The People’s Review of Prevent is an alternative review to the Government Shawcross Review.
This review provides a voice to the people most impacted by the Prevent Duty.
Prevent is described as ‘safeguarding’ children from harms. However, under Prevent, safeguarding is focused on protecting the wider public from children believed to be ‘risky’, rather than protecting children from harms.
Throughout our report we present case studies that show how real these harms can be and the distress they cause to children and their families and carers.
The Law Council of Australia has joined civil liberty groups, journalists and advocacy groups to sound the alarm on proposed counter-extremism laws, saying they are unnecessary
In 2015, the Obama administration hosted its first Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Summit, which brought together local, federal, and international leaders to discuss “concrete steps” to take to “develop community-oriented approaches to counter hateful extremist ideologies that radicalize, recruit or incite to violence.” Domestically, this summit resulted in the establishment of new roles in the government (full-time CVE coordinator, CVE task force, etc.) along with millions of dollars earmarked in CVE grants. For example, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provided $10 million in federal grants for Fiscal Year 2016 to support “programs, projects, and activities that prevent recruitment or radicalization to violence by interrupting those efforts, building community-level resilience to them, and identifying the early signs of radicalization to violence and providing appropriate interventions through civic organizations, law enforcement or other entities.” Although purportedly designed in the interests of national security, CVE programs threaten the civil rights of U.S.
This article is a response to Muslim students reporting that they had been silenced by fear of the PREVENT Counter-Terrorism Strategy. By adopting a Critical Realist stance, real generative mechanisms of this actual phenomenon are investigated and theorised. Recognition of changing definitions of both ‘radicalisation’ and ‘extremism’ in different versions of PREVENT results in the discursive aspect of these real generative mechanisms being investigated using critical discourse analysis (CDA). This analysis identifies the emergence of a violent discourse of ‘radicalisation’ and ‘extremism’ (RadEx) that it is theorised has the capacity to promote rather than prevent violence. Finally, a process by which this production of violence in the classroom might have been avoided is explored and this indicates that critique of government efforts to counter ‘radicalisation’ and ‘extremism’ is a vital aspect of pedagogy in the context of PREVENT and the War on Terror. Read more
In the wake of the Christchurch terrorist attack, former UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair told a global education forum extremism should be treated as a global problem like climate change. He said: there should be an international agreement to put teaching against extremism into education systems around the world. Following terrorist attacks, it’s understandable politicians want to come up with quick, tangible measures to prevent other incidents and to tackle the problem at what is seen to be its core. There is merit in Blair saying challenging prejudice “needs to begin at an early age” (in schools). But we must also be cautious when promoting kneejerk responses to complex issues, particularly when it involves the welfare and future of children. Read more
This brief released at Georgetown University in the US, sums up the UK Prevent Strategy and why it is harmful for an American audience concerned about
Tony Blair has an impressive resume. The man hoodwinked an entire nation into pushing its men and women towards death into a pre-planned war that has now precipitated chaos and destruction in the Middle East, including the deaths of two million, and the rise of IS. It is expected, then, that propaganda and spin are a mature part of his skills matrix. This skill is usefully deployed into ensuring the reputations of unhinged, power-hungry, murdering despots are palatable to global audiences. Of significance is how the disgraceful Iraq war’s poison courses through the Tony Blair Faith Foundation (TBFF – now renamed as the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change – henceforth “Institute”) and into the Commission for Countering Extremism (CCE). Read more
Recently, former Prime Minister turned political “consultant” Tony Blair said that the UK needed to engage in a “battle of ideas” against groups who were undermining the PREVENT strategy. In lieu of these comments, I thought this was an ideal time to pen an article of my recent experience at a Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) symposium. Read more
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office has turned down a $425,000 federal grant to counter violent extremism after a wave of opposition from civil rights organizations, which said the program would target and vilify Muslims. Garcetti’s office, which was to administer the grant after securing City Council approval, told the Department of Homeland Security Tuesday Aug. 14 that it will not accept the funding, said Alex Comisar, spokesman for the mayor. Read more
The globalisation of counter-extremism (CVE) is an emerging human rights concern, due to Britain’s failed Prevent counter-extremism strategy being sanitised and presented as a framework for
Counter-Terrorism and the Counterfactual’ is of interest to those concerned with the foundational assumptions of counter-extremism, especially current ‘radicalisation’ theories, whether in the UK or globally.
