Newham Stand Up to Racism and MEND statement on Prevent signed by Muslims and non-Muslims from Newham and by national representatives of the National Union of Students and the University and College Union and candidates for London Assembly elections. The statement has been covered exclusively in the Guardian. Read the Prevent statement and see signatories here.
Since the horrific killings in Paris, Islamophobic hate crime, including violent assaults, has soared by over 300%, according to a government working group. This wave of Islamophobia has been stoked by sections of the press and by prominent politicians.
In the wake of these events, we are particularly concerned with the role of the government “Prevent” strategy and its implementation in Newham, which has the second highest Muslim population of any borough in the UK. We believe the Prevent strategy has proved to be both counter-productive and divisive.
We are issuing this open statement to our local elected representatives. Islington Council has taken a welcome step forward in voting to challenge Prevent in its current form. We call on our elected representatives to provide a forum for discussing the issues raised by the implementation of Prevent, with imams and faith leaders; parents; community representatives and organisations; local anti-racist campaigns, and with representatives of students’, teachers’ and lecturers’ unions. We believe this should be pursued with urgency.