On Monday, Goldsmiths College hosted the latest event in the National Union of Student’s (NUS) ‘Students Not Suspects’ tour, which aims to undermine the government’s counter-radicalisation strategy, Prevent. Once again, NUS Black Student’s Officer Malia Bouattia used the event to defend CAGE and shared a platform with the group’s Director of Outreach Moazzam Begg, despite […]
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Daily Mail investigation targets “Campaign of Hate on Campus”
Today, the Daily Mail published a four page investigation into extremist speakers on campuses, focusing on the pro-terrorist group CAGE’s campaign to undermine Government counter-radicalisation measures. The Mail reported that there were at least 13 on-campus events last term which featured officials from CAGE; most often the group’s Outreach Director Moazzam Begg. They argue that […]
Continue readingThe Prevent Duty on Campus – Rupert Sutton speech
The issue of extremism on university campuses has been part of the public debate since the 7/7 attacks, and comes under new scrutiny every time an individual involved in violent extremism is found to have studied at a UK university. In 2011, the revised Prevent strategy declared there was “…unambiguous evidence” extremist organisations targeted specific […]
Continue readingThe Prevent Duty on Campus – Reflections on First Term Experiences
On 21st September, a new statutory duty for universities to “have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism” came into force. This gave institutions a legal requirement to put policies in place to challenge on-campus radicalisation and guarantee compliance with the government’s Prevent strategy. While universities have broadly accepted […]
Continue readingNUS campaign materials endorse extremist groups
Today, activists from the National Union of Students (NUS) Welfare Campaign and NUS Black Students’ Campaign are taking part in a “national day of action” against Prevent, the government counter-radicalisation policy. Part of an ongoing effort to undermine attempts to challenge extremism on campus, this follows a number of events on the issue which have […]
Continue readingUEL Islamophobia event sees NUS officer share panel with extremists
Last Monday, the University of East London (UEL) hosted an event entitled ‘After Paris Horror…Don’t let the Racists Divide Us. No to Islamophobia. Defend Civil Liberties’. It is important that universities remain spaces in which students can both raise awareness of anti-Muslim hatred and freely discuss and criticise government policies. Unfortunately, the event was instead […]
Continue readingSPUC speaker to address students at St Andrews
Tomorrow evening, the University of St Andrew’s Students for Life society will host an event featuring a presentation from John Deighan. Deighan is the Chief Executive of the Scottish branch of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), and will address students on the possible devolution of abortion legislation powers to Holyrood. While […]
Continue reading‘Students not Suspects’ continues to work with CAGE
Yesterday, the government launched its Counter-Extremism Strategy, which included the expectation that the National Union of Students (NUS) “avoid providing a platform for extremist speakers”. This follows a week in which NUS officers have toured the country spreading misinformation about Prevent, and shared platforms with a CAGE official at a number of events. They have […]
Continue readingPreventing Prevent at SOAS
CAGE Director of Outreach, Moazzam Begg, whitewashed his history of radicalism during a controversial student event at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) earlier this week. The former Guantanamo Bay detainee claimed that: “before Guantanamo and Bagram I wasn’t politicised”. This is stark contrast to what he told the FBI in 2002, when […]
Continue readingHeriot-Watt blog highlights student misperceptions
In July, Student Rights’ new report ‘Preventing Prevent? Challenges to Counter-Radicalisation Policy on Campus’ highlighted how misunderstandings were driving student opposition to the Prevent strategy. A blog posted over the weekend by Heriot-Watt University Student Union (HWUSU) demonstrates many of these fallacies, and shows the extent to which students have failed to understand the policy […]
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