This is the statement that Monitoring Prevent in Brent distributed at Monday's Brent Council discussion on Extremism:
“Nothing about us, without us”
Tonight (3 October 2016) Brent Council is holding the second of its Time to Talk series of events.
The Council believes ‘it is time to talk’. But for two years now,
An-Nisa Society and other local organisations have been trying to raise
our concerns about the Prevent Strategy and, in particular, the Public
Sector Duty, which makes public sector employees liable to prosecution
if they don’t report signs of perceived ‘extremism’ or ‘radicalisation’.
Almost all of those referred are Muslim, often children as young as 10.
Frustrated by months of silence from the Council, we held a public
meeting on 10 December 2015.
With the help of Cllr Harbi Farah,
we finally met the Leader of Brent Council, Mohammed Butt. Promises made
by Councillor Butt to continue the conversation and to take some
positive actions have not been followed up. As a result, we released a
public statement on Prevent. (
http://monitoringprevent.blogspot.co.uk/ ).
Serious questions need to be asked about the purpose of Time to Talk
meetings. At the first one in July - a slick, well orchestrated
‘information session’ - we were left feeling that rather than a ‘time to
talk’ it was in fact a time to be ‘told’ and ‘to listen’. The purpose
of the workshop in the afternoon was unclear: it was really a
theoretical tick box exercise. There were more officers and councillors
at the meeting than ‘community’ and there was no opportunity to really
scrutinise and question.
We view with extreme caution the
meeting on ‘Extremism’. The speakers are once again highly qualified
individuals who appear to have very little relationship to Brent. The
programme offers little or no opportunity for local organisations to
raise their concerns freely – the council has requested sending in
questions in advance via email before we even hear the speakers.
So, what is presented as ‘community engagement’ and ‘community
consultation’ appears to be a public relations exercise by Brent Council
designed to validate and implement policies that impact on all our
communities without any input from those most affected.
We call
on Brent Council to engage transparently with individuals and
organisations in Brent affected by government policy on ‘Extremism.’
Statement by Monitoring Prevent in Brent
Members include: An-Nisa Society, Brent Against Racism Campaign, Brent
Stop the War, Brent and Harrow Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Email:
MonitoringPrevent@gmail.com Facebook: Monitoring Prevent in Brent
LINKS:
• An-Nisa Responds to Prevent, the PSD and outlines our anti-Prevent campaign
http://bit.ly/2cXE6ek • Brent Council meeting on 'extremism' leaves community voices off the platform
http://wembleymatters.blogspot.co.uk/…/brent-council-meetin… • Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) & Prevent: A Muslim response by An-Nisa Society, 2009
http://bit.ly/2cLQIXA
• Anti-extremism drive puts British values at risk, says Greater
Manchester chief constable Sir Peter Fahy who says government strategy
could alienate Muslims and damage free speech and religious freedom, The
Guardian, 2015
http://bit.ly/2amvIqD
• Andy Burnham calls for 'toxic' Prevent strategy to be scrapped -
Shadow home secretary says policy is today’s equivalent of internment in
Northern Ireland, Guardian, 2016
http://bit.ly/1UprOqA • Edinburgh College drops Prevent from its staff training, 2016 – SACC
http://bit.ly/2dLG1lj • Anti-radicalisation strategy lacks evidence base in science, Letters, The Guardian
http://bit.ly/2d7ZJGx
• Anti-radicalisation strategy lacks evidence base in science, Joint
letter by academics and practitioners, The Guardian Letters, September
2016
http://bit.ly/2dd8WyJ
• Alienation and extremism, 2016, Prevent has merely institutionalised
the process, which creates alienation and separation said speaker Imran
Khan at a Wadham College Human Rights Forum roundtable discussion.
http://bit.ly/2dDwuMm
