Let us see if we can work out what might have driven Usman Khan to cellotape knives to his hands in an effort to be Wolverine.
According to Abul Taher and Harry Cole in the Daily Mail, the arrangements for Mr Khan’s supervision where as follows….
“His
licence was overseen by a panel known as Multi-Agency Public Protection
Arrangements (MAPA), including officials from probation services, the
deradicalisation programme Prevent and the local council.
He
also agreed to be mentored by the Desistance and Disengagement
Programme involving visits from an imam tasked with picking up signs of
extremism.”
Sorry… I was just trying to work out if the Labour candidate for Falkirk, Safia Ali, is the same Safia Ali who has been working for the Amina Muslim Women’s Rescorce Centre…. it can’t be…
And this Prevent strategy lark… let’s see what the Muslim Council of Britain had to say about it in 2017…
“ For example, we can see that “Islamist” extremism makes up 65% (4,997 people) of all Prevent referrals — down from 70% in 2015 — and “extreme rightwing” extremism makes up 10% (759 people), down from 15% in 2015.
Crunching the numbers, this means that Muslims have an approximate 1 in
500 chance of having been referred to Prevent last year, approximately 40 times more likely than someone who is not a Muslim. The threat, quantified by the number of terror arrests, is approximately five times greater from “Islamist” terrorism compared to “extreme rightwing” terrorism.”
Or to put it another way, I don’t see editorials in the Guardian and the Independent wringing their hands and saying David Copeland’s sentence “was simply too tough for one so young.”
I also found the letter Mr Khan wrote in 2012 intriguing. In it he states that he wanted to “learn Islam and its teachings” through a “deradicalidation course” Presumably this is why he was seeing a clairvoyant Imam: trained in the art of detecting extremism.
But what interested me more than cracking the usual jokes - like wouldn’t it have been better to send round the local CofE vicar if you wanted to steer him away from religion — was this Learning Together outfit who were holding the seminar that sent him round the bend.
“ Yesterday’s Learning Together conference, which was described as “a day to celebrate, connect and collaborate”,
was attended by prisoners and probation staff, alongside students,
academics and practitioners within the fields of criminology and
rehabilitation. Everyone who had been involved in a Learning Together
partnership across the UK was invited to attend.”
“A day to celebrate, connect and collaborate,”… is that the sound of tamborines I hear?
This is a chap that was a follower of Anjem Choudary (the bloke who at one time was on the tele almost as much hate preacher Owen Jones (alright Owen’s hate army haven’t quite exploded yet, but give them time)). Mr Khan was quoted at his trial as saying, “ ‘Bro,
these kuffar, yeah, you know these flipping dogs, yeah, these scabby
kuffar, bruv, they need to get dealt with, bruv. Because they haven’t
got the fear inside them no more, man.’
Oh yeah I forgot… ‘kuffar’ isn’t an offensive term, it’s a cultural expression… haven’t you got that through your thick heads yet? Islam means peace, all that government money flowing through charities must prove it.
Not
that I suggesting the banning of words would solve the issue, in fact
banning words is generally entirely counter productive. Quite the
opposite, as they act as a useful signifier —you know like what they are
meant to.
But back to Learning Together, let’s have a look and see who is involved…. only joking… let’s have a look at Learning Together, let’s learn together if you will.
First we have Amy Ludlow, Welcome Amy, don’t be afraid, this is a safe space, we are all friends here. Perhaps you could tell us something about yourself…
“ Amy Ludlow
is a College Teaching Officer and Fellow in Law at Gonville and Caius
and Affiliated Lecturer at the Faculty of Law. Together with Ruth
Armstrong she is co-founder and convenor of ‘Learning Together’, an
innovative educational partnership between the University of Cambridge,
Institute of Criminology and Her Majesty’s Prisons. Her research
interests include the procurement and privatisation of public services,
the enforcement of labour rights by migrant workers and experiences and
impacts of prison environments on staff and prisoners.”
Well
that is straight forward enough, and you are wearing a lovely shade of
blue if I may say… charming… absolutely charming… oh sorry was I
staring…
Next
we have Ruth. Ruth is the current Miss Llandudno, her vital statistics
are never mind, none of your business, you are standing on my foot, and
she enjoys horse riding and playing the harmonica… welcome Ruth. Perhaps
you could give a brief introduction…
“ Ruth Armstrong
is a British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Institute of
Criminology and a College Research Associate at St John’s College.
Together with Amy Ludlow she is co-founder and convenor of ‘Learning
Together’, an innovative educational partnership between the University
of Cambridge, Institute of Criminology and Her Majesty’s Prisons. Her
research interests include how people rebuild their lives after being
convicted of a criminal offence, the role of mentors and faith
communities in this process and the nature and experience of trust in
prison and post-release.”
Well
that’s a little more difficult for the layman -ahem- laythem like
myself to understand, a few too many big words. But I’m sure I will be
able to keep up with you two Crackers as the program progresses. I do have a little knowledge in this area, I watched Going Straight with Ronnie Barker.
