Preventing Violent Extremism - Communities and Local Government Committee Contents


Memorandum from the Network of Sikh Organisations (NSO) (PVE 04)

PREVENTING VIOLENT EXTREMISM

  This submission is made on behalf of the Sikh community by the Network of Sikh Organisations (NSO), Britain's largest representative body of Sikhs

SUMMARY

    — The Prevent Strategy is seriously flawed as it does not address the root causes of religious conflict and extremism.

    — The government's engagement with religious communities is badly skewed by over-focussing on Islamic extremism. This has produced a sense of unfair targeting within the Muslim community, and a corresponding sense of marginalisation among those of other faiths. Sikhs are particularly conscious of the negative rebound of Islamic extremism on many turban wearing Sikhs and our places of worship.

    — The old story about "crisis in theatre-government to act", has now been replaced by "crisis in religion-government starts preaching". Government and local government are not experts on religion and should avoid the temptation to lead and direct the faith agenda. This leading is currently being done by the deployment of government and local government funding to favoured projects and groups on the basis of questionable criteria. The role of both government and local government should be confined to ensuring all communities are given equitable treatment on the provision of goods and services and that all people of different faiths and cultures respect the norms of civilised society.

DETAILED CONCERNS

1.   Skewed Consequences of Prevent

  1.1  Sikhs are extremely concerned that the "Prevent" strategy and similar well-meaning government initiatives aimed at reducing violent extremism are based on a highly questionable premise: that funding initiatives aimed at general community cohesion will address deeper underlying causes of extremism. These initiatives, aimed at the Islamic community, rather than tackling underlying issues are producing a sense of "victimisation among Muslims and a growing sense of resentment and marginalisation in other religious communities.

  1.2  While the Prevent Agenda and similar initiatives aimed at the Muslim community are designed to assist it to combat extremism, these are interpreted by many Muslims as their faith being singled out and blamed as the source of all extremism, and evidence of widespread Islamaphobia.This sense of alienation, however misplaced, plays into the hands of those in the Muslim community with an extremist agenda. Importantly, it also feeds and gives cause to right wing extremists in a way that can lead to a measure of civic unrest.

2.   Root Causes of Religious Extremism

  2.1  The view of the UK Sikhs is that extremism, religious or otherwise, arises from a desire of those involved to push their beliefs onto others, even by threat of force; the rationale behind this being that their views carry unique truth and legitimacy. An added reason for religious extremism is an arrogant assumption that "this is what God wants us to do".

3.   Combating Bigotry

  3.1  What commonly passes for religion is a mix of ethical teachings mixed, often beyond recognition, in questionable culture and superstition. In most faith groupings, Sikhs included, perverse cultural practice that inhibits community cohesion is sometimes given more importance than ethical teaching.

  3.2  Those seeking power in religious communities often misrepresent or distort religious teachings and blur the distinction between cultural practices and ethical teachings to suit their own ideological agenda. A true "Prevent Agenda" should tackle such distortions with the active involvement of religious leaders. The experience to date is that most Muslim leaders, other than providing occasional lip service, have done little in this direction. They, and their counterparts in other faiths, should actively condemn attempts by zealots to push their views onto others. We all have the right to believe what we want, but any attempt to push our views on others seriously undermines the cause of true community cohesion. This is particularly serious on university campuses, where, despite Sikh, Jewish and Hindu concerns being relayed to government ministers, extreme Islamic proselytising, including the crude denigration of other faiths, continues unabated.

  3.3  It is more than a year since the publication of the government's "Preventing Violent Extremism" which correctly recognized that "violent extremism is most likely to occur where extremists can act uncontested, away from mainstream voices and competing ideas. This can apply both to ……. prisons, universities…".The evidence to date is that little has been done on university campuses to combat increasing radicalisation and extremism and, despite a vast increase in funding, it is the view of the Prison Chaplaincy, including the Muslim Adviser, the situation in prisons has become worse with aggressive and intimidating behaviour being shown to those of other faiths.

4.   Conclusion

  While a small measure of superficial community cohesion can be gained by funding initiatives to reduce disadvantage and encourage different faiths to meet together in social and cultural activities, underlying tensions can only be dissipated by open and honest dialogue to show the essential beliefs and aspirations of different communities have much in common. Focussing on such commonalities while at the same time addressing root causes of extremism will add considerable strength to the Prevent Agenda.

September 2009





 
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