QUILLIAM SHRINKING

Demos blog

...reducing government funding makes some sense in respect of the review of the Prevent strand of counter-terrorism. With less money to go around, Prevent needs to be more focused on public safety – working primarily to target individuals who have adopted al-Qaeda ideology but have not acted on it. The Quilliam Foundation finds it difficult to access these people, and even more difficult when receiving government money...


UPDATE: new comment freshly laid by a curious "MUSA"

Im soooooo glad the quilliam foundation are almost finished. They was no good n the begining and no good at the end. InshaAllah nooooooooooooo one funds them.

could that be Musa Ahmet rejecting them for a second time? 3 part video of us discussing the launch of Quilliam here. And a press TV report from the launch. They since phoned Musa to see if he could be of any use but he decided against joining up with them. As I have said before, I have no opinion. There always seemed to be confusion about the point of Quilliam. Certainly nothing we saw at the launch seemed geared towards those at risk of turning to extremism. What is a "think tank" in terms of anti-extremism?

(update: Musa's comment is now missing for some reason)

Harry's Place has a perspective:

...In many important ways, Quilliam has won the battle. There is now a broader understanding of the work of Islamist political parties active in the United Kingdom...

There is? What for? And how much did that cost again?

More think tanking or thinking tank from Quilliam- How to Respond to Al-Qaeda ?

...In 2003, the Metropolitan Police evicted Abu Hamza and his followers from the mosque, installing individuals from the Muslim Association of Britain, an Islamist group with links to the Muslim Brotherhood, in their place...

err... oh forget it.
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XMAS IS EVIL!

Via Pickled Politics, check out Xmas is Evil here.

In the church I grew up in our pastor used to preach a lot of what Mr Choudhary et al are saying. The same sermon every year- That people had forgotten the real meaning of Christmas. They had taken the "Christ" out of Christmas and now use it as an excuse for, well a lot of the evils mentioned here.

It was only much later that I found out that it was actually Christians who stole the yuletide festivity for their own, and the real meaning of the whole thing was to have a big blow out on the shortest day of the year and hope that what you had left would last you till something grew out of the ground again!

I feel very lucky to be alive now, in the UK. I hope we all enjoy our good fortune over this festive period and find ways to share it beyond these borders in the New Year.
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Dead Inspiring

DEAD

Another ominous story, another trawl through forty hours of tapes? As usual this guy looks familiar.

Abdaly spent much of the past decade in Britain and appears to have been radicalised there..

I am glad I decided not to pursue journalism after all. I don't like any of this. Any news connected to this is not going to be good news.

Some of it is interesting news though. Remember Mahmoud Abu Rideh? Held up as an example of misused control orders? (Guardian also).. Said in one interview Bin Laden was a "decent man"? Allegedly killed in Afghanistan fighting alongside the Taliban.

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JODY

The debate about what has been happening to Jody McIntyre and this subsequent Ben Brown interview is very interesting. I must admit I am siding with Jody about the F.I.T. squad -not surprisingly but I am siding with this geezer in The Telegraph about the interview.

As a representative of the BBC the guy had to robustly interview Jody. It helps Jody. Put it this way- what would the right wing press be saying about the BBC if he didn't? For Jody to be able to answer questions like this on TV helps his case, should he choose to pursue one.

Obviously I have seen the enthusiasm of the F.I.T. squad before, its not been a secret here that they know who I am and ask silly questions because they think they are leaning on me for something which is DEFINITELY in their own heads. They also do this to people known to be violent. Jody says he believes in revolution. the F.I.T squad should ask him what he means by this. I am sure they will get all the information they need without pulling him out of his wheel chair and dragging him across the street. Or they could read his blog.

They aren't very good at distinguishing actual threats from those they or their bosses perceive are they. Leaning on someone with cerebral palsy like this they have no fucking excuse whatsoever. The anti terror squad asked questions politely and calmly. Mind you that is probably because I am a honky. The F.I.T squad are a bit thick and exceed their remit. They behave like demented paparazzi. Pushing it too far and being caught on camera should be good for them. I hope they learn something for once. Jody can answer, and the way he answers is a lesson to all of us. Tomlinson couldn't.

Personally I have seen a valiant attempt from the Beeb, in a BBC manner of course- to pursue issues of Police brutality and issues of disorder involved in these protests. Maybe I am getting old or something. I have noticed white bits in my beard.

I hope this generation achieve change, and aren't distracted by policemen with these attitudes like so many of my generation were.


Jody's version of events is here
Richard Littlejohn here

Some curiously extensive stuff from The Daily Mail. Including an image of just how frontline Jody was.

...More than 180 people have been arrested by police investigating rioting during the series of protests against rising student tuition fees, it emerged today.

Senior officers said the vast majority of the 182 suspects were aged between 17 and 25 and have never been involved in violence or criminal acts before...


also breakfast news


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I read it in The Sun (who owe me money)

JAILED terror fanatic Abu Hamza will today ask to be freed claiming he is "too sick" to remain behind bars.

The hook-handed rabble-rouser's lawyers will produce a doctor's report claiming his stumps have become infected while in jail.

Other medical problems include diabetes, high blood pressure and a skin condition...

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Have a read of this..

The path into terrorism in the name of Islam is often described as a process of radicalisation. But to be radical is not necessarily to be violent. Violent radicals are clearly enemies of liberal democracies, but non-violent radicals might sometimes be powerful allies.



This report is a summary of two years of research examining the difference between violent and non-violent radicals in Europe and Canada. It represents a step towards a more nuanced understanding of behaviour across radicalised individuals, the appeal of the al-Qaeda narrative, and the role of governments and communities in responding.

will have a read and get back to you..
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KATHY

My old Republican buddy Kathy on Wikileaks:

This post might be the most rebellious of all the posts I've written. Maybe because it came about from a discussion with my oldest son, who in his younger years was known to rebel.

My son's take on Julian Assange is that it doesn't matter who he is, why he is doing this, or his past. What matters is that our leaders are doing things that are wrong, maybe illegal, and exposing them is not a bad thing. He doesn't buy the argument that it puts our soldiers lives in danger. He says that is what they always say, but when has a soldier died because we discovered things like this? He also asked why the administration didn't work with Assange to redact the possible dangerous information? Assange agreed to do that, but they refused. They didn't want any of it published. Which is understandable, but when you know it's going to happen anyway, wouldn't you do what you can to limit the danger to our troops? Also, my son seems to think the media is focusing way too much on Assange and his personal life. Why don't they focus more on what the cables say about how our government and other governments operate?

All good questions that got me to thinking...

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Tell it like it is...

Really Sobering Dispatches doco. Tells you what it is like living in a place where there is a terrorist attack every four days or so. This doco follows the Police and the surviving victims and their relatives.

Also- I have never seen it before, but the third series of The Family is excellent. A real lesson for me in documentary story telling.
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