Earlier this week, Kingston University’s Department of Journalism hosted a panel discussion on the government’s Prevent Strategy. Last term, we saw a series of events where speakers from extreme groups went unchallenged as they condemned Prevent, spreading misleading and divisive information in the process. Monday’s event saw a rare and welcome attempt to provide an […]
Continue readingTag Archives: anti-democracy
NUS 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 readingFOSIS work with MEND on Islamophobia campaign
Islamophobia Awareness Month (IAM) aims to raise awareness of anti-Muslim hate crime across the UK. Bigotry towards Muslims remains a problem at UK universities, and groups like the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) are right to highlight this serious issue. Student Rights has logged a number of anti-Muslim incidents at universities in the past, […]
Continue readingSOAS speakers claim undermined by event history
Last week, following a government press release which ‘named and shamed’ several universities for hosting extreme speakers, one of the institutions identified hit back at these claims. Laura Gibbs, registrar of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), argued in a statement that the college had “not hosted any extremist speakers in the last […]
Continue readingNew Student Rights report examines challenges to Prevent
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 […]
Continue readingHizb ut-Tahrir’s hypocrisy on freedom of speech (Update: Event report on HT website)
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 […]
Continue readingIslamic Society ‘Annual Dinner’ features extreme speakers (Update: Event details changed)
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 […]
Continue readingAfsana Kayum and online extremism at UEL
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 […]
Continue readingExtreme events continue on campuses
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 […]
Continue readingDivisive speakers to address students at SOAS
Entitled ‘The Rise of ISIS: Origin and Reality’, an event at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) on Friday will feature speeches by Abdullah Al-Andalusi and Muhammad Dilwar Hussain. Given their previous output on the subject, it is likely that the speakers will focus on blaming the West for the group’s rise and […]
Continue reading