LONDON – Challenging the government’s unpopular Prevent program, British Muslims are planning a nationwide mosque program to stop radicalization of youth early next year.
“In reflecting the wishes of a cross-section of British Muslim society, our affiliates have directed the MCB to explore a grassroots-led response to the challenge of terrorism,” Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said in a statement cited by the Guardian on Wednesday, October 20.
“Real challenges exists, as we see with Muslim families broken up as a number of children, mothers and fathers leave to travel to Syria,” the MCB added.
Representing 500 charities, schools and mosques, MCB plans to start the Muslim-run counter-radicalization scheme next year.
The new initiative, run by a network of community groups across Britain, could cause concern as it could take people away from the official program. The number of referrals to Prevent reached a record 8,000 in the year to April 2016.
Challenging the unpopular Prevent, the new scheme will focus solely on a message that violence can never be used.
The MCB version of Prevent will include panels of community leaders, former police officers and professionals from mental health and other agencies willing to support the scheme.
“If we can get these voices more heard, they are anti-government and therefore more credible in saying do not turn to violence,” a source familiar with the plans said.
“The approach of the government is wrong and ineffective and not engaging with local communities, and does not have community support.
The aim is to “tackle the … issue of Daesh [Isis] within our communities, which splits up families,” and to be more transparent, he added.
Toxic Brand
Former Met police chief superintendent Dal Babu said Prevent was a “toxic brand”.
“It’s not rocket science: go back to how we defeated the IRA. Just like when we were dealing with the IRA, we needed the confidence of Catholic communities,” he said.
The MCB said: “Having Muslims pass through subjective and discriminatory counter-extremism litmus tests as a condition of engagement only re-enforces the terrorist narrative.
“The Prevent strategy exacerbates this problem and it is quite clear that it does not currently have the support of many among Muslim communities across the UK, yet the threat of terrorism is real and severe.”
Not all Muslims were against Prevent Program.
Waqar Ahmed, head of Prevent for Birmingham city council, said the scheme had saved lives.
“Any strategy aimed at safeguarding and supporting vulnerable individuals from a range of harms is surely a concept we can all agree on. Prevent is about protecting people from exploitation and harming themselves and others.”
However, concerns about Prevent appear to be growing after a report released on Wednesday said Prevent was badly flawed, potentially counterproductive and risked trampling on the basic rights of young Muslims.
The Open Society Justice Initiative called for a major government rethink, particularly on its use in the education and health systems.
David Anderson, the official reviewer of terrorism legislation, said earlier this month: “There is a strong feeling in Muslim communities that I visit that Prevent is, if not a spying program, then at least a program that is targeted on them.”