Category Archives: Dodgy Policy Wonks

The Home Office still funding the wrong people

By Guest | Published: July 8, 2012

By a brother from East London

It is now a well known fact that some of the people responsible for delivering the government’s Prevent programme are actually opposed to its core objectives.  These people can be best described as ‘anti-Prevent Prevent leads’.

One such individual is Shaban Siddik.  He was recently appointed by OSCT (Home Office) as the Prevent Manager for Ealing Council.  He previously worked at Harrow Council as a Prevent Coordinator.  Here are the highlights of his Prevent career so far:

  • Supporting, promoting and working closely with Harrow Mosque. This institutions website promotes: Islamic Forum of Europe (an Islamist organisation that wants to replace UK Democracy with Shariah law), YMO (an IFE youth group), MCB, Islam Channel and Islam Expo.
  • Setting up a ‘Muslim Youth Skills’ group and inviting Yvonne Ridley (Talibanette and Press TV broadcaster) to speak at its opening ceremony.
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Also posted in Islamism, UK Politics | 4 Responses

apparently we’re all robert spencer now, according to the weasels at “spinwatch”

By bananabrain | Published: August 24, 2011

we at the spittoon have for some time been a target for the not-very-impressive “spinwatch” site, which appears to be the hobby-horse of strathclyde university’s answer to bob pitt, dr david miller. dr miller, we hardly need remind you, appears to think that spittoon authors are without exception rabid “neo-cons”, by which he appears to mean some sort of catch-all imperialism of liberal democracy imposed by force of arms on the bucolic, picaresque and entirely pacifist natives of the middle-east and south asia. as if this wasn’t bad (or inaccurate) enough, we are also supposed to be apostles of islamophobia; apparently it isn’t clear enough to someone who is supposed to be an academic that what we oppose is the virulent political ideology known as islamism – as well as other forms of religious and political extremism; jewish, christian, atheist, muslim, ethnicity-based – we are equal-opportunity anti-extremists, or we certainly try to be.

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Also posted in Activism, Anti Muslim bigotry, Blogosphere, Education, European Fascism, Far Right Extremism, Homophobia, Identity Politics, Islamism, Moral relativism, Nutters, Racism, The Far Left, The Left, The Regressive Left | 20 Responses

Asim Hafeez: From Nightclub Doorman to Senior Home Office official

By Guest | Published: February 4, 2011

This is a guest post by a brother from Wales

Asim Hafeez was born and raised in Birmingham.  As a student he studied at Swansea University in South Wales. He worked as a nightclub doorman/bouncer in both places. During his time at Swansea University he discovered Islamic activism and eventually, through the force of his personality, became an activist preacher.  He regularly spoke at the Swansea Mosque, a Salafi/Wahabi institution.

In April 2002 Asim joined the Welsh Assembly Government as a race and religion advisor. He then went on to Head the Equalities unit before taking the lead for the Community Cohesion Strategy.  In 2007 Asim became the Prevent Coordinator for the Welsh Assembly Government. In this capacity he was responsible for helping to fund an organisation called the ‘Muslim Council of Wales’ (of which he was also a member).  This organisation is believed to have received funding commitments to the tune of £255,000 despite it having cooperated with Islamist groups such as Hizb-ut-Tahrir.  To date the money given to the Muslim Council of Wales has not resulted in any useful outcomes. Asim has also spoken publically as a representative of the Muslim Council of Wales on many occasions.  What is very concerning is that whilst he was publically representing this organisation, he was also helping to fund it through his role as Prevent Coordinator. This issue raises serious questions and deserves to be investigated. The results of an initial FOI request on this matter can be found here.

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Also posted in Activism | 35 Responses

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