Launch of centre for identities & social justice, Goldsmiths
I was doing a search on myself and this came up. Reminding me that I had spoken at the launch of the Centre for Identities & Social Justice, alongside Sunny Hundal and others, in October 2011.
I will have to dig out my speech, but the gist of what I said was that British Muslim young people were more than likely to be marginalised, suffered from fractured identity and had a significant lack of access to opportunities that ensured good psychological well being. Government funding under the prevent programme meant that much needed funds were available for Muslim communities to capacity build internally and begin to address these issues. Thereby promoting social cohesion and a sense of belonging for young British Muslims. However the lens of securitisation through which this funding came from, also meant that young Muslims felt pathologised and were often problematised.
Care needed to be taken to achieve the right balance of how this funding was used positively, and not to ultimately isolate young Muslims further. Through the discussion and debate, I agreed that a civil liberties approach could safeguard against this.
The socio-political landscape has changed a lot since I spoke at that launch. Prevent funding now focuses exclusively on counter-terrorism. And the coalition government only funds projects which tackle extremism, including far right ideology, and Muslim extremists.
Akeela Ahmed MBE 