LONDON—It was supposed to be the soft-power in the fight against terrorism that turned the hearts and minds of potential home-grown suicide bombers away from radical Islam.
But the government’s programme to tackle extremist ideology was built on false presumptions and has back-fired amid allegations of spying on Muslim communities, concludes a report by MPs.
The all-party report into the Prevent programme says it is “stigmatising” and “alienating” the very people it was intending to engage and criticises the government’s understanding of the causes of radicalisation.
“We conclude that there has been a pre-occupation with the theological basis of radicalisation, when the evidence seems to indicate that politics, policy, and socio-economics may be more important factors in the process,” says the report.
The Prevent programme was rolled out with intention of “winning hearts and minds” by tackling the root of extremist ideology through engaging with communities and debates. The Government spent £140 million on Prevent in 2008/09.
A Guardian article last year accused the Government of using the programme to gather intelligence about innocent people who are not suspected of terrorist involvement.
The civil liberties organisation Liberty has described it as the “biggest spying programme in Britain in modern times”.
While the report by The Committee for Communities and Local Government does not confirm these allegations, it concludes that suspicion of “spying” is central to the failure of the programme.
“We believe that this work can be successful only if untainted by the negative association with a counter-terrorism agenda.”
“Despite rebuttals, the allegations of spying retain widespread credibility within certain sections of the Muslim community. If the Government wants to improve confidence in the Prevent programme, it should commission an independent investigation into the allegations made.”
According to the report, the reputation of the Prevent programme has become so blackened that it’s involvement has “tainted many positive community cohesion projects”.
“There is a sense that Government has sought to engineer a ‘moderate’ form of Islam, promoting and funding only those groups which conform to this model,” says the report.
The report also questioned the appropriateness of what is essentially a crime prevention programme to come under the umbrella of the Department for Communities and Local Government.
But the government’s programme to tackle extremist ideology was built on false presumptions and has back-fired amid allegations of spying on Muslim communities, concludes a report by MPs.
The all-party report into the Prevent programme says it is “stigmatising” and “alienating” the very people it was intending to engage and criticises the government’s understanding of the causes of radicalisation.
“We conclude that there has been a pre-occupation with the theological basis of radicalisation, when the evidence seems to indicate that politics, policy, and socio-economics may be more important factors in the process,” says the report.
The Prevent programme was rolled out with intention of “winning hearts and minds” by tackling the root of extremist ideology through engaging with communities and debates. The Government spent £140 million on Prevent in 2008/09.
A Guardian article last year accused the Government of using the programme to gather intelligence about innocent people who are not suspected of terrorist involvement.
The civil liberties organisation Liberty has described it as the “biggest spying programme in Britain in modern times”.
While the report by The Committee for Communities and Local Government does not confirm these allegations, it concludes that suspicion of “spying” is central to the failure of the programme.
“We believe that this work can be successful only if untainted by the negative association with a counter-terrorism agenda.”
“Despite rebuttals, the allegations of spying retain widespread credibility within certain sections of the Muslim community. If the Government wants to improve confidence in the Prevent programme, it should commission an independent investigation into the allegations made.”
According to the report, the reputation of the Prevent programme has become so blackened that it’s involvement has “tainted many positive community cohesion projects”.
“There is a sense that Government has sought to engineer a ‘moderate’ form of Islam, promoting and funding only those groups which conform to this model,” says the report.
The report also questioned the appropriateness of what is essentially a crime prevention programme to come under the umbrella of the Department for Communities and Local Government.
