Showing posts with label Quilliam Foundation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quilliam Foundation. Show all posts
Friday, August 18, 2017
'We Are in the Midst of a Global Jihadist Insurgency' – Maajid Nawaz on Fox News
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Paxman Interviews Anjem Choudary in 2010 (Newsnight Archives)
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Who Is the Real Tommy Robinson?
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| Tommy Robinson, né Stephen Yaxley-Lennon |
“Going to prison was the best thing that ever happened to me,” declares Tommy Robinson. I am sitting in a hotel bar in Luton town centre, listening to him explain why he has quit the English Defence League. Before his imprisonment he had been receiving death threats from Islamists, and neo-Nazis were threatening to take over the EDL. As a result, he says, he was “drinking alcohol, going out three times a week, neglecting my wife. I thought I was dealing with the pressures of the English Defence League, but I was pretty much just bingeing my way through it.”
Short and stocky, like a welterweight grown pudgy between bouts, Robinson speaks with an understated manner that belies the intensity of his words. In January he was jailed for travelling to meet American EDL supporters in New York using somebody else’s passport, and spent eighteen weeks in solitary confinement after running into trouble with Muslim gangs on the inside. Those long hours in his cell were, he says, his first opportunity since 2009 to take stock. “And that’s when I started to question, where’s the EDL going? Because, you know, we march up and down this country, but what is it we want to get out of it? And how do we succeed?”
Multiple identities are a theme of Robinson’s career to date. His real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon; he adopted the alias “Tommy Robinson” in the early days of the EDL as protection, he says, against reprisals from Muslims. To many, he is little more than a cut-price demagogue in designer clobber who has spent four-and-a-half years inciting hatred against Muslims with his menacing and often violent rallies. To others, he is a misunderstood liberal unafraid of trampling cultural sensitivities while speaking up for “British values”. He now says he wants to become an advocate for moderation and dialogue by working with Quilliam, an anti-extremism think[-] tank. If he does so, it will be his most audacious transformation yet. » | Matt Rowland Hill | Friday, October 18, 2013
Monday, October 14, 2013
Tommy Robinson Link with Quilliam Foundation Raises Questions
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| Maajid Nawaz and Tommy Robinson |
For a few briefly awkward seconds last Tuesday, the press conference to mark Tommy Robinson's exit from the English Defence League was delayed, as his new-found Muslim allies in a counter-extremism thinktank struggled to open the door to the room of waiting television cameras and journalists.
It was an uncharacteristic glitch for Maajid Nawaz, co-founder of the Quilliam Foundation and a man frequently described as smooth and slick by those who have followed his public profile over the years since his transition from teenage gang member through to jailed Islamist extremist and, most recently, would-be Liberal Democrat MP.
However, senior figures working in the growing field of the study of counter-extremism and the rehabilitation of former extremists have been viewing its link-up with Robinson as a high-stakes gamble that has raised serious questions about the motivations of an organisation that has played a particularly controversial role.
If the latest accounts - for the financial year up to March 2012 - filed by the Quilliam Foundation are anything to go by, the high-profile injection of publicity also comes at a time when it may be facing challenging financial circumstances.
Two years after the Home Office began to wind down its funding for the organisation, those accounts show that Quilliam was facing mounting debts, while having little in the way of relative assets. Income from training, consultancy and publications were haemorrhaging, while its income from grants and donations fell from just over £900,000 in 2011 to £532,099 in 2012. » | Ben Quinn | Saturday, October 12, 2013
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Former EDL Leader Tommy Robinson Vows to Help Police Track Down 'Racists' within the Organisation and Says He's Sorry for Scaring British Muslims
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| Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, a.k.a. Tommy Robinson |
Tommy Robinson, who dramatically quit the English Defence League this week, has vowed to help police tackle racism within the organsation and has apologised for causing fear among British Muslims.
Mr Robinson, 30, said he would work with police to help them investigate racism in the organisation - known for its thuggish street protests and extremist followers.
Mr Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also said he was sorry for creating a 'us and them' culture and for causing fear among British Muslims.
Mr Robinson, who co-founded the group four years ago with Kevin Carroll who also left the group this week, said: 'I apologise for [creating] that fear.'
When asked about his claim that 'every single Muslim' was to blame for 'getting away' with the July 7 bombings, he also said 'I'm sorry'.
Mr Robinson said that his past inflammatory statements had often been fuelled by alcohol and the adrenaline rush of 'leading the biggest street protest movement in Europe.'
Giving reason for his decision to leave the group, Mr Robinson said he had been sobered by his 18-week stint in prison and by the experience of being shunned by parents when picking up his children at school.
He will now work with Maajid Nawaz, a former prominent member of the radical Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir and who heads the deradicalisation thinktank, the Quilliam Foundation. » | Lizzie Edmonds | Saturday, October 12, 2013
THE GUARDIAN: Ex-EDL leader Tommy Robinson says sorry for causing fear to Muslims: In Guardian interview, Robinson says he will talk to police to help them investigate dangerous racists in far-right group » | Shiv Malik | Friday, October 11, 2013
Wednesday, October 09, 2013
EDL Leader Tommy Robinson Quits
Related »
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
QUILLIAM FOUNDATION: Radical – My Journey from Islamist Extremism to A Democratic Awakening is the story of a British-Pakistani born and raised in Essex, Maajid Nawaz, who was recruited into Islamism as a teenager. Abandoning his love of hip hop culture, he joined Hizb al-Tahrir, where he played a central role in the shaping and dissemination of an aggressive anti-West narrative, which included the creation of new international cells and the encouragement of military coups.
