Blog Index

UPDATE 04/09/2015: An NUS statement released to the Daily Mail has claimed that: “The events are being run as a coalitions with a number of other organisations, we are a large organisation and represent a wide diversity of views, some of our officers with different views have chosen to work with the coalition”. In July, the Prime ...

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 they ...

Our recent report, ‘Preventing Prevent? Challenges to Counter-Radicalisation Policy on Campus’, highlighted how student opposition to counter-radicalisation policy has been influenced by extremist narratives. Student groups have also compounded this problem by working alongside the very extremists that such programmes seek to oppose. This was demonstrated again last week, as the NUS Black Students’ Campaign (BSC) co-hosted ...

Yesterday, the Prime Minister used a visit to Ninestiles School in Birmingham to give a speech addressing the challenges posed to the UK by extremism. In outlining the ideology espoused by Islamist extremists and detailing how it could be opposed, the Prime Minister touched on many of the issues Student Rights has sought to highlight over ...

A new report by Student Rights has found that the government’s counter-radicalisation strategy, Prevent, is being prevented from functioning effectively due to widespread student opposition, despite significant concerns about on-campus extremism. ‘Preventing Prevent? Challenges to Counter-Radicalisation Policy On Campus’, released today, has recorded over 100 on-campus events each year since 2012 hosting speakers with extreme views or a history of ...

Last week saw an open letter published in the Independent which targeted the UK’s counter-radicalisation strategy, Prevent, and called for it to be scrapped. Signed by over 40 senior National Union of Students (NUS) and individual student union officers, the letter damned the policy as one which: “…reinforces an ‘us’ and ‘them’ view of the world, divides ...

On 14 January 2015 Zack Davies, a member of the neo-Nazi organisation National Action (NA), tried to murder Dr. Sarandar Bhambra with a machete because he “looked Asian”. Only prevented from killing Dr. Bhambra by the intervention of a former soldier, Davies was today convicted of attempted murder and will be sentenced in September. While Davies was ...

In recent months, government attempts to deal with campus extremism have faced opposition from students, lecturers, and even the former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. Following the General Election, plans to give universities a legal duty to prevent students from being drawn into extremism have returned to the agenda – as has the resistance to these ...

On 9 May, the Islamic Society at the University of Greenwich released a poster for an ‘Annual Dinner’ event called ‘The Promise of Allah & The Promise of Shaytaan’. Due to take place on 5 June, the event was to feature Muhammad Salah as a “special guest”, who would have been an extremely controversial speaker. He has ...

UPDATE 04/05/2015: Following last week’s event a report of Dr Wahid’s speech has been published on the HT website. In this, Dr Wahid states that his aim was: “exposing the UK Counter-Extremism policy called ‘Prevent’ for an audience that may not be well-acquainted with its most sinister and pernicious aspects”. He also claims that: “‘Deradicalisation’…is the process ...

Over the past two days, delegates from the National Union of Students (NUS) have been meeting in Liverpool for the organisation’s Annual Conference. Voting on new policy, the NUS once again showed its inability to challenge extremism, instead passing a motion resolving to oppose government counter-extremism work. Motion 517 declared that “NUS officers will not engage with ...

With the general election fast approaching there have been several articles in recent weeks which have revealed attempts to gain political influence by organisations connected to extremists. This afternoon, an event at the University of Manchester will host one such group, as Yusuf Thai of Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND) addresses students on Islamophobia. Meanwhile, a similar ...

Following its attempt to blame the radicalisation of ISIS executioner Mohammed Emwazi on the British government in March, prisoner rights group CAGE has returned to targeting UK counter-extremism policy in the past week. On Friday, the group began a nationwide tour of workshops attacking the recent passage of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act, as well as ...

UPDATE: Following the publication of this article, the title of this event was changed to the first Annual Dinner of the ‘Al-Kawni Trust’. This organisation, alleged to be a front set up by members of City Islamic Society in 2010, has frequently promoted City events in the past. The City University Islamic Society has denied this, ...

Reports yesterday claimed that the extremist cleric Anjem Choudary had been invited to take part in a debate at the Oxford Union entitled ‘This house believes that radicalism is born at home’. The co-founder of the proscribed organisation Al-Muhajiroun, Choudary is currently on police bail after being arrested for membership of a banned group in September ...

On Monday 16 March Afsana Kayum, a student at the University of East London (UEL), was jailed for 18 months for possession of a record containing information contrary to the Terrorism Act. This referred to a number of issues of Inspire, an online magazine published by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which were discovered hidden ...

The identification of former University of Westminster student Mohammed Emwazi as the Islamic State executioner ‘Jihadi John’ has led to increased scrutiny on the issue of campus extremism. With Haitham Al-Haddad due to speak at the university the same day Emwazi was unmasked, concern over extremists being invited to address students has been at the forefront ...

UPDATE: Following revelations that the Islamic State militant known as ‘Jihadi John’ may be a former student of the University of Westminster called Mohammed Emwazi, the university announced that the event had been postponed “due to increased sensitivity and security concerns”. A petition calling for the University of Westminster to prevent the extremist cleric Haitham Al-Haddad ...

University should be a place for debate, where students can discuss ideas with their right to freedom of expression protected. However, all too often, events are hosted in which there is no such debate; where a panel of speakers with similar views are simply given an unchallenged platform. This can be seen in an event titled ‘The ...

Here at Student Rights we have often cited our belief that universities must have robust policies in place to deal with harassment or discrimination, and that a focus on equality and diversity is vital if institutions are to effectively challenge extremism. In this article, KCL lecturer Dr Niall McCrae gives his take on the issue ...

Following criticism from students and university staff, on Wednesday it was agreed in the House of Lords that an amendment would be made to the proposed Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill. This would mandate institutions to take into account their duty to protect freedom of expression when following new provisions to prevent students from “being drawn into ...

UPDATE: Up to 300 demonstrators are reported to have picketed this event in opposition to Marine Le Pen, with a small number forcing the event to be delayed for over an hour as they “came close to scaling the walls from the street outside”. Tomorrow, the leader of the French Front National, Marine Le Pen, is ...

Last Tuesday an event at the London School of Economics (LSE) saw a speaker allegedly glorify terrorist violence, while another claimed Israelis use rape as a weapon against Palestinians. Rana Baker, a writer for Electronic Intifada, was reported to have called the hijacking of aircraft by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) member Leila ...

Earlier this week the Free Speech and Secular Society (FSS) at the University of Manchester planned to display a cover of Charlie Hebdo on its stall at the ‘Refreshers Fair’ in memory of those killed. However, the society was told by the student union that it could not display the magazine, as the fair “was to ...

Last week Student Rights highlighted the continued promotion of Dawah training events held by the Islamic Education and Research Academy (IERA), and the effects they could have on students. IERA is currently barred from operating at University College London (UCL) – yet this has not stopped one of these events from being arranged on campus this ...