Simon -this is a very useful summary of the prevent shenanigans and of the
Australian situation too.The only thing that I would take issue with is your
final paragraph. I'm 59 . I've been an activist all my life. My experience is
that the more publicly and noisily you stand up for yourself and for what is
right the less likely you are to be victimised.I'm completely conscious of the
risks I run and accept them willingly. I have been in touch with the UCU to
request representation but when it comes down to it the question for me is can
I live with myself if I accept what is going on and the answer, for me, is
no.Therefore if I go I intend to go kicking and screaming and making as much
noise as possible.
On the other hand if they back down it is a victory for defiance and for the
campaign against racism and in particular against the vile "Prevent"
strategy.Again I would ask anyone reading this to please circulate as widely as
possible -e mail, word of mouth, Twitter, FB my original
letter:https://www.flickr.com/photos/szpako/26601297832/in/dateposted/
and the info that I face possible ( possible, it's possible HR and senior
management would just like some quality time and a cup of tea with me) action
over it.Simon - you might have reservations about my tactics and I respect that
but you clearly have a firm grasp of the issues and I ask for your support.best
wishesmichael
From: Simon Biggs <si...@littlepig.org.uk>
To: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity
<netbehaviour@netbehaviour.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 1, 2016 2:26 AM
Subject: Re: [NetBehaviour] email about "prevent"
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
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
biggssi...@littlepig.org.ukhttp://www.littlepig.org.ukhttp://amazon.com/author/simonbiggshttp://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/staff/homepage.asp?name=simon.biggshttp://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
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