Rochdale praised for work to prevent violent extremism

Reporter: Laura Wild
Date online: 27 February 2010

An article, written for the Financial Times ‘Reportage’ section, titled ‘Preventing violent extremism in Britain’ discusses how people and organisations in Rochdale are working to ‘prevent’ extremism.

The introduction to the piece set the scene, on Milkstone Road, Deeplish, and proceeds to describe one night in November.

Sam Knight, wrote about Irfan Christi explaining the different strains of Islam and speaking to the two dozen young boys in the room and the ‘straight path.’

The writer proceeded to praise Muhammad Irfan Faizi Chishti, he is described as ‘the model of a modern mainstream Muslim’ and commended for his work in the world of “Prevent”, a strange, much-contested landscape of policy initiatives, community projects and spies that has been forming between the state and Muslim communities since the London bombings in July 2005.

“Prevent” – the full title, “Preventing Violent Extremism”, is an attempt to get to the roots of terrorism and hateful ideologies in Britain.

The Financial Times (FT) then wrote about what Imam Chishti does in his mosque to prevent violent extremism.  The first port of call the article says was a new set of soundproof doors.

Chishti told how he only got only a fraction of the £20,000 in local 'Prevent' money he applied for. He spent it on the doors, so girls’ classes could be taught at the same time as the boys’. “It was a handout,” he told the FT and he put the snub down to local politics.

"Councils have considerable freedom in how they deliver Prevent, and officials in Rochdale didn’t want to put too much funding into solely Muslim institutions, for fear of making community relations worse.

"This disagreement – whether preventing violent extremism is a matter of 'bringing people together' or a more targeted, ideological battle – is one you hear again and again in Prevent. It derives from the policy’s central conundrum: whether you can knit together mistrusting communities while weeding out troublemakers at the same time."

The article concluded its section on Rochdale by discussing the best initiatives, it praised a DVD about life as a Muslim in Rochdale by the “Don’t hate us, rate us” youth group.”