MCB's One Day Conference on Terrorism and Extremism

MCB’s One-day Conference on Terrorism and

Extremism: How Should British Muslims Respond?

Dr. Mozammel Haque

Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), UK's largest Muslim umbrella body with over 500 affiliated national, regional and local organisations, mosques, charities and schools, organised a one-day conference on ‘Terrorism and Extremism: How should British Muslims respond?’ held at Regent Hall, Salvation Army, London, on Thursday, 12^th of November, 2015. “This conference is organised to explore the issues and explore credible responses to the issue, beyond agendas set by government or the media, and with very much the British Muslim community in mind. With the government announcement today of the Counter-Extremism Strategy, with highly controversial measures that will alienate sections of our community and deepen the problem, the Muslim Council of Britain is organising this conference to facilitate an authentic and united community narrative on terrorism and extremism,” according to the MCB’s press release issued on 12^th November, 2015 delineating the goal and objective of the conference.

The press release also said, “This conference aims to facilitate a community-led, grassroots response to the problem of terrorism. Even though Muslims have, with one voice, condemned terrorism, most recently as manifested by Daesh in Iraq and Syria, Muslims are still under pressure to explain and resolve why terrorists sully our faith. There is also a growing concern that more and more young people are being drawn into the propaganda of such groups, without the knowledge of their parents, and outside the support structure provided by mosques and other Muslim civil society organisations.”

Proceedings of the Conference

The Conference has three sessions. The first session was on ‘Terrorism and Extremism – Today’s Context’ chaired by Ifath Nawaz. The keynote speech was delivered by David Anderson, QC, Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation. Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra, Assistant Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain spoke on Islamic Perspective on Extremism; Miqdaad Versi, Assistant Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain spoke on the Development of government legislation and the key critiques from Muslim communities.

The second session was on ‘Impact of terrorism, extremism and government legislation on UK society’ chaired by Yasmine Ahmed, Director of Rights Watch UK. Keynote speech was delivered by Keith Vaz, Chairman of Home Affairs Select Committee. James Ball, Pulitzer prize winning journalist from Buzzfeed spoke on Use of Social Media in Driving and Tackling Extremism; Catriona Robertson, Convenor of London Boroughs Faith Network spoke on Impact on Faiths; Shelly Asquith, Vice President of NUS spoke on Impact on Education; and Dal Babu, Former Chief Superintendent, spoke on Impact on Policing.

The Third session was on ‘The Muslim Community Perspective,’ chaired by Abdul Karim Vakil.

Besides the abovementioned three sessions, there was introductory session which was introduced by Dr. Shuja Shafi, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain and the Concluding Session when the concluding remarks and Resolutions were read out. Before that, there was a plenary session where the summary of the following workshop – Mosques/Imams/Madrasahs; Students; Education; Families and Youth – was read out.

Over 250 participants attended the conference from a diversity of the British Muslim community. Alongside community activists and leaders, the conference benefitted from contributions by David Anderson, QC, Independent Reviewer on Counter Terrorism Legislation   and Keith Vaz, M.P., Chair of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee.

British Muslims Explore Community-led

Responses to Terrorism and Extremism

Muslim Council of Britain issued a press release on 13 November, 2015 under the caption ‘British Muslims Explore Community-led Responses to Terrorism and Extremism’. “Audience participation demonstrated a desire to keep our country safe but a concern of the impact of terrorism on Muslim communities and the counter-productive strategies aimed at tackling terrorism. The conference heard consistent concerns about the government’s Prevent strategy and their proposed counter-extremism strategies.” The press release said.

David Anderson, QC

Echoing this, keynote speaker David Anderson QC revealed how he had received 'more complaints about PREVENT than I do about all the coercive powers under PURSUE.' He added 'I hope (the government) really does engage widely, including with bodies like the MCB which undoubtedly represent significant strands of opinion in this country.'

Speaking about the Muslim community, David Anderson said, “On the one hand I hear that the UK is one of the best places in the world to be a Muslim. I am happy to hear that because on a personal level I think this country is very much the better for its Muslims.”

Speaking about the role of media, influential lawyer Anderson said, “I hear about mistrust of Muslims on the part of other communities, often linked to reports of terrorism and whipped up by mainstream media whose coverage can be grossly irresponsible, as I have said a number of times in my reports.”

David Anderson, QC, also mentioned in his keynote speech, “I see rising numbers of Islamophobic attacks, which to me are every bit as serious as anti-Semitic attacks and homophobic attacks. I applaud Fiyaz Mughal and TellMama for condemning all such attacks, abuse and threats of violence. And I applaud the Government for the steps it has taken to record hate crime by religion so that we can get a reliable sense for the size of the problem.”

“And I see what Miqdaad Versi described to Parliament as “a fear some Muslims have that they are not being treated equally”, even, as he put it, “some sort of alienation or some sort of feeling of second class citizens,”. He mentioned.

Talking to Al-Arabiya News, David Anderson QC, the UK’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said some mainstream media have been “grossly irresponsible” in their coverage of Muslim issues.

And while IPSO can pursue complaints of discrimination against an individual, it cannot act when an entire religious group is attacked, he told a conference in London.

“It’s more difficult if there is a derogatory comment about Islam. And it seems to me that this is one thing that the press standards authority ought to think about,” he said.

Speaking to Al Arabiya News, Anderson said some media headlines about Muslims were “inflammatory”. “It is profoundly damaging to cohesion when journalists misreport stories by attaching the label ‘Muslim’. And I can’t see why Muslims should not be able to complain about that in the name of their faith,” he said.

