For over a decade, communities and politicians have discussed and debated Prevent – one of the four elements of CONTEST, the Government’s counter-terrorism strategy and policies aimed at challenging the rise of international terrorism and extremism, often citing the need to win the hearts and minds of impressionable young people – and in the main this debate has focused on Muslim communities who are also victims of terrorism.
Prevent practitioners work on the premise that vulnerability to radicalisation from a global jihadist perspective or from an extreme far-right perspective is very similar and see the risks as two sides of the same coin. We saw the attack on Finsbury Park mosque follow similar attack methodology to the Westminster and London Bridge attacks.
In Birmingham, the same local project has not only stopped young people from travelling to Syria or helped challenge extremist ideology, but has also supported a former member of the army who was targeted by far-right groups to help attack mosques in the city.
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