Prevent Watch

People's Review of Prevent

The People's Review of Prevent

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.

News

AUDIT REVEALS THE U.S. IS POURING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS INTO CVE INTERNATIONALLY

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.

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News

Teachers as informants: countering extremism and promoting violence

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

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News

If we want students to feel safe at school, we can’t encourage teachers to spot potential extremist

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

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News

THE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN IRAQ WAR PROPAGANDISTS, TONY BLAIR INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL CHANGE, THE ISLAMOPHOBIA INDUSTRY AND THE COMMISSION FOR COUNTERING EXTREMISM

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

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News

LA mayor turns down $425K in federal funding to counter violent extremism after opposition from civil rights groups stalls process

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

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