In May 2015, we were contacted by parents in Waltham Forest who were concerned about a ‘questionnaire‘ that was being circulated to young people in schools.

We were aware of the following questionnaires being circulated in Buxton School in Leytonstone (Waltham Forest) and the questionnaires seemed to indicate that they related to Prevent work. The project was funded through the EU and through a call for proposals entitled, “Radicalisation Leading to Extremism.” The Prevent Steering Board of Waltham Forest oversaw the project and the project was called BRIT (Building Resilience through Integration and Trust). The organisation that ran it is called Family Action UK.

Today, the project has once again hit the headlines. A Freedom of Information request by a parent on the project has led to the release of the names and identifying details of 7 young people.

The seven pupils who were identified through material released by the local authority were students at the Greenleaf Primary School. Parent Haras Ahmed who submitted the Freedom of Information request on the Brit project, was quoted by the Evening Standard as saying:

“It’s been a disaster from start to finish. Firstly we’re told it’s a social cohesion policy and then after various questioning they accept it’s a de-radicalisation process and then to release the names of the children in such an insensitive way.”

 

“Any parent in any school – whether they are of a Muslim faith or non-Muslim or no faith – would be appalled by their children’s data, such sensitive data, are released to a member of the public.”

When we initially raised the project on our web-site in May 2015 through legitimate concerns which were raised by parents, the local authority suggested that the ‘Brit – Building Resilience through Integration and Trust‘ project was a ‘cohesion’ project. That was simply false and was a ruse. It was as simple as that.

It is now clear that this project was an extremism sift project in order to look for and identify young children who may have been vulnerable to extremism.

The position that Faith Matters has consistently taken is that Prevent is a sad but necessary arm to tackling radicalisation and extremism. Given the nature of the work, its sensitivity and its ability to affect the future of young people, it is essential that Prevent work is robustly scrutinised. This also ensures the development of good practice, whilst safeguarding the rights of young people and diverting them away from influences which could affect their lives in the future.

This also means that where parents and carers raise legitimate issues, (as parents did on this project to Faith Matters), they should not be dismissed as ‘anti-Prevent’, ‘leftie-liberals’ or ‘conspiracists’. In fact, by couching the Brit project as ‘cohesion’ the local authority has fuelled further conspiracy theories and handled this whole affair atrociously.

Finally, we believe that honesty and transparency are key to undertaking Prevent work. This means that projects may take longer to implement and some sections of communities may not engage. That is part and parcel of the work, though attempting to organise a smoke and mirrors campaign to couch an extremism project as cohesion, does the work an injustice and assumes that members of the public will swallow untruths. This has to stop and if anything, the Brit project places the local authority in Waltham Forest in the spotlight around future projects. At the very least, parents deserve an apology related to this whole debacle.

Why Facebook must do more to challenge anti-Muslim hate posts, by Rima Amin

“Love for All, Hatred for None” is the motto carried by the Ahmadiyya Muslim community. A motto that has been tested in recent days after a surge of hateful comments towards Muslims on social media following a fire at the Baitul Futuh mosque last Friday.

Seventy firefighters worked hard throughout the day to control and extinguish fire at the mosque in South-West London known to be one of the largest in Western Europe. Many parts of the mosque remained unharmed. On Sunday, two arrests were made but since then the Met Police have said they do not believe this to be a hate crime. A 16-year-old was later released without charge as a 14-year-old received bail until January.

The investigation continues.

As news began to trend across social media, hurtful and hateful comments followed. Instead of being thankful that the fire was put out without anyone being hurt, they were disappointed. Instead of praising the firefighters, they praised the perpetrators.  Others posted threats of further escalations.

Dr Basharat Nazir, spokesperson for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK, was thankful for the support given: “We have been aware of some hostile reaction on the social media, but they are simply dwarfed by the positive support we have received via social media and directly.”

Nazir says that “The key battle is against ignorance and extremism in all faiths that we all have to fight against together.”

Some of the hate comments included:

• “Mosque in Morden on the news. 2 lads been arrested for setting it on fire. It can hold upto 10,000 worshipers. Well done boys but the was place fecking empty”
• “The two young men arrested for setting fire to a mosque should not be jailed. They should be given a medal”
• “They should have been pouring gasoline on it”
• “Let’s do the same here in the USA, burn down every single one of them”
• “Probably was a bomb making class mistake”
• “They should burn them all, and then kick them muslims out of our countrys”
• “one down, more to go”
• “A WARNING to them of things to come, I hope it was done on purpose. PEOPLE ARE TIRED OF THE MUZZIES. and their DEMANDS”
• “Make it a holiday”” It wasn’t arson, its pest control!!”

Twitter trolls also joined in.