Arriving in Egypt the day before 9/11 to study as part of his Arabic and law degree, his Islamist views soon led to his arrest and incarceration. Whilst mixing with everyone from Sadat’s assassins to Liberal reformists, an intellectual transformation occurred and Amnesty International adopted him as a Prisoner of Conscience. Upon his release, Maajid renounced political Islamism, while remaining a Muslim, and now travels the world educating and inspiring young people about democracy through both Quilliam and Khudi. » | Thursday, July 05, 2012
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Muslim patrols stalking British streets could become “a lot more dangerous” and perhaps even willing to maim or kill, the head of an anti-extremism organisation has warned.
As British jihadists venture abroad to capitalise on the aftermath of the Arab Spring and then return to the UK, they are likely to bring a greater level of violence back home, Maajid Nawaz, the chairman of the Quilliam Foundation, suggested.
His comments follow incidents in which groups of Muslim vigilantes, dubbing themselves 'Muslim Patrols' have approached Londoners and demanded they behave in an Islamic way by not drinking.
They have also told women to put more clothes on, claiming they are entering 'Muslim areas'.
Their actions could be “a sign of things to come” and are part of a pattern of extremism spreading across Europe in different forms, be it far right fascism or Islamism, Mr Nawaz said.
Writing in The Times, he said: “While this street-level problem festers across Europe, al-Qaeda and its affiliates are busy capitalising on the chaos of the post-Arab Spring world. » | Ross Silverman | Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Friday, January 15, 2010
Sunday, September 13, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: The conviction of the terrorist bomb plotters shows that we need to confront the Islamists, and show that being Muslim and Western are indeed compatible, says Ed Husain.
On July 7, 2005, my sister missed one of the trains that was attacked by the bombers by four minutes. I was living in Saudi Arabia, but returned to Britain to help this country better understand why so many young activist Muslims were becoming extremists – as I briefly had. The convictions this week of three men who wanted to attack transatlantic flights show why that task remains as urgent as ever.
Organised hatred, separatism, and extremism were present in Britain's cities and campuses long before July 7, often cloaked in the guise of moderation. But very few people understood the complexities of extremist ideology, while many politicians had Muslim constituents they did not want to upset.
The toughest task has been convincing Muslim leaders of the need to end denial, and stop playing politics with Islamist extremism. At a recent meeting with a Muslim grandee, I was stunned to learn that he thought the British government had carried out the July 7 bombings, to give it an excuse to spy on us.
It beggars belief how many Muslim organisations have claimed that by founding Quilliam, a counter-extremist think tank which argues that there is no inherent contradiction between being Muslim and being Western, I have somehow sold out, become a patsy of the intelligence services.
I have very little idea about the espionage industry. But what have we got to hide? Why are we so worried? We should be proud citizens in a liberal democracy, committed to protecting our country from terrorist attacks just like any other crimes. Instead, I am attacked on websites, newspapers and Islamic television channels in the crudest terms.
Nor are our politicians standing up to the threat. When Quilliam's researchers revealed that Abu Qatada, "al-Qaeda's ambassador to Europe", was smuggling propaganda letters from inside a British prison, the then justice minister turned up on the BBC to dismiss our findings and say such work was "unhelpful". Boris Johnson recently called for greater understanding and tolerance of Islam at the East London Mosque – the same place where I and many others were introduced to radical Islamist ideology, and whose Saudi-trained imam is a signatory to a document that many say calls for attacks on the Royal Navy. >>> Ed Husain* | Saturday, September 12, 2009
*Ed Husain is co-founder of the Quilliam Foundation and author of 'The Islamist' (Penguin)
Quilliam >>>
Saturday, March 14, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: We can expect Luton-style protests and worse in the years to come unless the Government gets a grip on Islamism, says Ed Husain.
There is something happening inside Britain's Muslim communities. The disgraceful, treacherous protest in Luton last week at the homecoming of the brave Royal Anglian regiment is an indication of resurgent extremism. Does our Government have the political stamina to fight it?
It's comfortable for us to think that these are the actions of a small minority – but are they? The vile mob that hurled abuse against returning troops does not operate in a vacuum, somehow removed from other Muslims. Only two weeks ago, the same group of extremists openly marched in Tower Hamlets, Britain's most densely populated "Muslim area". Where was the local outrage against these bigots? The nearby east London Mosque – Europe's largest Muslim institution – sends groups of young vigilantes to hound local prostitutes and drug dealers, but it turns a blind eye to extremism.
This nationwide network of fanatics, who give themselves various names at different times to deceive the authorities – from al-Muhajiroun to the Saved Sect – is an offshoot of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a group that shares al-Qaeda's aim of a global caliphate, but uses different methods.
At Quilliam, a counter-extremism think tank, a research team monitors these groups. In recent months, we have seen an increase in their activities and detected a more confrontational mood. It came as no surprise when the CIA warned President Obama last month that the greatest immediate threat to US homeland security was from militant Islamists in Britain with ties to Pakistan. British troops in Afghanistan have reported Britain-based technical support for Taliban operations.
For me, these are symptoms of failed Muslim leadership, a timid civil society and a British Government that, three years after the July 7 bombings, is still unsure how best to proceed. >>> By Ed Husain* | Saturday, March 14, 2009
*Ed Husain is co-director of Quilliam, and author of 'The Islamist'
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>
Thursday, March 12, 2009
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The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
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