Category Archives: PVE

Jamie Bartlett of Demos on Cameron’s Speech

By Cross Post | Published: February 8, 2011

This is a cross-post by Jamie Bartlett from Demos

David Cameron’s recent multiculturalism speech told us nothing new: that he thinks non-violent extremism leads to terrorism, that state-sponsored multiculturalism has failed – especially for those it was designed to help – and that liberal values should be more aggressively pursued.

Far from being a sop to the English Defence League, this speech was ultimately about the future of Prevent: that the government will stop working with, and giving money to, organizations that are ‘non-violent extremists’ in the hope that they might help us beat the ‘violent extremists’. As a think-tank, Demos has been associated with that position, through a 2005 pamphlet – hence this blog.

Our position has since changed subtly since to a more muscular liberal one. I agree entirely that the government – and the rest of us – should be more aggressive in promoting the best set of values anyone anywhere has yet come up with: democracy, liberty, freedom, justice, tolerance. I’ve argued that wherever I’ve been, including last night on the Islam Channel where I defended the speech.

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Also posted in Anti Fascism, Islamism | Leave a comment

Where is the Divide? Cameron Seems to Know

By Cross Post | Published: February 3, 2011

This is a cross-post by Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens at Standpoint

In last week’s issue of the Spectator, Peter Oborne threw his weight behind a faction within the coalition government, headed by Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, who are urging David Cameron and some of his closest allies to re-asses their current stance on the role Islamist groups should play both in the direction of British Islam and in the government’s counter-radicalisation efforts. He believes that Cameron’s Neoconservative cabal in Whitehall has fundamentally misunderstood what constitutes extremist Islam, and is mistaken in its rejection of a wide array of British Islamist organisations. Instead, he thinks Cameron and his close allies must understand that non-violent Islamist groups can act as a useful bulwark against violent extremism. As well as being flawed, his argument also reveals a surprisingly low opinion of Britain’s Muslims.

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Also posted in Islamism, Jamaat-e-Islam | Leave a comment

how to complain before you see the programme!

By bananabrain | Published: March 2, 2010

now, i haven’t seen the “dispatches” programme yet, it’s on my sky+ box waiting to be viewed. however, i was quite amused to be warned by one naeem darr, who i understand is some sort of spokesman for our old friends the muslim safety forum, to have my complaint ready. helpfully, he then went on to provide me with a set of points to complain about to channel 4 and jim kirkpatrick mp. i reproduce his email in full – and include in bold the bits which he appears to know before broadcast:

Dispatches Islamophobic documentary

Channel 4’s Dispatches is due to broadcast a damaging and misleading programme on Monday 1st March at 8pm. For nearly a year the programme had undercover reporters attending events (including private meetings) of Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) and passing themselves off as Muslims and friends, but acting as agents provocateurs to solicit replies to use against IFE.

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Also posted in Activism, Entryism, Farce, Freedom of Expression, Identity Politics, Islamism, Media | 5 Comments

a modest proposal for wootton bassett: islamists love underpants!

By bananabrain | Published: January 4, 2010

pantsalthough the mainstream media has already picked up the story, we’re sure that the good folk of wootton bassett would nonetheless appreciate a message of support. it appears that they are the latest stop on the publicity circuit for everyone’s favourite islamist nutjobs, the al-muhajigoon squad. predictably, the edl have vowed to picket the mosques frequented by the leader of the group that currently calls itself “islam4uk” and, no doubt, stephen gash of “sioe” has ordered an extra copy of “soldier of fortune” magazine in his excitement.

in the spirit that got these imbeciles to cancel their most recent demo and, naturally, in tribute to the recent foiling of the detroit pants bomber, i humbly propose the following:

let all who wish to show this truly grotesque man up as the nasty, ridiculous bigot he is – FLY THE UNDERPANTS!

some pants yesterday

some pants yesterday

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Also posted in Activism, Anti Fascism, Farce, Identity Politics, Media, Obscurantism, Politics | 23 Comments

IHRC: “I Refuse to Buy a Poppy”

By Effendi | Published: November 25, 2009

Following the news that the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) will share a platform with the MCB and the An Nisa Society at next Monday’s Select Committee hearing in Parliament, now would be good time to find out more on where it stands on Britain’s pledge to support the Afghan people wrest their country from the grip of al-Qaeda.

This article hosted on the IHRC’s website should go some way to answering that question:

I refuse to buy a poppy for remembrance day, because Britain hasn’t remembered anything at all.

