NB: This event is not organised by IHRC but will feature Arzu Merali as a speaker
FACEBOOK LINK – with date, location, other info, etc
One year ago the Prevent duty became statutory through the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015: this imposed a duty on public bodies to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”.
As a many warned, the duty has in practice charged teachers, doctors and other professionals with monitoring people’s religious and political views.
It is eroding civil liberties and deepening discrimination against Muslims who are treated as a suspect community.Last year the Metropolitan police reported that hate crimes against Muslims were up 70%.
Prevent and the CTS Act have also narrowed the space for political dissent in many forms.
This conference will examine the act’s implementation across different sectors. It aims to build on the growing opposition to the duty which has seen lecturers, teachers, lawyers, students, and community organisations come together and call for the act to be repealed.
Supported by Students Not Suspects, nus black students’ campaign,Prevent Watch, Imran Khan and Partners, Bindmans LLP, Defend the Right to Protest, Edge Hill SU, Leeds Beckett SU, Manchester Union, Middlesex SU, Warwick SU, Brunel SU, FOSIS, Islamic Human Rights Commission, Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC),MEND – Muslim Engagement and Development, CAGE, BEMA, Scotland Against Criminalising Communities, Stop the War Coalition, Stand Up To Racism, London Palestine Action, Netpol: The Network for Police Monitoring, Spinwatch, Stop G4S, Undercover Research Group and others tbc.
Speakers include:
Arun Kundnani author The Muslims are Coming
Gareth Peirce Human Rights Lawyer
Liz Fekete Institute of Race Relations
Alex Kenny NUT Executive
Malia Bouattia NUS Black Students, Students Not Suspects
Dereck Summerfield Royal College of Psychiatrists
Rahmaan Mohammadi Palestine badge case
Jahan Mahmood former Home Office counter terrorism adviser
Arzu Merali Islamic Human Rights Commission
AbdoolKarim Vakil Kings College London
Ifhat Smith “eco-warrior” case
Patricia McManus UCU NEC (pc)
Rachel Harger Defend the Right to Protest
Caroline Russell Green Party Councillor
Professor Gargi Bhattacharya
Haras Ahmed Prevent Watch
Samayya Afzal Women’s and Liberation Officer Bradford University
Vajahat Sharif criminal litigator and Bindmans consultant
Moazzam Begg former Guantanamo prisoner, Outreach Director CAGE
Hilary Aked researcher & writer
Dr Jim Wolfreys KCL and author of forthcoming book Republic of Islamophobia: The Rise of Respectable Racism in France (Jan 2017)
Maz Saleem daughter of the late Mohammed Saleem
Shelly Asquith NUS VP Welfare
Professor Des Freedman Goldsmiths College
Suman Fernando Royal College of Psychiatrists
Dr Rizwaan Sabir Lecturer Criminology Liverpool John Moores University
Irfan Raja Waltham Forest Council of Mosques
Rob Ferguson Newham Stand up to Racism
Dr Karma Nabulsi Oxford University
Professor David Miller Director Spinwatch
More tbc
