Green councillor Caroline Russell has been inundated with grateful messages from the Muslim community after convincing her colleagues on Labour-run Islington Council to pass a motion requesting changes to the Government’s controversial Prevent scheme.
Caroline Russell, the sole non-Labour member on the North London council, proposed a motion last week calling on the council to work with communities and faith groups to ensure that extremism is challenged collaboratively rather than driven underground.
She tabled it in response to the widely reported incident in September that saw a Muslim pupil at an Islington school questioned about links to Isis after using the word ‘eco-terrorism’ in a French class. The motion was passed with the support of Labour councillors last Thursday.
“Since the local paper broke the news I have been deluged with tweets and other messages of thanks from Muslim organisations and ordinary members of the community thanking me for putting the motion,” says Russell, who is also standing for the London Assembly next May.
“I believe we’re the first borough in the country to have passed a motion like this. Islington faith communities and schools are doing amazing work to promote community cohesion and challenge extremism. We need only look to Finsbury Park Mosque for an excellent local example of a faith community leading the way. What no one should be doing is treating a young person as a potential extremist for talking about protecting trees in a French class.
“I’m delighted that my fellow Islington councillors backed the motion. This cross-party co-operation is a good example of positive collaboration which I hope can be a model for a more constructive way of doing things.”
Benali Hamdache, equalities spokesperson for the Green Party, added: “Prevent is a crude measure for dealing with extremism. Its national roll-out risks leaving teachers and governors with ill-defined responsibilities while creating a chilling freeze upon free speech.
“Giving under-resourced educators a crude list of tick-box signs to detect ‘extremists’ is no solution to the problem of radicalisation. The Green Party will work nationwide to challenge the government’s approach as well as to ensure that councils that are now burdened with this legal requirement roll out the strategy as sensitively and sensibly as possible.”
Notes:
1. Caroline Russell is the only Green member of Islington Council, and the only non-Labour member. She has the number two spot on the Green Party’s London-wide list of candidates for the London Assembly next May.
2. Her motion as passed commits Islington Council to:
· work with groups to ensure extremism is challenged collaboratively rather than driven underground or over-exaggerated;
· praise the many local community and faith groups who work across the borough to improve community cohesion and prevent violent extremism;
· work with local schools, school governors and local faith groups to ensure that the implementation of Prevent is effective, sensitive and constructive;
· and work with local trade unions, universities and faith groups to make representations to government and local MPs to request the Government change elements of the anti-terror programme that damage community cohesion and are therefore counter-productive.
3. Benali Hamdache is No. 8 on the Green Party list of London-wide candidates for the London Assembly.
ENDS