Dear, dear, what a blunder in the Age of Social Media, most unforgiving, bet he’s working on his résumé as we type! :-D

https://twitter.com/HavetStorm/status/554646848699658241

London – popular suburb of Norwich.

Nice to see that when someone places the truth in front of you, you do the same as most people and look the other way, think I’m going to un subscribe your beginning to look like a politician. So sad thought you were interested in the truth not in looking away I live just out side Brum and there are plenty of places that you will avoid if you have a brain and want all you teeth, car windows to remain intact! The people that were collecting in Hall green last summer for the Dogs Home were told that “this is a Muslim Area and you are not welcome” the police had to intervene the escort them to safety. It was reported in the local papers, Solihull Observer I think, but may also have been in the Solihull News. The truth is the Muslims in certain areas of Birmingham do not want White people in their streets. This is racial, they are making it that way!

Apologies my mailbox had a snag and my laptop too – just when it’s not needed! Please still send your email to me, my mail system should be behaving itself again, ta.

Here it is:

Youth, Alienation and Radicalisation
Many young people in Europe are disenchanted and have become alienated from the political process; this is a serious issue for any society and especially those that label themselves as democratic. Even before the recent Paris tragedy Rushanara Ali MP had agreed to sponsor a meeting in the House of Commons to discuss “Youth, Alienation and Radicalisation,” terms that can equally encompass young Muslims as well as white working class people.

Rushanara was joined by Fiyaz Mughal OBE, director of Faith Matters, an interfaith and anti-extremist organisation and Professor Matthew Feldman, an expert on fascist ideology and the contemporary far-right in Europe and the USA.
I was one of the attendees keenly listening for comments that may shed light on the root causes of this disenchantment and how it could be addressed; my pen and notebook were ready to capture any insights. Fiyaz opened the meeting by acknowledging that the Paris incident would result in new legislation and information gathering amongst the North African community that would have consequences on free speech, he said the right to publish is a right we should protect.

Matthew highlighted that radicalisation is accumulative from a series of events, however, since 9/11 this was the first time France had suffered home grown terrorism. He stated that terrorism is a tactic that is not just linked to one group, extremists though diametrically opposed often rely upon each other narratives.

Fiyaz stressed that although people from lower socio economic groups were more vulnerable to radicalisation evidence was only cursory, social exclusion could have many causes such as mental health issues, a lack of trust in the system, a perceived discrimination, ideology or theology. Stop and search practices along with anti-Muslim rhetoric in the media and our foreign policy in relation to the Israeli Palestinian crisis should also be considered. He said that the Koachi brothers had been described as normal boys but they became politicised after a journey to Yemen and had stated that the images from the Abu Ghraib prison in 2004 were a source of grievance, while Kahn a UK extremist had cited the Iraq war as one of the driving forces behind his actions, the online world could also be used to radicalise young people. Fiyaz also outlined vulnerability after converting from one faith to another, creating changes in the individual while at the same time experiencing familiar external support fall away, leaving the young person susceptible to gang-like pressures. Extreme groups often have a gang mentality; they are against state structures and have a nihilistic mind-set. Fiyaz also mentioned that radicalisation did not occur in the Mosques; it was actually taking place in common public spaces such as the gym.

A member of the audience asked the unanswerable question ‘why do people move from non-violence to violence?’ Matthew replied currently there are no definitive explanations, only indications as to the causes with less than 1% of extremists actually moving to violence. At this point he made it clear that far right groups may not agree on the use of violence or have similar views on the electoral system but they do have a common denominator, anti-Muslim prejudice now prevails, it is no longer anti-Semitism.

Approximately half of the Muslim attacks in this country are carried out by a hardened core of far right individuals who use prejudicial logic and tit for tat extremism. For example after Lee Rigby’s murder there was a 373% increase in reported anti-Muslim incidents (the contagion effect) and in the 3 months after Rigby there was a massive rise in Mosque attacks, however, collecting detailed statistics is not easy because hate crimes are not disaggregated into their specific types and 5 out of 6 hate crimes are not usually reported to the police. It was also noted later in the discussion that hate crimes are often opportunistic and only 25% of them are tried, resulting in a significant lack of confidence. There are new faces of the far right such as ‘National Action,’ a small group of proud neo-Nazis who are targeting campuses and ‘Britain First.’

