RSE and Prevent – what parents are asking us
Recently, Prevent Watch spoke about Prevent to parents who had gathered to discuss changes in the school curriculum with regards RSE.
Rich, readable blogs from our experts who work among the community, in academia and research, providing invaluable insight on new developments in Prevent and their real impact on people.
CategoriesNews Our Expert ViewsThe Prevent policy in the UK’s love-hate with the far-right
The claim to target the far-right was a red herring to bring Muslims on board with the Prevent policy in the UK. Now, the government is saying that to target the far-right would be to police “mainstream” views shared by many in government. What is going on? We discussed this with Surviving Society as part of their Legacies of the War on Terror podcast series. Our podcast included why the long-delayed William Shawcross Review of Prevent will recommend more focus on the Muslim community, despite recommendations from counter terrorism experts to keep focus on the “far-right” and “incels”. We also talked about some of the the far-right cases that we have seen at Prevent Watch among children, and how they could have been dealt with differently, avoiding trauma to children and families. The positioning of the far-right as part of “defending British values” is quite clearly supported by people like […]
CategoriesNews Our Expert ViewsHow Prevent counter-extremism enables the far-right agenda in government
Pro-Prevent lobby groups are currently arguing that the focus of Prevent should be redirected toward Islamism and away from the far-right, but is this just an excuse to play down their far-right agenda? The argument that Prevent is ‘failing’ and that it needs to refocus on so-called ‘Islamist extremism’ should be viewed in light of the ostensible justification of the ‘British values’ underlying Prevent. When ‘British values’ are linked to ‘national security’ The need to teach ‘British values’ as conceived by the government, frames the implementation of the Prevent pre-crime programme in schools. These values – on paper – are democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of different religious faiths and beliefs. Their designation as ‘British’ is, of course, problematic. It implies that these ‘British values’ must be inculcated in ethnic minority citizens, yet we have seen that the claim is that most British Muslims share […]
CategoriesOur Expert Views Latest Expert ViewsExpert View: How Prevent undermines democracy
JUMP TO: It is becoming widely accepted that Prevent undermines democracy, but on the other hand, it is true that government has a duty to ensure the security of its citizens. However, the balance between security and liberty is a difficult task and the subject of much debate. As we have shown in our People’s Review of Prevent – Prevent does not fulfil any role in keeping society safe, and in fact may have the opposite effect due to its tendency to undermine democracy. So much so that it is reasonable to state that it is guilty of the very accusations made of those who commit terror offences: attacking democracy. The strength and resilience of a democracy is found in how well it protects the rights of minorities. The current counter extremism strategy, we argue, divides us; it scapegoats British Muslims, encourages suspicion, damages community cohesion. Most importantly, it targets […]
Expert View: How the UK Prevent strategy ‘adultifies’ young children
The UK Prevent strategy is contributing to undue moral panic and harming young people in the name of “counter-terrorism”, writes Prof John Holmwood, co-author of the People’s Review of Prevent. Here’s a summary of his original piece which appeared in the Middle East Eye. The cases of Child Q and other children have cast a light on the “adultification” of Black children, but this approach also features in the UK Prevent strategy, Britain’s counter-extremism tool, although in this case it is applied to ethnic minority children generally. Under Prevent, children are regularly subjected to interviews by counter-terrorism police without a responsible adult being present. This is occurring to thousands of children each year. Yet they are not under suspicion of a terrorism offence, only of potentially coming under the influence of an extremist “ideology”. Children under 15 make up around a third of all referrals (there were 7,318 referrals in […]
Podcast: Two reviews of Prevent, and the duel to hold the duty to account
Two reviews of Prevent, two views. After years in operation, the government will release an independent review of Prevent – but it has been boycotted by hundreds of organizations. Instead, many participated in a People’s Review of Prevent.
Trojan Horse Affair: How it took a hoax and the hijacking of a school to embed Prevent in education
Dr Layla Aitlhadj argues in 5 Pillars that the hoax Trojan Horse Affair which turned the lives of Muslims in Birmingham upside down was rooted in a preconceived Prevent agenda.