Battle to save children from extremists in city revealed
Home Secretary backs move to protect Midland women vulnerable to ISIS message
HARD-HITTING initiatives to tackle extremism in Birmingham have seen girls who have escaped the clutches of ISIS revealing their harrowing stories first hand to schoolchildren here.
Home Secretary Theresa May this week saw for herself how community groups in Birmingham were engaged in the battle against extremism and terror- ism here. City head teacher Kamal Hanif, who is leading the battle against extremism in schools following the Trojan Horse scandal, welcomed the Home Secretary’s visit to the Custard Factory, in Digbeth
Mr Hanif, the award-winning head of Waverley School in Bordesley Green, introduced Mrs May to organisations as they shared their expertise on tackling extremism and creating social cohesion.
The visit came in the wake of a series of well-publicised cases, including the three London schoolgirls who travelled to Syria in February to join the terror organisation.
Mr Hanif said: “The event is very much about looking at the work going on around the city, great work towards building community cohesion and challenging extremism.
“It is a good opportunity for the Home Secretary to see what we are doing and for us to network and learn from each other.
“Locally and nationally, there is quite a bit of work going on, schools have recognised that we need to collaborate on these issues.”
One project, Upstanding Neighbourhoods, this year brought girls who had escaped ISIS-controlled Syria to speak about their ordeal to pupils at Saltley School.
Co-ordinator Kashan Amar explained the group used similar tactics to ISIS to get their anti-extremist message across, such as personal appeals and campaigns on social media.
He said: “The stories of those who escaped from ISIS in Syria and Iraq are harrowing. It is these which will challenge the ISIS propaganda.”
Another campaign saw members of the group challenge hate preacher Anjem Choudary during a rally in Small Heath earlier this year.
The group’s “Say No to Anjem Choudary” Facebook page has thousands of followers dedicated to challenging the extreme preacher’s narrative.
Kashan said: “We challenge him face to face when he comes to the city. He held a rally in Coventry Road during the election campaign.
“We had seven or eight people go down to challenge him – in particular, his claim that voting is anti-Islamic.”
The Home Secretary is to launch a new strategy in the autumn to tackle all forms of extremism, from Islamist groups like ISIS to neo-Nazi organisations and wanted to meet grass roots organisations to discuss that strategy.
She also launched a campaign on behalf of the Balsall Heath-based Odara group, which offers support to vulnerable women in the city – including raising awareness of the grooming tactics used by ISIS.
Ms May said although the Government was looking at introducing disruption orders to tackle some groups, legislation was not the only answer.
She added: “It is about groups, as we have seen here – people in their communities, volunteers coming forward, working together in partnership because the government can’t do this on its own.
“It is important we tackle all those people who are trying to put barriers between us.”
And she dismissed criticism that the Government’s own narrative had been far from clear, with the Prime Minister making comments about “swarms” of migrants while her message is one of cohesion.
“I think the Government’s narrative is very clear, we’re not demonising migrants.
“We have a very fine record in the UK of welcoming people who are genuinely fleeing persecution.
“But we are also clear that we have got an immigration process and policy which ensures we welcome the brightest and best to the UK but also deal with those trying to come here illegally.”