TerrorismU.K. unveils new strategy to tackle extremism
The U.K. Home Secretary Theresa May yesterday unveiled the U.K. government’s revised strategy for tackling extremism; the new approach emphasizes preventing extremism at community levels; the new policy is the result of a review of the current policy, called Prevent, which was launched after the 7 July 2005 terrorist attacks on London transportation; the goal of Prevent was to stop the growth of home-grown terrorism by, among other things, supporting Muslim organizations which were considered moderate; the review found that many of these organizations took the money but did little, if anything, to counter extremism in the Muslim community; these organizations’ funding will now be cut; May said that terrorists must be tackled, but that any anti-terrorism programs “must also recognize and tackle the insidious impact of non-violent extremism, which can create an atmosphere conducive to terrorism and can popularize views which terrorists exploit”
The U.K. will alter its approach to extremism // Source: doubledutchpolitics.com
The U.K. Home Secretary Theresa May yesterday unveiled the government’s updated strategy for tackling terrorism. The new approach emphasizes preventing extremism at community levels. She said than an internal review of the existing policy – called Prevent — identified a series of shortcomings (see a Telegraph report here).
She said that some of the program’s £63 million annual budget had ended up in the hands of the very extremist organizations the program was supposed to monitor. Here are the highlights of the new strategy, based on reports in the BBC, the Daily Telegraph.
- The revised strategy will see £36 million spent
- The strategy targets twenty-five areas in England as priorities. They include Birmingham, Leicester, Luton, Manchester, Leeds, and some London boroughs.
- The government will withdraw support from extremist groups — even non-violent ones — and cut off funding to those opposed to what the government calls “fundamental and universal” British values.
- In February, Prime Minister David Cameron said some organizations presented themselves as a gateway to the Muslim community and were showered with public money despite doing little to combat extremism.
- Prevent was originally launched after the 7 July bombings in 2005 to stop the growth of home-grown terrorism. Among other things, the program sought to do it by supporting Muslim organizations which were considered moderate. May has now said that as a result of the review of government support, about twenty of the organizations that received funding over the past three years would have their cash withdrawn.
- The new strategy puts a renewed focus on the use of the Internet and says the government will consider a “national blocking list” of violent and unlawful websites. Under the plans, computers in schools, libraries, and colleges will also be barred from accessing unlawful material on the internet.
May said while any anti-terrorism strategy must target “those forms of terrorism which pose the greatest risk to our national security,” such programs “must also recognize and tackle the insidious impact of non-violent extremism, which can create an atmosphere conducive to terrorism and can popularize views which terrorists exploit.”
May made clear that when she was speaking about the “insidious impact of non-violent extremism,” she was not referring only to Muslim organizations: on Monday, she accused universities of complacency in tackling Islamist extremism.
