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Middle East Eye: The poisoned politics around Muslim integration

In the toxic discussions around Muslim integration, the ‘fear of being called racist’ has been used during the Trojan Horse Affair and at the same time as the excuse for failures to act on child sexual exploitation. Prof. John Holmwood asks whether this fear even exists, or are deeper racist politics at play? There has been a steady drumbeat, in right-wing and liberal media alike, about the failure of British Muslims to integrate. This drumbeat warns of self-segregated lives insulated from mainstream values. This is often fed by official reports that are occasioned by media “scares” and used to align public policy with media-driven concerns highlighting threats to public safety. Among the most potent of such concerns are those involving children and young people. On the one hand, there is the claimed risk of “radicalisation” and involvement in “Islamist” terrorism to which some young people may be vulnerable (because, we […]

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Discover Society: Beyond Prevent and the Trojan Horse scandal

It was not until after the Birmingham Trojan Horse scandal that a new agenda for Prevent was fully implemented. This article argues that Prevent this has further securitised British Muslims instead of empowering them and recognising their ability to challenge violent narratives, writes Zin Darfoufi. Since the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition set out its intentions to direct counter-terrorism policies towards ‘non-violent extremism’ in 2011, the Prevent strategy has pivoted away from community engagement and towards a stronger focus on the alleged risks of young people being ‘radicalised’ by their own community. It was not until after the Birmingham Trojan Horse scandal that this new agenda was fully implemented, with a legal duty placed on all those providing public services – employees in education, health and mental health and social work, etc – to monitor service users and report individuals who may be a cause for concern to local Prevent panels. As […]