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.
This piece traces the development of the Commission for Countering Extremism (CCE) since 2018 and provides a picture of the state of counter-terror policy in Britain.
Communities Secretary Michael Gove and the Independent reviewer of the Prevent strategy William Shawcross addressed a profit-making pro-Prevent lobbying group, with mysterious funding, the Byline Times
Writing on the recent Leicester violence, Dr. Chris Allen writes for the Community Policy Forum that tensions between some of the city’s Hindus and Muslims have been deteriorating and have been exacerbated a decade of austerity measures and cuts to local services. Allen also notes that: concerns were present within the city since at least 2019, so the city’s leadership has not been ‘unwarned’. the Home Secretary Suella Braverman visited Leicestershire Police on 22 September and called on the police to do their job “without fear or favour”. simultaneously, Conservative MP Bob Blackman sent a letter to Braverman blaming the disturbances on “Islamic extremists”, but he is a long-time supporter of the BJP in India. Source: Leicester Disturbances Between Hindus and Muslims: An Explainer – Community Policy Forum
Prevent is a “toxic brand”, attendees heard at a heated Council meeting this week in Bradford, where councillors said more focus needed to be placed on the rising threat of right-wing terrorism in the UK. Councillors said there was a perception among many that the Prevent counter terrorism strategy was an anti-Muslim programme. This has made it difficult to have important conversations about extremism with some communities in the city. During the Bradford West Area Committee, one councillor claimed there needed to be a greater focus on far right radicalisation – pointing out that the gun that killed Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox had come from Bradford, but no one had ever been arrested over this. Read more on the Bradford Telegraph and Argus. Picture: The gun used to kill MP Joe Cox was purchased in Bradford, but nobody has been arrested.
Rishi Sunak announced in his pre-election campaign that he would use Prevent – the government’s counter-extremism strategy – against those who “vilified” Britain has attracted much derision. But Liz Truss’ response was interesting. She thought it was all a bit “thin” and a restatement of what was already government policy. She is right. For those who think this is a sign of worrying authoritarianism to come, it is a wake-up call about what is already in place. The issue is not to seek an “equal opportunities” Prevent – one applied to the right-wing as well as to supposed “Islamists” – but to understand how Prevent undermines the rights of everyone. It is also important to understand how Prevent (and wider counter-terrorism legislation) generates a moral panic about children and young people. Read more here: Rishi Sunak’s Prevent proposals are truly Orwellian | Middle East Eye
