30 March 2010

Victory! - An-Nisa's anti-Prevent strategy campaign is vindicated - Muslim People Power Wins! - An-Nisa calls for an apology from the government.

The House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee Inquiry on Preventing Violent Extremism has published its long-awaited report today.

The Committee has validated An-Nisa's campaign against the government's Prevent Strategy by confirming that, 'the Prevent programme has stigmatised and alienated those it is most important to engage' - the Muslim community.

In February last year we warned of the intelligence and surveillance aspects of the strategy and that "the government's approach to dealing with terrorism by targeting the whole Muslim community, as 'potential terrorists' in its Prevent Strategy is flawed and fraught with perils.' We said that 'we believe that rather than creating community cohesion and eliminating terrorism it has the potential to create discord and inflame community tensions. Furthermore, we believe this unprecedented strategy constitutes an infringement of civil liberties and human rights."

Committee chairman Phyllis Starkey said today: "Many witnesses believe Prevent has been used to 'spy' on Muslim communities. The misuse of terms such as 'intelligence gathering' among Prevent partners has clearly discredited the programme and fed distrust." She added, "We cannot ignore the volume of evidence we have seen and heard which demonstrates a continuing lack of trust of the programme amongst those delivering and receiving services. Based on the evidence we have received, it is not possible for us to take a view. If the government wants to improve confidence in the Prevent programme, it should commission an independent investigation into the allegations made."

The cross-party Committee also states "our inquiry has shown that the current overall approach to Prevent is contentious and unlikely ever to be fully accepted in its existing form by those it is most important to engage." It adds, the strategy has 'tainted many positive community cohesion projects...' and that 'the government's strategy to limit the development of violent extremism in the UK sits poorly within a counter-terrorism strategy.' Dr Phyllis Starkey said, "We agree that a targeted strategy must address the contemporary al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist threat, but we do not believe a Government department charged with promoting cohesive communities should take a leading role in this counter-terrorism initiative.'

The committee recommends that all community cohesion work and work focusing on shared values should be decoupled from the Prevent agenda and brought under Communities and Local Government's (CLG's) broader responsibilities for cohesion and integration. 'As we have shown, attempts to combine capacity- building and community cohesion work with counter-terrorism interventions have been both ineffective and counterproductive.'

The Committee calls for a different approach. All the elements currently within Prevent, which have a clear role in crime prevention, should be brought under the remit of the Home Office. Where possible, elements such as the Channel project should be removed from the CONTEST strategy and placed within other crime prevention initiatives. CLG should however retain responsibility for delivering an entirely separate programme to tackle the underlying factors that foster all forms of extremist violence and communal hatred.

We are also pleased that the Committee has recognized that 'tackling socio-economic deprivation is important in its own right to achieve a more equal and cohesive society but it also has a key role in diluting the impact of the call to violence on vulnerable individuals. Tackling socio-economic factors will not necessarily directly reduce the incidence of violent extremism, but we recommend the Government continue to prioritise investment in this area in recognition of the positive contribution it makes to achieving the aims of the Prevent agenda.'

Despite the complete absence of any reference to An-Nisa Society's ground breaking report, 'Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) and Prevent - A Muslim Response,' published in February 2009, which triggered a nationwide response from the Muslim community, we are pleased that a great many of our concerns, observations and recommendations have been discussed and taken on board in the final report from the Prevent Inquiry.

It is surprising that the Inquiry report studiously avoids any reference whatsoever to the work of An-Nisa Society who initiated and spearheaded the campaign against the Strategy. Our report was the first, and only comprehensive Muslim community response to the strategy, which played a major role in galvanizing the Muslim community to speak out against it and informed the media and academics. Not only did An-Nisa Society produce this report, which was quoted extensively in the corridors of the Home Office, CLG, Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), Research, Information and Communications Unit, Home Office (RICU) and other statutory bodies but we also provided written and oral evidence to the Inquiry. Only days before our oral evidence we were invited to a private meeting with Charles Farr, Head of the Office of Security and Counter Terrorism at the Home Office to discuss our concerns. Our report has been referred to in the New Local Government Network (NLGN) publication 'Stronger Together' and in 'Spooked' by the Institute of Race Relations amongst others. The Report forced many well-funded institutions to take our arguments seriously and incorporate them into their work.

Although this exclusion is perplexing we are delighted that our report has played a major role in exposing the serious problems of the ill-thought Prevent Strategy and forcing the government to reconsider it. We are delighted that our campaign of non-co-operation with the Strategy has been so effective. It is the first time in two decades that funding has been turned down by large sections of the voluntary sector on principled grounds rendering the Strategy unworkable and triggering off the Inquiry. Well done to the Muslim community!

The damage that has been done to the Muslim community by the Prevent Strategy is irreparable. In many ways, the situation is akin to the ill-thought invasion of Iraq. The government waded in without proper planning and understanding. The fallout in the Muslim community has been devastating. Since the strategy, which has linked the 'whole' Muslim community to terrorism and justified far-right extremism against Muslims, levels of hatred of Muslims have risen dramatically. Like Iraq, for those responsible for such a flawed strategy it is just a job and they can move on, but Muslims have to live with its legacy on a day-to-day basis. The government has been playing with our lives and the least we deserve is an apology.

It remains to be seen what will happen. The elections are coming up. What will the government do about Prevent if it wins? What will the Tories do if they win? The Muslim community needs to ensure that this issue is one that it questions the political parties on during the general elections.