Rushanara gave her opinion on why young people turned from politics to radicalisation, she said that politically we live is a difficult international environment, the interdependence between countries is profound, while technology and the Internet can be a negative or positive force. On the positive side, she thought young people wanted interactive politics and that they were interested in issues such as the environment and poverty. Nevertheless, the events of 9/11 and 7/7 were uniquely different for those with a young Muslim identity; other groups had not suffered the same effects. She felt that Britain leads in dealing with youth alienation but extreme narratives should be constantly challenged, we have to be thick skinned and be able to explain our stance contrary to those of the extreme:

• How can we use our collective intelligence to prevent such extremism?
• How can we use our personal sphere of influence in our everyday contact with young people and can we empower ourselves to confront these issues?
• We have to ensure that young people are not made to feel defensive if being blamed, incorrectly, for the acts of others who conveniently use the term ‘religion’ for their terrorism.

Matthew at this point reminded the audience that liberalism requires everyone’s participation; we all have a responsibility for the society we inhabit. Far right groups are aware that The Racial and Religious Hatred Act does not offer Muslims protection as one ethnic group and are therefore not given the same legal protection as others, such as Jews or Sikhs. Britain has strong equality legislation but funds have been slashed, so the Equality and Human Rights Commission cannot enforce the legislation well.

Rushanara stated that neighbourliness in the UK overall was in decline, charging immigrants with the notion that they were the ones who were at fault because they were not integrating only served ‘to do immigrants down.’

Fiyaz reiterated the role of the media and the Murdoch’s of this world who carry on as normal and are not being held to account for their sensationalist, negative reporting – the media needs to develop a responsible approach. He emphasised that far right propaganda can be extremely slick and difficult to combat, we as citizens need to build a shared sense of community and co-ownership that creates more opportunities to mix and care for one another.

Did we get to the bottom of the root cause of youth disenchantment? There were many useful points but the role of UK foreign policy and the militaristic agenda was only briefly mentioned, after all extreme far right views are not only the gambit of the young and disenfranchised. One statement from the audience aptly described the difficulty many of us have in expressing our citizenship because we feel disempowered in a society driven by rampant neoliberal capitalism. We all can do our bit to combat this alienating, inhuman milieu – a small act of kindness may go much further than we think, please give it a try.

Michelle Thomasson 17th January 15

For your notes – The meeting was organised by Francis Sealey of GlobalNet 21 and the speaker profiles were:

Rushanara Ali is the MP for Bethnal Green & Bow and Associate Director of the Young Foundation. Previously she was the Shadow Minister for International Development. She resigned from the Labour frontbench in order to abstain on a House of Commons motion permitting military action in Iraq in September 2014.

Fiyaz Mughal OBE is director of Faith Matters, an interfaith and anti-extremist organisation which runs the TELL MAMA anti-Muslim violence helpline. Fiyaz was appointed on the Working Group for Communities that was linked to the Extremism Task Force developed in 2005 after the 7/7 bombings. In early 2008, Fiyaz was successful in becoming an elected member IDeA Peer Mentor for national work with local authorities on the Preventing Violent Extremism agenda. Fiyaz was honoured in June 2009 by Her Majesty the Queen and was bestowed with the Honour of the Order of the British Empire.

Professor Matthew Feldman is an expert on fascist ideology and the contemporary far-right in Europe and the USA. He has written widely on these subjects, as well as on the interaction between politics and faith in the modern world. Matthew worked with the police and Crown Prosecution on far-right terrorism and incitement, where he acted as the prosecution’s expert witness in several high-profile cases. Since 2009. This has led to additional consultation with police, probation, CPS and third sector organisations across the UK, the intelligence services, as well as for the All-Parliamentary Committee on Anti-Semitism. He has also appeared on various radio and television programmes to discuss the rise of the far-right in the 21st century.

Meeting link with speaker profiles and further discussion by some of the attendees can be found here, it was held at the house of Commons on 13thJanuary 2015:
http://www.meetup.com/GlobalNet21/events/215857722/comments/443282215/?itemTypeToken=COMMENT&a=uc1_rd&read=1&_af_eid=215857722&_af=event