Sentimental rituals such as poppy-wearing only help the collective amnesia. We don’t remember that Britain was defeated in Afghanistan twice in the 19th century, that the mighty Soviet Union was defeated there a couple of decades ago. We don’t remember, or we never learnt, that imperialism is fundamentally wrong.

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Also posted in Islamism | 13 Comments

‘Hardcore’ Islamist gets top anti-terror post at Home Office – the JC reports

By Yossarian | Published: November 6, 2009

The JC reports:

The appointment of Asim Hafeez as head of intervention at the Office of Security and Counter-Terrorism has caused serious concern among more moderate Muslim advisers across Whitehall. [...]

Mr Hafeez was described by one fellow adviser as “hardcore Salafi”. Salafism is a strictly puritanical branch of Islam, often associated with Saudi Arabia. It does not promote violence, but does urge the creation of an Islamic state.

The new Home Office adviser is reported to have raised eyebrows at his new department during the Muslim festival of Ramadan, when he lectured guests at a reception about the benefits of fasting. Before his appointment at the Home Office, Mr Hafeez worked as an adviser to the Welsh Assembly, government where he had a reputation for his strict views on Islam. He also regularly lectured on Islamic issues at Welsh universities.

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Also posted in Islamism | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

The Islamist who wanted to come in from the cold

By Guest | Published: November 5, 2009

This is a guest post by Ali Suburbanite
****

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.

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Posted in PVE | 15 Comments

Iranian government employee involved in British ‘Prevent’ programme

By Guest | Published: October 28, 2009

This is a guest post by Sheikh Spear

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Iran is a brutal theocratic dictatorship that executes minors, stones adulterous women to death, persecutes religious and ethnic minorities and murders and imprisons non-violent protestors for calling for free and fair elections.

Presenter

Fareena Alam presenting on Press TV

It is also not exactly supportive of the UK’s struggle against Islamist extremism. The Iranian government is widely believed to have supplied Iraqi insurgents with many of the roadside bombs that killed British soldiers in Iraq, Iran’s leaders have also called for the extrajudicial murder of a British novelist and funded London-based radical Islamist outfits such as the comically misnamed Islamic Human Rights Commission.

One would think, therefore, that the British government would regard employees of the Iranian government as being less than ideal partners for the UK domestic ‘Preventing Violent Extremism’ programme.

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Also posted in International Affairs, Islamism, Your View | Tagged , , , | 34 Comments

A Tale of Two Extremes

By Faisal | Published: October 22, 2009

This excellent op-ed by Zafar Khalid Farooq, published in the The News in Pakistan, is well worth the read.

The money shot comes at the very end and it is spot on:

Even more worryingly, a new generation is being radicalised, often with the very government funds that are supposed to be countering radicalisation. The British Government’s counter-terrorism strategy is called Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE). In the past three years, 90 million pounds have been spent on PVE. However, by focusing on ‘violent extremism’, as opposed to all extremism, the government has allowed itself to hop into bed with organisations and groups deeply opposed to liberal, democratic values. These groups have ties with the Muslim brotherhood, and our very own Jaamat-e-Islami. Perhaps by joining hands with non-violent extremist groups, the government hopes to provide a defence, a pressure valve if you like, against violent extremism among the angry Muslim youth. But by collaborating with these groups, the government is effectively supporting and funding the Islamist ideology that spawns an illiberal, intolerant and anti-western view.

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Also posted in Anti Fascism, Islamism, Secularism | 6 Comments

Preventing Needless Hysteria

By Guest | Published: October 19, 2009

This is a guest post by Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens
****

For the past couple of days, the Guardian has been running scare stories about the Government’s Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) programme. Gleefully feeding Islamist propaganda about the government’s supposed demonisation of Muslims, it is an irresponsible and potentially dangerous attack.

PVE is a strand of the CONTEST strategy designed to fight terrorism, and a large part of the PVE strand is the Pathfinder Fund which, through local authorities, allocates funds to local organisations that they assess can help prevent people from becoming radicalised.

The main Guardian report focuses primarily on the use of information sharing agreements (ISA) which have been drawn up between the Metropolitan Police and two councils that receive PVE funding for certain projects. These ISAs specify that PVE funded projects can share with the police detailed personal information about innocent Muslims, including details about their sex life. Having got hold of two ISAs, one from Islington and one from Waltham Forest, the Guardian has presented the Prevent strategy as nothing more than a covert dirty tricks programme designed to create a police state for innocent Muslims.

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Also posted in Islamism, Your View | 21 Comments

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