It is difficult to consistently monitor hateful comments and keep networks free from hate but it is important that we do all we can. These comments incite harm which should never be tolerated. Since Sunday, hate comments have been reported on Wimbledon Guardian, Facebook, Twitter and other news outlets but thankfully many are quickly removed.

But Facebook needs to accept that these comments have the potential to incite hatred and violence. One comment that read “should have blown that whole b*tch up” was reported to Facebook; but when reviewed, Facebook told users that it did not breach their Community Standards.

After similar problems in the past, a petition was set up asking Facebook to work on its reporting mechanisms. One signatory Natalie Otterly wrote: “Hate speech as outlined is extremely dangerous and harmful, especially given the current volatile situation towards Muslims. It actively promotes violent and illegal action towards a religion and its followers”

The Ahmadiyya community received much public support from people of all walks of life. Support also included tweets from MPs like James Berry and UK Secretary of State for International Development, Justine Greening.

Dr Nazir says: “The huge public outpouring of support for us and the indomitable British character that people have exhibited has strengthened our resolve to rebuild the complex as soon as possible so that this house of God that is a beacon of peace can shine again in its full glory.”

It is also clear that the community are determined not to let the hate comments deter them:

“We live by an ethos of Love for All, Hatred for None.  It is a motto that is emblazoned across our mosque complex, and neither the fire nor any negativity are able to thwart our ambitions to serve God, to help mankind, and to be loyal citizens.”

The positive attitude and genuine warmth witnessed this weekend is an inspiring display of unity. Through this, we must all remember, hate comments and violence against Muslims are by no means just a Muslim problem; but a problem for us all to get through together. To truly have a peaceful supportive world both online and offline, we must all work collectively by tackling hate speech and giving to one another especially in times of need.

The post After the fire, why the Ahmadiyya community will not give into hate , by Rima Amin appeared first on TELL MAMA.

This event was the key flagship event on the range of outreach events that Faith Matters held in 2009/2010 under the Not In Our Name Project. The event was held at the Royal Chace Hotel and was attended by staff from statutory agencies like Enfield Council and by community and voluntary sector bodies like ECEN (Enfield Community Enterprise Network). There were also numerous attendees from community groups, an elected member, faith leaders and students. The event also received strong participation from the local police and with Superintendent Dave Osborne who started the day’s proceedings.

The key aim the day was built on supporting cohesion through a faith based perspective and the day had evolved through discussions that were undertaken between Enfield Council and key staff from Faith Matters.

Click here to visit website https://nion.faith-matters.org

Working Towards Bridging Divides Between Sikh and Muslim Communities

Confronting Regional Barriers and Divisions Between Sikh and Muslim Communities Through Conflict Resolution Programmes at Corymeela

This project was completed on the 2nd of September 2008 and full details of the project are listed in the introduction below. This was a particularly tough project that roused passions particularly within the young male Sikh participants and it brought to the forefront the kinds of areas of tension that exist. This project is the first national programme of it’s kind and attempted to look at the localised areas of tensions, which if not addressed, will link up and become national flashpoints. This is partly because the Internet provides the medium to spread these tensions which need to be contextualised.

The full report on this programme is attached here for your information and we hope that it may be used as a resource to develop cohesion and to look at divergent dialogues.

Introduction

The Cohesive Communities programme is primarily targeted towards Sikh and Muslim communities within the UK and will target a variety of groups such as students, religious and organisational leaders and individuals involved in the political life of this country.

Cohesive Communities will involve taking groups of 20 members of each faith community from each of the vocational groups outlined to Corymeela in Northern Ireland and which has been involved in conflict resolution over the last 40 years. Corymeela staff have helped to create spaces where people of diverse backgrounds can come and meet each other and where there is an atmosphere of trust and acceptance and where differences can be acknowledged, explored and accepted. It is a site to develop community cohesion through conflict resolution.

Corymeela has made a sustainable difference to community relations and reconciliation work over the last 40 years and many of the people involved in reconciliation at Corymeela are now active throughout Northern Ireland .

Background to Cohesive Communities

This project has come about due to previous and continuing tensions between members of the Muslim and Sikh communities. These tensions include:
• Breakdowns in community relations in areas like Derby between Sikh and Muslim communities

• Sikh community members feeling vulnerable to attack because they ‘look Muslim.’
• Continued tensions between the two communities and especially between young people
• Issues around the ‘Bezhti’ play and the impact that this had on community and race relations
• Attacks on Sikhs by people thought to be Muslims
• Lack of employment and progression opportunities for members of both communities
• Stories of alleged forced conversions.

Further information that has led to this project includes the fact that there have been serious incidences of youth violence between Sikh and Muslim communities starting in 1996 within the Slough area of London .

