Quilliam e-update: February – April 2010

Publications

Quilliam’s Progress Report 2009-2010, Making Our Country Better, Safer and Prouder was published in April 2010. Over the past year, Quilliam has continued to help shape the debate surrounding terrorism and extremism by working to help the public recognize that many factors including ideology, identity issues, and perceived grievances lead to radicalization. This report outlines Quilliam’s achievements in its second year – to see the report in full, click here.

Reprogramming British Muslims - A Study of the Islam Channel by Talal Rajab was published in March 2010. This report was created after three months of studying the most-watched programmes and identifies three recurring problems seen in all of the programmes monitored: the promotion of backward attitudes towards women, the intolerance of other religions and non-Wahhabi forms of Islam, and the promotion of extremism through featured individuals and terminology used in programming.  Quilliam called on Ofcom, the UK broadcasting regulator, to launch a full investigation into the Islam Channel’s output and noted that the Islam Channel is wasting a valuable opportunity to positively impact on British Muslims by promoting a narrow-version of Islam instead of a message of diversity and tolerance. Most notably, the report received coverage in the Daily Mail, UAE-based The National and on the BBC.  To read the entire report, click here and for the Executive Summary, here.

Roundtables

Quilliam held a successful roundtable for policymakers and specialists in April entitled The Uighurs: China’s forgotten Muslims featuring Dr. Enver Tohti, Chairman of the Uighur Association and UK representative of the World Uighur Congress.  Dr. Enver Tohti explained the grievances of the Uighur people with the Chinese Government, the recent riots and current situation within China, and discussed what possibilities exist for reconcilement and resolution.  For full details of this event, click here.

Quilliam also held a roundtable on Re-programming British Muslims: A Study of the Islam Channel, hosted by the report’s author, Talal Rajab. Building on the findings in the report, the event was successful in allowing a frank and open discussion on the role the Islam Channel plays in British society, the ways in which the channel can improve its content and also on the general role so-called ‘minority-community media’ can play in aiding integration.

 
Training and Outreach

In March and April, Quilliam’s head of Outreach and Training, Ghaffar Hussain, delivered training sessions to senior Iraqi military officers on Islamist terrorism in Florida, and to Swiss law enforcement officials on Islamist recruitment in Bern. Quilliam staff have also given training sessions to the Ipswich Police, Staffordshire Police and Westminster Council.

Additionally, Co-Directors Maajid Nawaz and Ed Husain have spoken about their personal experiences within Islamist groups to diverse student audiences at a range of universities across the country, including Westminster University, the University of Oxford, King's College London, the London School of Economics and University College London.

Talks and Conferences

Quilliam staff have continued to speak at a range of events over the past three months at many locations both within the UK and abroad. Within the UK, Quilliam members have spoken at the 2010 Counter Terror Expo, to the UK Defence Academy, at the Media Diversity Institute and at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University.  In February, Maajid Nawaz gave Amnesty UK’s annual lecture at the University of Buckingham on “Pluralism: A weapon against intolerance.”

Within Europe, Quilliam staff have spoken to diplomats, army personnel, and law enforcement in Rome  and at the Europol Conference in The Hague. Outside of Europe, members of Quilliam have spoken to the New York Police Department, the Jamestown Foundation, the Center for Strategic International Studies and the US State Department’s Inter-Agency Strategic Communication Network, among others.  Quilliam employees have also taken part in delegations and spoken at conferences in Pakistan, Egypt, and Algeria.

Media

Quilliam continues to build on a strong relationship with local, national, and global media in order to pro-actively challenge extremism and promote greater tolerance, diversity and political pluralism. In particular, Quilliam was instrumental in promoting Dr Tahir al-Qadri’s anti-terrorism fatwa, which was launched in London in March and which received extensive coverage in the national and international media. 

Amongst the other most high-profile media appearances this quarter, Maajid Nawaz was featured on America’s prestigious CBS programme, “60 Minutes” in a programme entitled ‘Jihadists and "The Narrative"'. Maajid also wrote an editorial piece for Dawn, Pakistan’s most widely circulated English language newspaper, entitled ‘Dangerous ideologues’.  Quilliam staff have also been interviewed by, and contributed to, a wide range of media outlets across the world, including BBC Newsnight, Asharq al-Awsat, Al-Hayat, The New Statesman, The Jewish Chronicle, University College London’s student newspaper and BBC Radio 4’s Lent Talks. A complete list of articles and media appearances can be found here. 

International (Global Affairs Unit)

As part of the next phase of Quilliam’s counter-extremism activities in Pakistan, Quilliam has helped in efforts to set up a new website – khudi – which has been developed to engage directly with students across the country and to galvanise local support in challenging extremist narratives and fostering a democratic culture in Pakistan.  The site comprehensively details the approach that Quilliam uses – encouraging students to take an active role in speaking out against Islamist extremism and supporting values of democracy and pluralism.  Quilliam has also been working to launch the first ever inter-university campus magazine, providing a platform for debate around key issues of social and political importance in Pakistan. This magazine will be launched within the next few weeks.

In February, Maajid Nawaz addressed the Pakistan Young Leaders’ Conference in Islamabad, which brought together students from diverse areas of the country to promote youth participation, national leadership and discussion surrounding Pakistan’s prospects for the future.  Quilliam’s work in Pakistan has been profiled by CBS’s “60 Minutes”, BBC Newsnight, and several Pakistani newspapers.  For a full list of media appearances, click here.

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