Student politics has always been a site of radical dissent. In theory, there is nothing wrong with this. It is perfectly legitimate to question the wisdom of conventional beliefs or government policy. However, a line must be drawn. In recent years, the National Union of Students (NUS) has promoted “Students Not Suspects”, a student-led campaign […]
Continue readingTag Archives: CAGE
UWE Student Union President legitimises MEND extremists
A recent report by The Henry Jackson Society entitled ‘MEND: Islamists Masquerading As Civil Libertarians’ highlights that MEND meets the government’s definition of extremism. Several senior officials in MEND have expressed sympathy for terrorism both in the UK and overseas, peddled anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and attacked liberal Muslim groups who challenge extremism. MEND has been […]
Continue readingExtremist-linked leaflets distributed at Freshers’ Fairs
Freshers’ Week is finally over. Freshers’ fairs, usually hosted by student unions at most campuses between the middle of September and early October, allows a range of student societies to hand out promotional literature and sign up new members. It is also a perfect opportunity for extremists to target students. This year was no different. […]
Continue readingControversial group CAGE uses Facebook to ‘suggest’ advertisement
Student Rights recently received a ‘suggested video’ on Facebook from CAGE, the controversial prisoner lobby group, which was entitled ‘10 Reasons to donate to CAGE’. The video lists some of these reasons, including their belief that they speak “truth to power”, “campaign against Prevent”, “[defend] the oppressed”, “give a voice to the voiceless” and “[do] […]
Continue readingFormer Chief Prosecutor’s Comments on Prevent Resonate After London Attacks
Last Saturday, Nazir Afzal OBE, Former Chief Crown Prosecutor for the North-West of England and Chief Executive of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, spoke to The Times. Afzal confirmed the findings of much of our previous research, namely that a host of organisations within the Muslim community have been conspiring to undermine trust […]
Continue readingManchester Bomber’s Connections to Salford University
Salman Abedi, the suicide bomber involved in the recent attack in Manchester, is known to have attended Salford University. In 2014, Abedi began studying a business and management course. He attended lectures for two years but eventually dropped out of the course and did not complete his degree. If he had continued his studies, he […]
Continue readingNew report details student terrorism convictions
Yesterday’s publication of a new Henry Jackson Society report detailing all Islamist terrorism convictions in the UK between 1998 and 2015 provides the most comprehensive overview of the threat posed by Islamism-inspired terrorism to the UK. In its profiles of 258 individuals convicted of offences, ‘Islamist Terrorism: Analysis of Offences and Attacks in the UK […]
Continue readingStudents discuss extremism at York University
On Tuesday, Student Rights’ National Organiser, Elliot Miller, was hosted by the York University Conservative Association as he gave a lecture on extremism and the Prevent Strategy at the university. Elliot examined many of the complaints from students about Prevent, seeking to debunk misunderstandings and make the case for Prevent when it comes to extremist […]
Continue readingChallenging Prevent at UCL
On Wednesday 30th September, Student Rights attended an event at University College London (UCL) entitled ‘Challenging Prevent: Defending our universities, communities and civil liberties’. The event formed part of the NUS’ launch of a Prevent helpline, whose purpose according to leaflets distributed at the event is to “support students and student union officers” and fight […]
Continue readingStudent Rights on campus
Last week, Student Rights’ National Organiser, Elliot Miller, gave on-campus presentations in Exeter and Leeds focusing on challenging extremism and opening up debate on the Prevent duty. On 23rd November, Miller gave a presentation focused on the myths and realities of the Prevent duty at the University of Exeter Atheist, Humanist and Secular Society (AHS). […]
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