al-Qaeda

Birmingham Brief: Has the UK ignored the threat from the far-right?

The University of Birmingham today published my opinion piece on the threat posed by far-right extremism in response to last week’s atrocities in Norway.

You can read the article on the University website by clicking here.

There is also an online poll connected to the opinion piece. You can vote on this by clicking here.

And if you don’t fancy either of those, you can read the piece below:

Do you agree that the UK has ignored the threat from the far right?
Dr Chris Allen

“As news began to break about the atrocities committed in Oslo and Utøya on 22 July, a number of media outlets began to suggest that Al-Qaeda (AQ) was behind the attacks. Disparate reasons were put forward as to why this might be so: Norway’s involvement in Afghanistan and Libya, a recent decision to deport a Muslim cleric and the decision of a Norwegian newspaper to reprint the Danish ‘Prophet Muhammad cartoons’. The next morning, The Sun newspaper was emblazoned with the headline, “Norway’s 9/11”.

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Justifying Terror, Justifying Oppression: How Wrong is Israel & the West’s ‘War on Terror’?

In today’s Guardian newspaper, David Miliband suggested that the ‘war on terror’ was wrong. Better late than never.

Acknowledging that it had ‘defined the terrain’ since the attacks of 9/11, Miliband argued that it was wrong on several counts. That it:

…gave the impression of a unified, transnational enemy, embodied in the figure of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida…

…[and] implied that the correct response was primarily military.

He went on to conclude:

The call for a “war on terror” was a call to arms, an attempt to build solidarity for a fight against a single shared enemy. But the foundation for solidarity between peoples and nations should be based not on who we are against, but on the idea of who we are and the values we share. Terrorists succeed when they render countries fearful and vindictive; when they sow division and animosity; when they force countries to respond with violence and repression. The best response is to refuse to be cowed.

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A beautiful irony: former BNP activist recruits converts to Islam

When I read this article, there was something of a wry smile cross my face. How ironic that a former BNP activist has converted to Islam and is now (allegedly) ‘converting’ and ‘recruiting’ fellow inmates to radical Islam whilst he is in prison. If nothing else, it goes some way to suggesting that it’s quite irrespective of what the ideology is, extremist tendencies fail to go away. In fact, this is not the first BNP activist to convert to Islam. A few years ago, the Guardian also ran a similar story. Not good PR for the BNP is it…?

Reproduced below is the story from the BBC website:

Muslim convert ‘recruits’ inmates

By Sally Chidzoy – Home affairs correspondent, BBC East

A former British National Party activist who converted to Islam in jail is trying to radicalise young prisoners, the BBC has learned.

Inmate Stephen Jones is being held in a segregation unit at Whitemoor Prison, Cambridgeshire, the BBC has been told.

The convicted murderer was put there after being suspected of recruiting for groups allied to al-Qaeda.

The case has raised concerns that some radical Muslims are using prisons as a recruiting ground.

The BBC has been told that Jones, who is serving a life sentence, has been held in segregation at Whitemoor for about three weeks with two other Muslim prisoners.

Sources have told the BBC he was caught attempting to radicalise a number of fellow inmates after he himself converted to Islam.

‘Potential threat’

The BBC understands that intelligence sources believe that he is being paid by an al-Qaeda-influenced group.

It is thought to be the first time that an inmate has been punished by being held in segregation for activities of this kind.

When Whitemoor Prison opened in 1992, 14% of its prisoners were Muslim, now the figure is about 30%, the BBC has learnt.

Steve Gough, vice-chairman of the Prison Officers Association (POA), said the organisation had been worried about the situation for a number of years.

“This shows what we’ve been saying. If you can get someone that’s so right wing converted then a normal prisoner is going to have absolutely no chance,” he said.

“Those people come inside and they’re dealt with as normal prisoners, kept on normal locations and they can radicalise.”

The POA believes extremist Muslim prisoners should be kept apart from mainstream inmates who are often vulnerable to exploitation.

Youth worker Sulaiyman Matthews, an orthodox Muslim who is working against extremism, said he had talked to prisoners on their release and many of them were angry and had been radicalised.

Mr Matthews said the British public needed to know the “potential threat”.

The government said it was working to improve its awareness and understanding of extremism and radicalisation to maximise public protection.