1. 誰來定義與擁抱British Value?
2. 極端主義是政府中東政策造成,還是穆斯林本身的問題?
British Prime Minister
David Cameron on Monday unveiled a new counter extremism strategy, which will
aim to stop young Britons travelling to Syria. In it he called on Muslim communities to “own” the problem of
"Islamist extremism", which he called "one of the struggles of
our generation".
Key proposals in the plan include
allowing parents to have passports removed from 16- and 17-year-olds, barring
those with terrorism or extremist convictions from working with children and
vulnerable people, and closing
down mosques where extremism is deemed to be preached.
The new Counter-Extremism
Strategy will also include a review of Britain's citizenship rules, making
“good character” a key requirement in citizenship applications.
“Gaining British
citizenship is a privilege and should signal a person’s commitment to becoming
an active member of our society,” the strategy read.
“[We] will also consider who
should be automatically entitled to citizenship and how we can more easily
revoke citizenship from those who reject our values.”
A prominent commentator
on Twitter who has in the past worked with the government said new plans to
remove citizenship were worrying.
Home Secretary Theresa
May has also ordered a
campaign to remove “entryists” from the public sector, pledging to weed out
“extremists” from local authorities, charities and businesses.
Media regulator Ofcom
will be empowered to take down radio and television outlets that are deemed to
broadcast extremist material.
The 39-page government
strategy mentions British values 54 times. On page nine British values are defined as: “[The] rule of law, democracy, individual liberty,
and the mutual respect, tolerance and understanding of different faiths and
beliefs.”
In the same section the
government sets out its definition of
extremism as “the vocal or active opposition to our fundamental values,
including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and the mutual respect
and tolerance of difference faiths and beliefs. We also regard calls for the death of members of our armed
forces as extremist.”
Asim Qureshi, research
director of CAGE, said the
government failed to make clear which values they define as being British.
“There’s such a heavy
emphasis in the report on British values but the terms are so vague you don’t actually know what they are talking
about," he said.
CAGE works with victims
of the global War on Terror and has come under fire for its criticism of the
British security services, who they say have contributed to the radicalisation
of British Islamic State group members. Cameron has accused the group of being
extremist, an allegation CAGE has vehemently denied.
Qureshi said that the
prime minister’s attempts to British values he says are under fire is “to set
aside what most people would consider to be British values in order to deal
with this supposed threat.”
“It’s part of a wider
post-9/11 narrative that says anything becomes acceptable in the name of
national security. There needs to be a less aggressive approach to the [Muslim]
communities [the government] is trying to work with."
The government's
counter-extremism strategy went further than discussing British Muslim
communities, and included provisions to tackle far-right groups, but Qureshi
said the plan still appears a narrow one.
“It’s disingenuous of the
government to talk of a broad strategy to tackle all types of extremism when
the vast majority of the report focuses solely on Muslims," he said.
Prime Minister Cameron made
clear what he believes the biggest issues is to address, describing on Monday
the battle against “Islamist extremism" as "one of the great
struggles of our generation.”
"In responding to
this poisonous ideology, we face a choice," Cameron said.
"Do we close our
eyes, put our kid gloves on and just hope that our values will somehow endure
in the end? Or do we get out there and make the case for those values, defend
them with all that we've got and resolve to win the battle of ideas all over
again?"
British police claim to
have foiled numerous potential attacks in the UK, but have not released details
of the plans for operational reasons. Hundreds of Britons are believed to have
travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State group and authorities
have warned returning fighters pose a threat to UK security.
Last month it was revealed that
for the first time the UK had targeted and killed two British members of IS in
a drone strike on Syria.
A 15-year old boy, thought to
be Britain's youngest person convicted of terrorism, was sentenced earlier this
month to a minimum of five years in jail for plotting an IS-inspired
"massacre" on an Anzac Day parade in Australia.
Citing police figures,
Cameron's Downing Street office said there were 338 counter-terrorism related
arrests in the past year, with 157 linked to Syria and 56 involving suspects
under 20.
Cameron called on the Muslim
community to do more to combat the threat.
"The extremist
narrative needs to be fought every day at the kitchen table, on the university
campus, online and on the airwaves," said the prime minister.
"As a government, I
know we must own this problem. But our Muslim communities must own it too. We
have all got a critical part to play, but I strongly feel the currently silent
majority can make all the difference."
The Muslim Council of Britain
(MCB) warned that
Cameron's strategy risked isolating their communities.
"Whether it is in
mosques, education or charities, the strategy will reinforce perceptions that
all aspects of Muslim life must undergo a 'compliance' test to prove our
loyalty to this country," said MCB general secretary Shuja Shafi.
Shafi added that he was
concerned terrorism will be conflated “with subjective notions of extremism and
Islamic practices”.
The MCB head called on
the government to avoid past mistakes and stop funding to “organisations or
individuals whose main or primary qualification is to serve as echo-chambers
for what government wishes to hear.”
The comment was a barely
veiled retort to the Quilliam Foundation, a self-styled counter extremism think
tank headed by Maajid Nawaz.
Nawaz was jailed for five
years in 2001 while studying in Egypt and was convicted of belonging to the
banned Hizb ut-Tahrir group, which calls for the establishment of a global
caliphate. After being released in 2006 Nawaz renounced his beliefs, established
Quilliam, and has since embarked on a high-profile career in calling for
reforms to Islam.
Quilliam, which says it
has not received government funding since 2011, has been criticised in some
quarters for adding to a perception of British Muslims as a suspect community.
Despite not receiving state funding the
organisation has remained key to the government’s counter extremism approach
and on Monday their research was included in a press release announcing
the new strategy.
- See more at:
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uk-says-muslim-community-must-own-problem-extremism-1422046038#sthash.tXi2DUdo.dpuf
沒有留言:
張貼留言