I worked at Edinburgh University until 2014. All staff were required to report, under the Prevent program, any signs of radicalisation. Of course nobody ever did. However, there was a well publicised case at Nottingham University a few years ago when a PhD student borrowed a book on Al Qaeda training and recruitment as part of his research. He was reported and arrested, along with his supervisor. He was held under terror laws for 6 days before the charges were dismissed. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/nottingham-scholar-held-for-6-days-under-anti-terror-law/402188.article <https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/nottingham-scholar-held-for-6-days-under-anti-terror-law/402188.article>
At Edinburgh, as everywhere else in the UK, all staff are required to report if their non-EU students have not be sighted for a period of time. In some institutions this is as little as two hours. At Edinburgh half a day was given as guidance. This requirement is part of the UKs visa laws for non-EU visitors on certain visas, including students. Students who are reported as missing (after even two hours) will be reprimanded by both the institution and the UK border police. If the student repeats the behaviour they can be deported or arrested and charged under the provisions of the law. Any staff member who fails to report a missing student can also be arrested and charged under the provisions of the law. I’m now working in Australia where no such laws exist. Australia has more insidious laws, such as those affecting asylum seekers who do not arrive through official routes (eg: governmental programs). Such refugees are arrested as illegal migrants and subsequently incarcerated indefinitely without trial in off-shore holding (prison) camps in places like Manus (a small island near New Guinea) and Nauru (a small Pacific island nation of dubious governance). Recently the PNG High Court declared Manus illegal under the PNG constitution and the government has ordered it closed. This leaves the Australian government in a quandary as to what to do with the incarcerated. It’s good to watch them squirm - but they will simply legislate the problem away. On TV here there are also advertisements telling people to watch out for suspicious behaviour and to report it to police. The ads show a person at a bus stop seeing a man with a bag with loose money in it and another of a middle-eastern looking man looking at a terror related web-page on his laptop in a cafe. No racial profiling there then… Michael needs to be careful. His college will probably, like most, have a clause in his employment contract stating that if he brings the institution into disrepute he can be disciplined and fired. Bringing this issue into the public would fit under such a clause. There is no legal framework in the UK for free speech, nor for academics. If I was Michael I would already have hired a lawyer, partly to defend myself but mainly for advice. He’s on thin ice... best Simon Simon Biggs si...@littlepig.org.uk http://www.littlepig.org.uk http://amazon.com/author/simonbiggs http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/staff/homepage.asp?name=simon.biggs http://www.eca.ed.ac.uk/school-of-art/simon-biggs > On 1 May 2016, at 05:02, Johannes Birringer <johannes.birrin...@brunel.ac.uk> > wrote: > > dear all > never heard of it. when doing some fact checking, 'prevent' seems to have > been a government counter terrorist initiative, > for the past ten years, not entirely successful I read. But in the arts and > educational arenas where I work, it's not a factor nor has anyone > ever approached me to do any such reporting on any 'signs of radicalization' > ; our duties as tutors are educational and pastoral in the sense of caring > for the > well being and creative and intellectual growth of our students (and an > anti-muslim policy, that you discern, Michael, > would be completely unsupportable and unsupported at my school). > respectfully, Johannes > > ________________________________ > From: Alan Sondheim <sondh...@panix.com> > To: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity > <netbehaviour@netbehaviour.org> > Sent: Saturday, April 30, 2016 5:03 PM > Subject: Re: [NetBehaviour] email about "prevent" > > from what I gather, I agree; can you say more, for the non-British on the > list, exactly what Prevent is? racial profiling in schools? > > thanks, Alan > > On Sat, 30 Apr 2016, ruth catlow wrote: > >> Hi Michael, >> I appreciate your response to this process, and for highlighting so clearly >> what is at stake. I no longer hold a permanent post in a Higher Education >> institution but have been shocked to read in the press, and to hear from >> those of my peers who do, about increasing pressure to monitor and report >> (and so impinge on the freedom of expression of) learners. This is part of a >> wider threat (along with the tactics of the gutter press) to the development >> of the critical and discursive faculties in the UK public at large. >> >> Sigh! >> Ruth >> >> On 29/04/16 20:27, Michael Szpakowski wrote: >> Hi all >> the college where I teach has enthusiastically taken to heart >> the government's Islamophobic "prevent" strategy. Last week they >> made it compulsory for every further education student to attend >> ( and I am not making this up) a puppet show about "prevent" and >> put pressure on HE lecturers to pressure their students to >> attend. >> >> In response I sent I sent a carefully worded e mail to our >> management and copied in the UCU ( the lecturers union) >> membership and my students too, whom I regard, perhaps >> unfashionably, as being capable of making their own minds up >> about things. >> I have now been summoned to a meeting with HR and a senior >> manager. >> I am chronicling events on Flickr. I would really appreciate >> support - at the moment simply in terms of favouriting and >> commenting upon the posts but it could well come to some sort of >> campaign if they attempt to discipline me. Here's my original >> email: >> >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/szpako/26601297832/ >> >> >> and here's the latest exchange: >> >> https://www.flickr.com/photos/szpako/26716002535/ >> >> please feel free to circulate this >> >> many thanks >> michael >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NetBehaviour mailing list >> NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org<mailto:NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org> >> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >> >> >> >> -- >> Co-founder Co-director >> Furtherfield >> >> www.furtherfield.org >> >> +44 (0) 77370 02879 >> Meeting calendar - http://bit.ly/1NgeLce >> Bitcoin Address 197BBaXa6M9PtHhhNTQkuHh1pVJA8RrJ2i >> >> Furtherfield is the UK's leading organisation for art shows, labs, & debates >> around critical questions in art and technology, since 1997 >> >> Furtherfield is a Not-for-Profit Company limited by Guarantee >> registered in England and Wales under the Company No.7005205. >> Registered business address: Ballard Newman, Apex House, Grand Arcade, Tally >> Ho Corner, London N12 0EH. > >> >> > > == > email archive http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/ > web http://www.alansondheim.org <http://www.alansondheim.org/> / cell > 718-813-3285 > music: http://www.espdisk.com/alansondheim/ > current text http://www.alansondheim.org/tx.txt > > == > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org<mailto:NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org> > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > > > -- > This message has been scanned for viruses and > dangerous content by MailScanner<http://www.mailscanner.info/>, and is > believed to be clean. > > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
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