Over 550 Muslim organisations, masjids, council of masjids, Muslim academics, activists, individuals, and allies have all signed an open letter pledging their intent to boycott the latest review into the UK Government’s counter-extremism strategy called Prevent, a report said on March 18.
The coalition, perhaps the biggest in British Muslim history, is a diverse array of Muslims from various sectarian and political leanings, that already boycott Prevent entirely, as well as those who still engage actively with Prevent on a regular basis.
Muslims as a whole, have rarely seen eye to eye on the issue and it has been a cause of division for British Muslims across communities, at least up until William Shawcross was appointed as the official Independent Reviewer of Prevent.
Shawcross has a track record of hostility towards Muslims. He famously said that “Europe and Islam is one of the greatest, most terrifying problems of our future. I think all European countries have vastly, very quickly growing Islamic populations.”
He was one of the main advocates for the illegal war in Iraq, torture techniques, openly described the US military as the greatest defenders of humanity in the world, and has expressed his support for Murdoch many times.
Prevent has had reviews in the past and none of the negative parts of the policy has ever been addressed. For over 10 years, the Government has ignored all criticism whilst making the policy stronger and stronger. Yet the harms of Prevent continue and are all too real.
A major 3-year study of Islam on campus reveals that Prevent reinforces negative stereotypes of Islam and Muslims. Despite this, Prevent training continues for university staff.
Mainstream campaign groups such as Campaign Against the Arms Trade, PSC, Stand up to Racism, Extinction Rebellion & Greenpeace, have been labelled as “extremists” in Prevent training manuals – adding more evidence that it is politics and ideology driving Prevent, not “safeguarding” as the Government states.
The Government never wanted any real review to Prevent and Shawcross’s appointment is evidence of that. What’s more is the Government is fully aware of the damage Prevent is causing, especially to Muslims, whilst providing political cover for it. In reply, the Government dismissed the coalition’s concerns by simply stating Shawcross was appointed via an independent process.
“It is for all the above reasons why we, as the coalition, are calling for a truly independent “People’s Review”, whilst upholding the boycott of the Shawcross review and encouraging others to do the same. It is the only way to take Prevent to task,” said the coalition.
“After years of bad faith and depleted trust in the government, with Shawcross being the final straw, this is the only way Prevent can finally be reviewed on an objective and impartial basis and bring all the overwhelmingly negative outcomes of the policy into public discourse,” it added.