So what is the program?
No
wait… hang on I am trying to understand the title… don’t bring in more
conveners yet…. you are the power, you are the people creating
inequality… answer me… don’t just wheel in another robot….
“ Jo-Anne Dillabough
is Reader in the Sociology of Youth and Global Cultures (Education),
University of Cambridge, and Chair and Convener of Education, Equality
and Development. Her interest in this CRASSH project stems from recent
research she has conducted on links between youth, surveillance and
securitization pertaining to disadvantaged youth who are targeted by
police or security officials in impoverished urban communities in South
Africa and the UK. This work suggests that the heightened surveillance
of young people often undermines their successful engagement with
education and places constraints on the development of fundamental
capabilities for living a ‘crime’ free existence. Drawing primarily on
the work of Hannah Arendt, she is therefore interested in understanding
how policing practices and surveillance undermine young people’s
potential for positive collective unity with others and their access to
fundamental human rights.”
Wait… what? No hold on, what’s a CRASSH project?
Who are you?
“ Michelle Ellefson
is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology & Education and a Bye-Fellow at
Gonville & Caius College. Her research interests are in cognition,
neuroscience, child development, and education, integrating them into a
multi-disciplinary research programme aimed at improving math and
science education. Her current research projects focus on the role of
higher order cognitive skills in school learning. These skills seem
important beyond just school learning — but also childhood behaviour and
risk for juvenile or adult incarceration. From the perspective of this
project, she’s interested in how supporting the development of these
skills in childhood could prevent imprisonment as well as considering
ways that providing opportunities to improve these skills in the prison
population might improve later outcomes and reduce recidivism.”
Excuse
me lady, the word is maths, maths, not math. I know spell-checkers
don’t speak English but you have to fight the power. Come on now. Let’s
be transversive in the digital fiefdom. Let’s strike a blow for
noncoersive disinclusive matrixonal norms.
Oh, they’ve gone. Don’t these people ever listen to anyone but themselves.
Maybe if I run I can catch up with them in Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building. A big woman that Alison Richard,
big shoulders. She started on the hod. Worked her way up through the
mixer to be foreman. Of course when she got a touch of the old trouble,
she went into quantity surveying: never looked back…it was her neck you
see… oh here we are… and there’s Mexican nibbles too…
“ CRASSH is not reponsible for the content of external websites.” I should think so too… these boffins can’t control everything (though they would like too).
I’ll just take a seat… is this seat taken? Good Lord, aren’t you George Carey? Rowan Williams, Rowan Williams,
that’s right. I always admired the way you gave up show business to
commit your life to disproving the existence of God. It couldn’t have
been easy. Especially with you having a bit with Pam Dawber. Here, do you think that Michelle woman, the maths teacher, do you think she looks a bit like Pam Dawber?
No you’re right. It’s difficult to tell in this light with her clothes on.
Do you know, it has been an ambition to tell my favourite story about George Brown
to a monkey… primate… primate… well ex-primate I suppose you are now.
But then aren’t we all primates: but without the hair: and the upper
body strength: and bigger genitals.
Yes,
so George Brown is on a trade mission to Peru: and he liked a bit of
drink did old George. So he’s at the state banquet, well on the way, and
he turns to the person next to him, and says, “my dear you look
ravishing in that red dress.” To which the person replies, “my dear Mr
Brown, I’m the arch-bishop of Lima.”
No, you’re right, this is not the time or place for such humour. What is this seminar about?… oh it’s called, “Curating Kinship: Forging Spaces of Learning and Encounter.” So it’s about moving the chairs round then.
Now,
you’ll forgive me if this all sounds like a feminist Quaker meeting,
and I do urge you to listen to the recording of the event in 2015, if
only to get a taste of what might have gone on in Fishmonger’s Hall.
The Subversive Good: Disrupting Power, Transcending Inequalities, was a full on program of events… there was, “ Learning Together: Education that is …” … and, “ Free me: Education as the Practice of Freedom” … and if that doesn’t float your boat, try, “ Person-Centred Social Science — Who is the Last Poet Standing?”. I mean what axe-murder or would be jihadi wouldn’t want to join in?
Perhaps share best practice. Maybe do a bit of networking.
You can see it now, Usman Khan kitted out in his VOG-5M (sans explosives, because his probation officer won’t allow homebrew in the bath), knives taped to each hand, stood at the lectern offering his views on the appeal court system, “rah
bruv, like yah gotta gas em up dem kuffar behind the trees, get them
vexed, you got me. And when them kuffar dogs is proper scared bruv,
they’ll come out. It’s the kuffar man, the scabby kuffar. What you
laughing at bruv? I say. All cool. Cos they respect me now. I got ’em
proper gassed up and laughing. They like me bruv, they like me. They
respect me so much they let me out bruv. They let me out. Them Jews they
own everything and anyone, I read it in the book.”
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