In Derby 2001, tensions between Sikhs and Muslims worsened following September 11, as rumours spread that Al-Muhajiroun members were active in the area distributing anti-Sikh leaflets. A hoax letter, which had been circulating on the internet for some years and aimed at fomenting Sikh-Muslim conflict, inflamed the Sikh community when it was allegedly distributed in Normanton Road , the heart of Derby ’s Asian community. There was talk of a boycott of Muslim shops and angry meetings were held at the Gurdwara. With many Sikhs having already moved out of the Normanton area to Derby ’s suburbs, those who remained felt vulnerable and outnumbered.

These are therefore some examples of underlying tensions between both communities and this project aims to tackle some of these by bringing groups of Muslims and Sikhs together within a comfortable and neutral environment which has decades of experience of working through community tensions and problems. It is also interesting to note that the tensions become more acute on national days like the Independence days of Pakistan and India and on the anniversary of the invasion of the Golden Temple in Amritsar in the early 1980’s.

Aim of Cohesive Communities

The aim of the project is to facilitate a platform through which much needed discussion and dialogue can take place between key British Muslim and Sikh community and organisational leaders, students, religious leaders and up and coming politicians.
Objectives

• To provide a platform in Corymeela through which dialogue and discussions can take place between key members of the Sikh and Muslim communities in the UK . There will be five key areas from which participants will be picked and these include London (Southall, Slough and Hillingdon), Derby , Coventry , Birmingham and Wolverhampton.
• To engage with students, organisational heads, community and religious leaders and up and coming politicians from both communities. The primary focus of the programme will be to engage with as many Muslim and Sikh youth and student groups as possible.
• To develop a work programme that enhances continued contact with both communities and which lays down the basis for a strategy to counter-act those that prey on divisions and on fomenting extremism within both communities. The strategy will also have a key section that includes youth and student groups and work that may be conducted on university campuses.
• To help to break down stereotypes and barriers that have built up over time between British Muslim and Sikh communities.
• To work towards the production of a tool kit that can be used to provide frameworks to reducing tensions between both communities. This will include sections on combating myths, national and local contacts etc
• To produce a web-site that specifically facilitates contact with members from both communities.
• To utilise other good practice being conducted between groups and to introduce that within the project.
• To create community cohesion champions between Muslim and Sikh communities throughout the UK.

]]> 66 https://www.faith-matters.org/directors-report/ https://www.faith-matters.org/directors-report/#respond Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:16:26 +0000 https://faith-matters.org/index.php/2010/02/23/directors-report/ The period of January 2011 – December 2011 has seen a number of activities undertaken by Faith Matters with respect to four key areas. Our work in interfaith, conflict resolution, community cohesion / integration and preventing extremism has grown and engaged with larger sets of communities in the UK and within countries like Pakistan.

In Pakistan, we have been involved with work that has included utilising mobile telephony to counter extremist messaging and the work has concentrated in key regions in Pakistan where populations have been vulnerable to extremist messages in the country. Our work during this year involved sending millions of SMS messages to communities so that they can reject extremist narratives and to ensure good community engagement in Pakistan. Furthermore, our office in Lahore has gone from strength to strength and we are also working towards our first capital build project in Jajuki, close to Islamabad, an area which has no social service provision whatsoever. We believe that the people of Pakistan deserve better!

Faith Matters also completed three very successful publications that included the ‘Our Faiths and Our Shared Futures booklets’ and these were distributed within schools in Derby and the London Boroughs of Haringey, Enfield and Barnet. We reached out to over 1,000 young people in schools through this work and we will continue to promote the strength of diversity, the need to respect human life and dignity and working with different communities. Diversity is the strength of the UK and we believe that this needs to be protected in the social sphere.

Faith Matters has also been involved in a range of international intercultural exchange programmes and was involved in student exchanges with Egypt during the March 2011 Tahrir Square uprisings and with Jordan, Palestine and the Lebanon. Faith Matters also took a group of young people from the UK to the Lebanon and to Palestine as part of the exchange and the group visited sites such as Jerusalem, Hebron, Nablus, Haifa, Nazareth, Byblos, Beirut, Beiteddine and many other famous and historical sites.

During November and December 2011, Faith Matters started to set up the infrastructure for a national programme on Measuring anti-Muslim Attacks (MAMA). The TELL MAMA campaign will start in February 2012 and will provide support services to victims of anti-Muslim attacks whilst also ensuring that details of the attacks are logged and mapped. By logging and mapping such attacks we hope to inform authorities about cluster areas where attacks may be high and ensure that co-ordinated action can be taken locally to ensure that ALL local residents are safe. This programme is not about giving Muslims ‘extra preferential’ treatment. It is about ensuring that they should not be attacked just because of their faith and any person and community is entitled to this protection. We strongly believe that no individual in the UK should feel fear because of who they are in terms of their identities and we are proud to be playing a role in this work.

Founder and Director of Faith Matters, December 2011