This is a guest post by Ali Suburbanite
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A few days ago, Shahid Malik MP issued a statement in the Guardian in support of the Prevent initiative. Malik is careful to take pains to explain clearly the Prevent agenda; what it is and what it is not.
It is important to set the record straight: Prevent is not about spying on innocent people. Nor is Prevent about criminalising free speech. Recent comments have claimed that the focus of the government’s counter-terrorism strategy, Contest, is nonviolent extremism. This is not the case.
Contest is a counter-terrorism strategy that is freely available online, and which we would urge people to read before entering a debate without all the facts. The primary purpose of Prevent, one part of that strategy, is to protect the public by stopping people becoming terrorists or supporting violent extremism. We would be astonished to find anyone who would disagree with the importance of this work. We know, and have set out publicly in Contest, that we face a real and sustained threat from al-Qaida and al-Qaida-influenced groups. Pretending the threat does not exist would be a failure of the most basic duty of government, which is to protect the public.
Halfway through the middle of the article, Malik introduces Inayat Bunglawala to our attention. Bunglawala obliges Malik with an effusive comment about the advantages of the “Prevent” strand of the government’s security strategy:
As Inayat Bungawala – a frequent contributor to Cif – has said, “it should be self-evident to all that Britain needs to have an effective and successful Prevent strategy in place to safeguard all our communities.” Law enforcement work alone will not protect vulnerable individuals from radicalisers, resolve grievances that are manipulated to recruit vulnerable individuals, or support communities to actively speak out and condemn violent extremism.
This is a curiously anodyne statement on the benefits of Prevent coming from Bunglawala when, only a few months ago and on the pages of CiF, no less, he was pouring scorn on the very same Prevent, suggesting that it had
“quickly lost the trust of UK Muslims and became widely discredited and ridiculed among UK Muslims as the “provoke” agenda.
The large amount of money – £45m over a three-year period – set aside for funding “preventing violent terrorism” initiatives among British Muslims also caused disquiet among some non-Muslim faith communities who believe the funds should be more evenly distributed.”
The question is, why exactly is Bunglawala specifically quoted in Malik’s statement now, giving a glowing endorsement of the Prevent strategy which Bunglawala regarded as having:
“brought relations between the government and British Muslims to an all-time low.”
Bungles took special care to damn Prevent when it was under the portfolio of Hazel Blears. He reserved his ire for Paul Richards, who worked for Blears’ office and his connection with the UK Jewish community. There must be a reason why Bungles took the effort to insinuate a causative relation between Richard’s support for Prevent and the fact that he wrote for the Jewish Chronicle. I wonder if the readers of The Spittoon could speculate on what that causative relationship might be?
“Richards’s approach – to deliberately blur the distinction between peaceful Muslims engaged in legitimate, democratic political work and violent groups inspired by al-Qaida – was one actively promoted by neoconservative thinktanks like Policy Exchange and the inappropriately-named Centre for Social Cohesion. Expect more attacks on Denham and Malik if they continue along their new course.”
Perhaps this is what makes Bunglawala so attractive to Shahid Malik now. After all, back in October 2008, Malik spoke at the Global Peace and Unity Conference. Here is part of Malik’s very own “I have a dream” speech, in which he spoke of his desire to see an ‘entirely Muslim’ British Parliament:
Now that Bunglawala has been endorsed by the likes of John Denham and Shahid Malik, expect to see a complete about-turn in Inayat Bunglawala’s opinions on Prevent. The new Inayat Bunglawala will come forth espousing wonders of Prevent. And the heavy hitters from John Denham’s office will be willing to forget all the articles and blogs spewed by the self-styled ‘grassroots Muslim representative’ who has spent so much time and energy discrediting Prevent.
15 Comments
There is a word for Bungles: OPPORTUNIST.
Great article, ‘Ali.
“Now that Bunglawala has been endorsed by the likes of John Denham and Shahid Malik, expect to see a complete about-turn in Inayat Bunglawala’s opinions on Prevent.”
Also expect to see (as we have already) a turnaround in who he becomes friendly with, and in the pronouncments of some of his former foes…
Even when one takes into account Bungles’ recent CiF statements on Salman Rushdie and on homosexuality, it’s hard to see much real progress in his thinking from the 1990s when he called Bin Laden a “freedom fighter” to when, just a few months ago, he wrote to the BBC to castigate them for describing Abu Qatada as an extremist.
That said, however, I think that Bungles is primarily out for himself; it is power, money and fame that motivates him – rather than Islamist ideology alone. For a long time, Bungles played the anti-war on terrorism card and anti-Prevent card hoping that this would make him a hero to the Muslim masses. Now, however, he realises that this hasn’t worked and that “the Muslims” are moving on without him: Hence his recent struggle to catch up with where the Muslim mainstream is at – and his ongoing attempt to get ahead of the progressive crowd on key issues such as homosexuality – in order to once again imagine that he is some kind of leader of British Muslims and to get his mug on telly again.
Guys, let’s face it: Bungles is a sad, confused little man who just wants to be loved!
Bungles went to Dewsbury and Peckham to visit Shahid Malik, and was impressed and envious of all the lovely goodies Malik has been able to scam through expenses and taxpayers money.
It’s just petty materialism, money and power which drives these cnuts, not values, not religion and certainly not the welfare of the Muslim community.
Al-Qanaas al-Masri, you are spot on.
If you geniuses have a look at the actual quote Shahid Malik used, it was clearly taken from my article from Islam Online a couple of weeks ago and to be fair to Shahid Malik – a link was included in his Cif piece:
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1254573712614&pagename=Zone-English-Euro_Muslims/EMELayout
My IOL article makes clear my views on Prevent and includes the very same critical quotes you listed above.
So – there has been no change in my views on Prevent. I believe we need an effective and successful Prevent strategy. The government has to date made many mistakes in its implementation which it seems it is finally acknowledging.
Inayat,
Has Shahid Malik read your other recent IOL article, you know, the one where you break the news that Jews control British Policy? Is Mr. Malik aware of this phenomenon?
“British Jews’ Influence on UK Policy”
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&ved=0CAcQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.islamonline.net%2Fservlet%2FSatellite%3Fc%3DArticle_C%26cid%3D1254573340188%26pagename%3DZone-English-Euro_Muslims%252FEMELayout&rct=j&q=bunglawala+islamonline+bod&ei=b-7ySpvPDKKqjAellsCkDg&usg=AFQjCNHbU4fWzdQmK5q0737oXKNaPHXtug
I, for one, am not falling for your charade – but it seems others have
Inayat, why didn’t you stand with BMSD on Saturday at the demonstration?
Are you making sure that your friend Malik stays on top of the Jewification of the British Parliament? This need to be dealt with asap, right???
Inayat
Was your fundamental problem with Prevent, under Blears, was that you regarded it to be a “Zionist conspiracy” to undermine the Muslim community?
Has the new Prevent, now headed by Denham and Malik, done away with these Zionist “influences”?
Inayat.
My sincere congratulations. You have recognised the need for the UK to have a Prevent-style programme. Well done on catching up with the rest of us. Bravo.
Al-Masri
From Inayat’s above linked article to the MB controlled website, Islamonline:
So now you are finding excuses for anti-Semitism and terrorism?
Pure genius, Bungles…
Inayat, put simply we know you are full of bullshit.
The truth will out.
Shouldn’t this be re-named ‘The Islamist who realised that he had become irrelevant and so changed tact’.