FINAL WEEK SATIRE EDITION | THE END OF STUDENT APATHY | THE ART OF MAKING FRIENDS
TheBeaver
19.03.2013
Newspaper of the LSE Students’ Union FREE
Rayhan Uddin
On the backdrop of increasing opposition to the Government’s counter terrorism strategy, and in particular the Home Office scheme “Prevent”, the LSESU Anti-Racism Officer Mohamed Harrath convened a conference on “Campus Extremism, Freedom and Security.” The idea was to promote dialogue between some of the key stakeholders, and discuss how best the government can engage with Muslim students who many feel have been unfairly discriminated against by “Prevent.” 7KH ஊ UVW VSHDNHU ZDV Doctor Phyllis Starkey, a former MP who was Chair of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee, which carried out a detailed review assessing the impact of Prevent. She spoke of how the government tried to “adopt Islamic theological positions, creating a more moderate form of Islam” which was then used to “spy on fellow Muslims”. The VFKHPH LGHQWLஊ HG SULVRQV and universities as being “hotbeds” for developing extremist views. Starkey, however, was keen to point out “the hard evidence that university campuses are hotbeds for extremism is very weak”. She concluded that the government needs WR ஊ QG D EHWWHU EDODQFH IRU ensuring the security of all citizens, whilst protect the rights of individuals. Next was a panel discussion on ‘Prevent and UK campuses’ with Jonathan Birdwell, head of the Citizens Programme at the think tank Demos; Professor Ian Cram, head of the Law School at the University of Leeds; and Hicham Yezza, the chief editor of &HDVHஊ UH PDJD]LQH 'U .DL Spiekermann, lecturer in Political Philosophy at LSE, chaired the discussion. Birdwell stated the importance of “distinguishing between radical views that
lead to violence and radical views that do not”. He went on to say that banning extremist speakers inadvertently glamorises them and that instead we should allow them to speak, and come up with credible counter arguments. Professor Cram echoed many of Birdwell’s views, adding that in the UK a stronger defense was needed on “unpopular and dissenting” free speech. Hicham <H]]D WKHQ WRRN WR WKH RRU to speak about his personal experience of Prevent, having been falsely arrested and detained for seven days for downloading a copy of the al-Qaeda manual, which at the time was available on the public domain, for his PhD studies. He concluded that Prevent has not made people feel any safer, and that since its inception, the scheme is likely to have done more harm than good. The next speaker was Trevor Phillips, former Chair of Equality and Human Rights Commission. His talk centred on tolerance, and how “the equality agenda must respect our diverse beliefs and preferences” and that “the biggest challenge is not how we live on this planet, but how we live with each other”. The discussion then moved on to the ‘Student Perspective: working together to create cohesive campuses’ with a panel discussion involving Pete Mercer, vice-President of the National Union of Students (NUS) and Omar Ali, President of Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS). Dr Jasmine Gani, of the International Relations department at LSE, chaired the talk. Mercer spoke of the NUS’s opposition to the Prevent strategy and how it victimises Muslim students. He pointed out that a successful motion was passed at the NUS Conference 2012, condemning the Prevent agenda. Omar Ali then spoke of the increasing
LSESU
Extremism conference at LSE
demonisation of Muslims in universities. He noted that “events are cancelled, sermons are censored, and prayer rooms are closed” leading to Muslims not having the same opportunities to express themselves as others. He also condemned government ministers such as Theresa May who unfairly attack organisations such as FOSIS. To this he said, “ISOCs and FOSIS are the mainstream of Muslim students. Attacking the mainstream will only push students to the fringes, which is counter-productive”. 7KH ஊ QDO VSHDNHU WR DG dress the conference was Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari MBE, who among other things, was on the Organising Committee of the London Olympic and Paralympic Games. He stated that young Muslims played a huge part in contributing to the Olympic spirit last summer; and that in universities, Muslim students are at the forefront of campaigning, raising money for charity and organising debates. He went on to say that when these
students are seen through the prisms of “securitisation”, this poses the risk of “alienating a generation of young Muslims”. Dr Bari
concluded his address by praising the Students Union for hosting this conference at the LSE, where we “aim to understand things”.
Tech troubles knock out LSE internet Ira Lorandou
Last Monday, for just over an hour LSE’s internet access was out of action. There was a frantic rush as students were forcibly disrupted from working towards their looming deadlines. SU General Secretary Elect Jay Stoll tweeted, “Why is Moodle/ LSE For You down?! Absolutely unacceptable. Deadlines running wild at this time of the year. SORT IT OUT.” A resident of the postgraduate hall Sidney Webb House, commented that “in light of end of the end of term stress, facing even a moment of internet shutdown is extremely detrimental”. According to a spokesperson from the Information Management and Technology department (IMT), this was due to a failure “on part of our
PDLQ ஊ UHZDOO ZKLFK PDQDJHV and controls all internet access from the LSE network), DQG WKHQ RI RXU EDFNXS ஊ UH wall which did not automatically take over.” Some phones were also out of action for this short time. Service was reVWRUHG ZKHQ WKH EDFNXS ஊ UH wall became operational and the primary one “is now due to be replaced next week.” IMT FRQஊ UPHG WKDW DW QR WLPH ZDV the security of the network compromised. Realising that there was weak communication to students they also stated that they are “reviewing how we can communicate better with our students on the rare occaVLRQV ZKHQ VLJQLஊ FDQW GLVUXS tions happen to the IT services here at the LSE”.
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