By Jaimie Kaffash
10 August 2009
Ministers have been urged to scrap a £45m scheme aimed at preventing violent extremism and instead focus on promoting community cohesion at a local government level.
The New Local Government Network think-tank said in a report released today (August 10) that the government’s 'Prevent' campaign was marginalising the Muslim community. It added that the programme did not pay enough attention to other forms of extremism, such as far Right groups.
Anna Turley, the author of the Stronger together report, told Public Finance: ‘The Prevent agenda should be broadened out so that local councils can reach out to other parts of society, to those who are feeling similarly excluded and vulnerable to radicalisation from such areas as the far Right.’
She added that promoting community cohesion must remain a priority, even when local authorities are facing budget cuts. Turley said: ‘It depends on how much of a priority you want to make it. You only have to look at the events of Saturday night (where arrests were made following clashes in Birmingham between anti-fascist protestors and far-Right activists) to see how serious an issue it is, to see how high up a concern it is for issues of public safety.
‘It is one of those areas that has to be prioritised, not just through the Prevent agenda but through broader approaches from public services and how they liaise with the local community.’
But the NLGN’s report was criticised by Paul Marriot, Preventing Violent Extremism programme manager at Birmingham City Council – one of the local authorities singled out by the think-tank for its effective use of Prevent funding.
‘I still feel we should have a Prevent agenda. There is a difference between community cohesion and supporting vulnerable institutions or communities. If we suddenly lift up the community cohesion carpet and brush Prevent underneath it, a lot of the stuff will get lost in that broader discussion around cohesion and that is wrong,’ he said. He added that the arrests in Birmingham were ‘isolated incidents’.
The report was released two days after former government adviser on terrorism Paul Richards claimed that the government was not doing enough to combat Muslim extremism. He also said that, although the far Right was ‘disgusting', he did not believe it was a terrorist threat.
10 August 2009
Ministers have been urged to scrap a £45m scheme aimed at preventing violent extremism and instead focus on promoting community cohesion at a local government level.
The New Local Government Network think-tank said in a report released today (August 10) that the government’s 'Prevent' campaign was marginalising the Muslim community. It added that the programme did not pay enough attention to other forms of extremism, such as far Right groups.
Anna Turley, the author of the Stronger together report, told Public Finance: ‘The Prevent agenda should be broadened out so that local councils can reach out to other parts of society, to those who are feeling similarly excluded and vulnerable to radicalisation from such areas as the far Right.’
She added that promoting community cohesion must remain a priority, even when local authorities are facing budget cuts. Turley said: ‘It depends on how much of a priority you want to make it. You only have to look at the events of Saturday night (where arrests were made following clashes in Birmingham between anti-fascist protestors and far-Right activists) to see how serious an issue it is, to see how high up a concern it is for issues of public safety.
‘It is one of those areas that has to be prioritised, not just through the Prevent agenda but through broader approaches from public services and how they liaise with the local community.’
But the NLGN’s report was criticised by Paul Marriot, Preventing Violent Extremism programme manager at Birmingham City Council – one of the local authorities singled out by the think-tank for its effective use of Prevent funding.
‘I still feel we should have a Prevent agenda. There is a difference between community cohesion and supporting vulnerable institutions or communities. If we suddenly lift up the community cohesion carpet and brush Prevent underneath it, a lot of the stuff will get lost in that broader discussion around cohesion and that is wrong,’ he said. He added that the arrests in Birmingham were ‘isolated incidents’.
The report was released two days after former government adviser on terrorism Paul Richards claimed that the government was not doing enough to combat Muslim extremism. He also said that, although the far Right was ‘disgusting', he did not believe it was a terrorist threat.
