essential health worker, who in standing up for the rights of Palestinians and those who support Black Lives Matter, was referred to Prevent by an intolerant and clearly racist colleague for his statements.

The colleague claimed he was intolerant despite being in support of oppressed groups, and none of them being hateful.

Even though the referral was dropped, the health worker’s career was interrupted and his professional reputation smeared as a result of him being reported to Prevent.

Prevent policy deepens racial inequality

Both cases reflect how Prevent disproportionately targets racialised, neurodivergent, and politically conscious individuals, under the guise of safeguarding.

These cases, sadly, are not anomalies; they are the natural outcome of a policy that equates identity and belief with risk, and which casts suspicion most heavily on Muslims and people of colour.

As we concluded the workshop, one message became clear: Prevent is not a safeguarding tool – it is a racialised policy of surveillance.

The inclusion of Prevent at a race equality conference was not incidental; it was essential.

Attendees agreed that any conversation about race and justice in Britain must address how Prevent embeds structural racism and Islamophobia into the fabric of our public institutions.

Prevent Watch will continue to contribute to these discussions by providing evidence-based analysis and, case study documentation, to ensure that racialised communities are not subject to policies that criminalise identity, belief, or political conscience.