Arzu argues that we need to join the dots and realise that the narratives of the UK and the west more broadly as ‘liberal’ ‘tolerant’ and ‘just’ are fictions that we have internalised. This week’s sentencing of the Filton Four, and the decision by the Court of Appeal to uphold the proscription
There is a lot of this happening. Figures on the left, anti-establishment figures, Muslims repeating these mantras: it is shocking that the state has ‘suddenly’ become authoritarian; that anti-terrorism laws are manifestly unjust; that political space has been forcibly shrunk. Arzu discusses how this outrage is undermining proper critical reflection and invisibalizing
Counter-Narrative to Islamophobia 3 (UK) looks at Contextualising the nature and level of ‘threat’ posed by political violence per se by reviewing the epistemology of current security policies. Find the full list of ten and their details here. This work was undertaken in 2017 – 18, and remains pertinent. The ten counter-narratives
Some notes on the arrest of the Israeli filmmaker and academic at the protest against the Israeli genocide on Friday 1st November 2024 under anti-terrorism laws. This is for my non-UK friends in particular. I wish I could say I am shocked or stunned. To do so would mean I still believe
From the landmark employment tribunal victory of Professor David Miller to the Safety of Rwanda Bill, recent events in the realm of UK law are revealing the political and legal discourses of unaccountable power and control. It’s been happening a while, but the transformation of the image of Kenneth (now Lord) Clarke,
Arzu discusses the proscription of the avowedly non-violent group Hizb ut-Tahrir by the UK government and what it means for dissenting voices in the UK Today’s proscription of Hizb u-Tahrir under the Terrorism Act 2000 is a new low, even for the UK. I wrote on 7 January that the push towards
As talk of the UK government’s desire to ‘define’ extremism resurfaces, Arzu looks at how this may or may not impact the coming year. I have decided to review certain of my older articles and comments for the coming year. How much of what I thought or found still holds? Have there
As narratives of belonging get narrower and narrower, Arzu Merali argues that Germany provides both worrying precedents as well as ways to move beyond the arguments that to be a citizen in the current age means to be and believe only one thing.* If this were a story or a play, there would
Arzu Merali interviewed on Real News Network about IHRC’s decision to no longer take part on consultations with the British government over anti-terrorism laws and so-called deradicalization Read the transcript below the video. SHARMINI PERIES: It’s The Real News Network. I’m Sharmini Peries, coming to you from Baltimore. The independent reviewer of
When there is no right way to review the wrong laws, diversity in counter-terrorism or policing leadership doesn’t matter* Despite – despite – everything, I think most civil society activists working on the anti-terror laws and its concomitant baggage will miss David Anderson QC, the outgoing independent reviewer of terrorism legislation. At