U.K. to Reform the “Prevent” Counter-Radicalization Program

— The other, more recent, criticism of Prevent is the mirror image of the criticism described above. The critics in this group, typically from the right, argue that, over time, political correctness has created a situation in which Prevent has come to downplay the role of Islam in radicalization of extremists and inflate the threat from far-right groups and ideas. Moreover, these critics argue that integral to the effort to downplay the role of religion and ideology as a driver of Islamic extremism and terrorism, has been Prevent’s preoccupation with the psychological vulnerabilities of extremists, their social milieu, and their economic privation. At the same time, the net aiming to capture the radicalization of far-right extremists has been cast so widely that it includes legitimate, if often off-putting, political expressions and support for policies such as Brexit.

The Shawcross Critique
William Shawcross, the author of a just-published review of Prevent, belongs firmly in the second group of critics.

“Prevent is a security service, not a social service. Too often, the role of ideology in terrorism is minimized with violence attributed instead to vulnerabilities such as mental health or poverty,” Shawcross writes.

Political correctness has engendered a “culture of timidity” which, if left unchanged, “potentially fatal blind sports [about the threat of terrorism] will emerge and grow,” he said.

“Prevent has a double standard when dealing with the extreme Right-wing and Islamism,” said Shawcross. “Prevent takes an expansive approach to the extreme Right-wing, capturing a variety of influences that, at times, has been so broad it has included mildly controversial or provocative forms of mainstream, Right-wing leaning commentary that have no meaningful connection to terrorism or radicalization.”

The contrast between the way Prevent regards far-right extremism and Islamic extremism could not be clearer: Prevent’s research unit listed a prominent Conservative politician and former member of the government as being among figures “associated with far-Right sympathetic audiences and Brexit.”

But “With Islamism, Prevent tends to take a much narrower approach centered around proscribed organizations, ignoring the contribution of non-violent Islamist narratives and networks to terrorism,” Shawcross said.

Shawcross points out that 80 percent of active police investigations involved Islamist terror plots and only 10 percent of investigations involved plots by extreme right-wing groups or individuals. By contrast, only 22 percent of referrals to Prevent concerned Islamism, which suggested a “loss of focus and failure to identify warning signs.”

“The failure by frontline Prevent practitioners to understand fully the nature of ideology as the primary driver in Islamist radicalization risks several potentially serious consequences,” Shawcross said. “Recent attacks, inquests and inquiries have highlighted the dreadful dangers of underestimating the motivating force of ideology.

“Treating terrorism as a mental illness, or a social deficiency that can be placated by social services, might make acts of extreme violence seem more intelligible to some – yet ultimately this approach fails to grasp the inherently ideological nature of radicalization and terrorism.”

The number of referrals of Islamic extremists to Prevent is so low, Shawcross writes, because officials in schools and government agencies are afraid “of being accused of being racist, anti-Muslim or culturally insensitive.”

Shawcross is critical of Prevent, but also stresses that the government should be proud of Prevent’s positive impact in preventing individuals from potentially carrying out acts of terrorism and diverting them from extremism. He notes that Prevent’s architecture was sophisticated and impressive.

Shawcross recommended that the Prevent duty be extended to immigration, asylum and job center staff and improve universities compliance with their legal responsibilities to prevent pupils from being drawn into terrorism.

Home Office
Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she would order a “major reform” of the program, saying she agrees with Shawcross that Prevent had shown “cultural timidity and an institutional hesitancy to tackle Islamism, for fear of the charge of Islamophobia.”

She said the government would accept all thirty-four of the Shawcross’s recommendations to refocus the program on its “core mission” of protecting the public. “Prevent’s focus must solely be on security, not political correctness,” she said.

Ben Frankel is the editor of the Homeland Security News Wire