David Cameron and the right-wing think tank have warned the government to defend its flagship strategy to combat extremism from criticism or the risk of terrorism.
In a controversial report from the Policy Exchange, the former prime minister called for a solid defense of the Prevent strategy.
The report claims that Prevent is being undermined by “Islamist campaigns and their allies” and names organizations including the CAGE and the Muslim Council of Great Britain (MCB).
His release comes after Priti Patel said he wanted to reconsider the strategy after the assassination of Conservative MP Sir David Ames.
William Shawcross’s ongoing independent review of Prevent has been postponed, but is expected to report his findings later this year.
In a preface to the report, Cameron warned: “Just as we must oppose the Islamist extremist narrative, we must oppose the anti-prevention narrative. We need to show that delegitimizing the fight against terrorism essentially allows terrorism.
The report continues to condemn Muslim groups that criticize the Prevent.
“Without resistance, activists are feeding the national media and targeting the Muslim community itself, creating a culture of mourning that claims to be victims of Prevent, which they claim is an ‘Islamophobic’ social engineering project.
An MCB spokesman said the Policy Exchange has consistently led efforts to discourage co-operation between the authorities and the UK’s Muslim Council.
“It is therefore ridiculous that the Political Exchange must claim that we are the ones who are discouraging cooperation because we are exercising our democratic responsibility to check for bad policies.
“MCB has always repeatedly opposed all forms of terrorism, but the amnesia of the Policy Exchange does not recognize this,” she said.
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Muhammad Rabbani, Managing Director of CAGE, said: “The report is proof of the united resilience of Muslim organizations, despite all chances, to effectively protect their communities from one of the most destructive and insidious government policies, namely Prevent.
“Although the government has an almost absolute monopoly on power and access to the media and PR agencies, the report encourages the false reality of” opposition activists “criticizing Prevent to explain Prevent’s total rejection of the community.”
For years, there have been calls for an independent review of the strategy by critics who say it encourages discrimination against people of Muslim faith or descent and hinders legal expression.
The prevention strategy includes a legal obligation for schools, NHS trusts, prisons and local authorities to report any concerns they have about people who may be at risk of resorting to extremism.
This has led to cases where teachers have reported to primary schools that they have toy guns or talk about video games.
A coalition of more than 450 Islamic organizations, including 350 mosques and imams, boycotted the government’s Prevent review last March in protest of Shawcross’s appointment.
Shawcross, who chaired the charity commission between 2012 and 2018, has been criticized as a result of previous remarks he made about Islam.
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