Prevent: Still Problematic
Tue, 14 Jan 2014 15:31:00 GMT
The government’s ‘Prevent’ policy, aimed at diverting young people and their communities away from terrorism and ideologies that support terrorism, has long been controversial. However, in its recent ‘Report of the Task Force on Tackling Radicalisation and Extremism’, government has renewed its prioritisation of this policy. Professor Paul Thomas (School of Education and Professional Development and Deputy Director of ABIS) is a long-term critic of the Prevent strategy, having given evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee Inquiry in to Prevent in 2009. In October 2013 Paul offered a further critical analysis of the revised Prevent strategy to a seminar held at Sciences Po in Paris, and this critique is also expressed in a recent think-piece for the ‘Public Spirit’ project website which focuses on the role of faith within society and public policy:
http://www.publicspirit.org.uk/preventing-violent-extremism-under-the-coalition/
Part of this critique is that Prevent needs to focus much more on far-right racist extremism than it currently does. Alongside this Paul and colleagues Joel Busher, Kris Christmann, Graham Macklin and Michelle Rogerson (all School of Human and Health Sciences) are currently carrying out research on attitudes and political dispositions within key marginalised white communities in areas of Kirklees and Calderdale, West Yorkshire that will be reported during 2014.
