REFLECTIONS on COHESION Counter Terrorism and Prevent: Three Ways to Build Trust and Transparency
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REFLECTIONS ON COHESION Counter terrorism and Prevent: three ways to build trust and transparency An updated counter-terrorism strategy for the UK was we are going to understand the current picture and build trust, unveiled in June 2018, following on from terror attacks particularly amongst young Muslim people. I have identified in Manchester and London during 2017. A key part of three ways this goal could be supported, more sharply focused the updated strategy remains the Prevent programme, and applied to schools and colleges. aimed at preventing radicalisation. ‘A Shared Future’ is the first report of a new Greater Manchester commission Referrals, reassurance, and set up to tackle extremism and promote social cohesion. data release The report is welcome, but Home Office data on Prevent if this regional initiative and and Channel referrals (2017) the Prevent programme are Building trust illustrate some regional differences. to succeed in schools and col- The sharp fall in referrals from the leges, we must build greater amongst young North West region from 2015/16 transparency and trust, says to 2016/17 are neither commented Bob Hindle. Muslim people on in the Commission’s report nor unpicked, other than to suggest Regional differences is vital further data disaggregation is exist in Home Office data required to provide a more informed on Prevent and Channel picture at a local level and to use referrals (the way people ‘statistics to refute the claims’ [p82] are identified and sup- made against Prevent. Although ported to prevent radicalisation). Home Office data include details of referrals by age and These local differences are not commented on region, which provide some proxy, these are not further in the report, or sufficiently well understood or provided by gender, ethnicity, and faith. This is important unpicked, to enable an informed picture. in generating reassurance, particularly to those in Muslim Consistency in the way Prevent referrals are pro- communities, with the acknowledgement that there is a cessed has also been raised as an issue but is not “great deal of work to be done” in building trust. mentioned in the report. The report of David Anderson QC into the London Building trust amongst young Muslim people is and Manchester terror attacks recommends a need to vital. Greater transparency of data, as well as more “ensure consistency in processing of [Prevent] referrals” robust training for those with a duty to carry out (2017, p34). There is little in the Commission’s report on the strategy is required, with clarity on how a ‘safe this in the Greater Manchester or North West region, nor space’ can be created how its processes compare to those elsewhere in the UK. ‘A Shared Future’, released in the summer of 2018, was the Recent research on Prevent in Further Education col- first report by the Preventing Hateful Extremism and leges finds that teachers understanding of what to look Promoting Social Cohesion Commission, established for – the ‘signs and specific beliefs’ – is over simplified, by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham in the aftermath with decisions reduced to straight lines and with sharp of the 2017 terror attack on the Manchester Arena. It provides variations of practice. Evidence suggests there is no a welcome review of the operation of the Prevent duty in conveyor belt from conservatism to violent extremism, Greater Manchester as well as many wider issues relating to nor is there a ‘one size fits all’ set of characteristics. This terrorism and social cohesion. But there is more work to do if adds to existing research which suggests the policy work at school remains inconsistent. Training for teachers The recommendation for mandatory Prevent training for new starters in public sector areas covered by the Government’s updated counter terrorism strategy Con- test is already in action in many schools and colleges inspected by Ofsted. The requirement for refresher train- ing every three years must not be a missed opportunity. Training should focus on the robustness of staff under- standings and link with wider report recommendations to build the trust of Muslim communities. This means a focus on equality and diversity, amidst a climate of intolerance and Islamophobia. The local context in the curriculum recommended by the Ajegbo report in 2008. notes limitations here with reference, rather generally, and in Ofsted’s review of Prevent in FE in 2016, to ‘Data Protection legislation’. These must be clarified make a good starting point. to help support the generation of community trust in the workings of Prevent. Is all referral data collected by The revised 2018 HM Government Contest strategy the police and the Security Services, however loosely makes clear the need for a ‘safe space’ in schools made, and founded? Clarification must support the shift and colleges to debate controversial issues, stating: recommended by Operation Dovetail, with super- Our schools, colleges and universities should be vision moving away from the police to Local Authority places in which children and young people can safeguarding responsibilities. understand and discuss sensitive topics. Encour- aging free speech and open debate is one of our If Prevent and the work of this new Commission is to most powerful tools in promoting critical thinking succeed, it must build greater trust and transparency. and preventing terrorist and extremist narratives This means the publication of localised data with more taking hold. information and unpicking of what it might mean and its purpose. There must also be more robust training for Whilst research rightly suggests a need for policy work teachers and the building of community support. in schools to place emphasis on wider forms of extremism, building the trust of Muslim young people is vital. There Above all, we need clarity on the counter terrorism pro- must be clarity on how the safe space Prevent advises is cedures being used and the verification of information provided, can be created and how policy work in school passed to Prevent teams, to ensure that it is as accurate is supporting it. The Commission’s reference to a ‘lack of as possible, as recommended by David Anderson. The positive role models’ highlights the role played by Muslim use of ‘flawed information’ by the security services was staff. The recommendation that ‘research is required into identified in the Chilcot Report into the Iraq war. If what community experiences and beliefs of Prevent are’ we are to succeed in our efforts to build social cohesion, must extend to Muslim staff’s own experiences and under- we must do all we can to prevent the same mistakes standings of the duty. happening again. Feedback and Bob Hindle is a lecturer in This means a focus Education at Manchester transparency Institute of Education. Calls for greater transparency on equality and are well founded. The review rightly makes reference to diversity, amidst the need for ‘some level of a climate of feedback’ to organisations who make referrals. The intolerance and Contest strategy, however, Islamophobia Opportunity lost? Why cultural and linguistic diversity are key, in the quest for community cohesion Earlier this year, ‘A Shared Future’ the first report cohesion’ – is that countering hateful extremism and of a new commission set up to tackle extremism supporting cohesion are part of the same package. Not and promote social cohesion, was published. The surprisingly, however, the findings suggest that there Preventing Hateful Extremism and Promoting is no single driver for extremism. The report states that Social Cohesion Commission was established Greater Manchester Police reported a 130% rise in hate by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham in crime following the arena bombing. This included a rise response to the 2017 terror attack at the Man- in anti-Semitic hate crimes as well as a fivefold increase chester Arena. But, argues Yaron Matras, while the in Islamophobic incidents, suggesting that hateful report is welcomed, it fails to identify a strategy in violence is not necessarily driven by a strictly ‘retaliatory’ support for, and understanding of, the city’s many motivation on the part of the perpetrators but instead by existing cultural and linguistic initiatives. general suspicion toward people of other backgrounds. The Preventing Hateful Extremism and Promoting The picture is thus complex. Nationwide figures, Social Cohesion Commission published its first released prior to the Commission’s report, showed a report on July 30th, 2018 gradual increase in hate crime coinciding with the start The Report mentions a rise in hate crime following of the EU referendum campaign. This doubled by the the Arena bombing. There has also been a national time the referendum took place, peaking within two rise in hate crime which has increased following months of the Brexit result. There was then a gradual other terror attacks drop, followed by increases after the Westminster Bridge attack in early 2017, the Manchester arena If suspicion toward other cultures and lifestyles fuels ex- attack in May 2017, and the attacks at London Bridge tremism, then building bridges between cultures must and Finsbury Park later that year. Clearly, violent be a core element of any strategy to support cohesion attacks have been a trigger for hate crime. But so A practical agenda is needed, that will draw on the has anti-immigration rhetoric. Reports of Mayor city-region’s language diversity, to build bridges Burnham’s own statements suggesting that not tackling between