Britain’s Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) does not currently have the power to pursue complaints of discrimination against groups of people, such as those of Muslim faith, if no individual is specified in an offending article, wrote Al-Arabiya News.

But the Muslim Council of Britain and the UK’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation have both called for that to change, amid what some claim is slanted press coverage of Islamic issues.

Shelly Asquith

Shelly Asquith of the National Union of Students also highlighted many cases in campus where students were referred to Prevent officers on the flimsiest of grounds.

Keith Vaz, MP

Meanwhile, Keith Vaz MP, the Chair of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, challenged Muslim communities to not only speak out against existing strategies but also offer alternative solutions. He also urged the government to engage and listen to all sections of the Muslim community in the fight against extremism and terrorism. “This is a defining moment for British Muslim community. Don’t let people challenge your legitimacy.”

Dr. Shuja Shaji

This conference kick-starts an independent national consultation facilitated by the Muslim Council of Britain where British Muslims will be at the driving seat in setting the agenda. In the Introductory session, Dr Shuja Shafi, Secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain said: ‘For over ten years now we have seen successive policies that have come and gone to tackle terrorism, each and every one of them struggling to involve Muslim communities. In initiating this process, we do not pretend to hold a magic wand to make the problem of terrorism go away. But we do know that for any policy to succeed, it needs to involve Muslim communities as part of the solution, and not merely as part of the problem.’

The conferences ended with workshops where conference participants explored further the impact of terrorism and extremism on families, mosques, young people and schools. Details of these workshops will feed into the consultation process, as will the following resolutions which were issued by conference participants.

Resolutions

This conference on ‘Terrorism and Extremism: How Should British Muslims Respond?’ held on 12 November 2015 passed the following Resolutions:

“British Muslims -- like the vast majority of Muslims everywhere -- abhor and condemn terrorism. We have, and will continue to speak out against the terrorism that is carried out wrongly in our name.

“As parents, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, we are concerned that a minority of our young people are susceptible to poisonous propaganda, primarily from social media and the internet, that will lead them astray and into the arms of terrorists. We therefore support reasonable and proportionate evidence-based policies to combat the real scourge of terrorism.

“There are many pathways to lead someone to becoming a terrorist; they include alienation, socio-economic drivers, objection to foreign policy and a warped grasp of ideology. We believe that the small minority of young people, who are radicalised, is outside the mosque, and on the fringes of society. We must tackle youth alienation and give our young people a stake in society, not treat them or their faith as pariahs.

“Religious belief or practice should not be considered a sign of radicalisation. There is no evidence to suggest that our religious institutions, be they mosques or madrassas, foster extremism. We are concerned that the faith institutions of British Muslims are being unfairly targeted.

“We are extremely concerned that subjective notions of extremism as expressed by anti-Muslim ideologues are being adopted into government policy.

“We recognise that there is much to be done in our own communities and by ourselves to confront this threat, including articulating more clearly and loudly the normative understanding of Islam which unequivocally rejects the violence of the likes of Al-Qaeda and Daesh. These true values of Islam include that of upholding ‘the middle path’.

“There is enough adequate legislation to prosecute people who promote hatred and actually incite violence. Additional retrospective laws to tackle people through subjective notions of extremism will only drive the debate underground, and increase a sense of alienation.

“We support further positive steps by Muslim communities to improve community cohesion and to encourage participation in society in spite of the challenges faced - but believe this is very different to the measures that must be taken to tackle terrorism.

“To effectively tackle terrorism, and to understand properly extremism, we believe the government needs to engage with all sections of the British Muslim community.”

Ben Flanagan From Al-Arabiya News, London

After the conference, Ben Flanagan from Al-Arabiya News, interviewed influential lawyer, David Anderson, QC and Keith Vaz, chairman of Home Affairs Select Committee and wrote the following report on 13 November, 2015.

“The UK press watchdog must start considering cases of discrimination against groups of people, after some “grossly irresponsible” coverage of Muslim issues by some media, influential lawyers and community groups say.

“Britain’s Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) does not currently have the power to pursue complaints of discrimination against groups of people, such as those of Muslim faith, if no individual is specified in an offending article.

“David Anderson QC, the UK’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said some mainstream media have been “grossly irresponsible” in their coverage of Muslim issues.

“And while IPSO can pursue complaints of discrimination against an individual, it cannot act when an entire religious group is attacked, he told a conference in London. “It’s more difficult if there is a derogatory comment about Islam. And it seems to me that this is one thing that the press standards authority ought to think about,” he said.

Speaking to Al Arabiya News, Anderson said some media headlines about Muslims were “inflammatory”. “It is profoundly damaging to cohesion when journalists misreport stories by attaching the label ‘Muslim’. And I can’t see why Muslims should not be able to complain about that in the name of their faith,” he said.

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has previously criticized media coverage of scandals such as the so-called ‘Muslim grooming gangs’, in which groups of men in areas such as Rotherham, Derby, Bristol and Oxfordshire were accused of raping thousands of children. Representatives of the MCB have said that linking the story to the Muslim faith was not fair. Miqdaad Versi, Assistant Secretary General of the MCB, said that there is currently “no recourse” under the press standards code when a particular group is attacked by the media. “There have been many examples in the media, where we’ve tried to go to the code but we’ve not been able to,” he said. “If there is a way that a representative group can launch a complaint on that issue that would be valuable.”

A spokesperson for IPSO confirmed to Al Arabiya News that the body would not consider complaints of discrimination against an entire group of people. But they said that IPSO is able to consider complaints of discrimination against an individual brought by groups, where the individual in question has not complained personally. And groups may make a complaint over a press article under clause one of the IPSO code on the grounds of accuracy, the spokesperson said.