King's Students and Staff Against Surveillance (KSSAS)
We are a community of students and staff at Kingโs College London who are combatting institutional surveillance. Not only does it infringe on our rights, but it is an inconspicuous operation. We aim to provide sufficient anti-Islamophobia training, encourage transparency and abolish the PREVENT duty at KCL.
what is PREVENT?
The Prevent Duty is one strand of the governmentโs counter-terrorism strategy 'CONTEST (Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015) and concerns itself with preventing the so-called โradicalisationโ of individuals towards โextremismโ. However, evidence has shown that it has adverse impacts on communities, has no academic or scientific basis, and is instead used to manage and police dissent.
Under the Prevent Duty, universities, mental health care providers, doctors, and various other individual authorities and institutions all are required to look out for arbitrary signs of โextremismโ. Often they have been provided with short training, allowing their own biases on what an โextremistโ looks like to come into play. At King's College London, Prevent is overseen by the Academic Regulations, Policy and Compliance Team.
PREVENT's problems
The Prevent Duty, as well as other intrusive counterterrorism policies is predatory and illicit. You are built to trust an institution that constantly views you as a potential threat, that surveys your activities through ID cards, rigorous checks and CCTV; and you don't even stop to think about it. Neither extremism or radicalisation has been defined in law, it has therefore shifted to fit political agendas. Historically it has been part of discourse on the global 'War on Terror' following 9/11, in conjunction with western foreign policy and neo-imperialism. Thus, Muslims have disproportionately been victmised by Prevent, but its long reaching arms are a concern for all. For example, it has been used against people involved in climate justice or pro- Palestine activism.
By definition, Prevent does not deal with violence or crimes, but with ideas and mindsets. It is on this basis that it has increasingly become entwined with counselling and mental health services.
Examples of commonplace behaviours designated as signs of โradicalisationโ according to the UK Government guidelines include:
โA desire for political or moral changeโโBeing at a transitional time of lifeโโNeed for identity, meaning and belongingโโRelevant mental health issuesโ
what we want
To abolish prevent entirely.To separate terrorism investigation from the Kingโs Counselling & Mental Health Support Service. Students with mental health issues should be getting safe counselling without the fear of being secretly interrogated. To implement thorough anti-islamophobia training among the staff at Kingโs. The muslim community at the university is large FULL TRANSPARENCY. The community that gives the institution of Kingโs College London money, time and labour should be privy to the Universityโs security strategies, so that we can have a safer, less predatory environment.Pressure Kingโs into investing energy into more urgent causes like sexual harassment, racism and disability discrimination, with just as much seriousness and fast response time as they do with antiterrorism. Hold Kingโs accountable as an institution for contributing to the islamophobia that is behind these policies.
important links
- KSSAS Voluntary Survey
- CAGE -The PREVENT strategy: A cradle to grave police-state report
- National Union of Students - Prevent: an updated handbook
- Prevent Watch
- The Transnational Institute - Leaving the War on Terror: A Progressive Alternative to Counter-Terrorism Policy
- Katy Sian - 'Born radicals? Prevent, positivism, and โrace-thinkingโ
- 'The Muslims are Coming!: Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror
- Together Against Prevent
- The Guardian - 'UK anti-radicalisation Prevent strategy a โtoxic brandโ
- Open Letter: Surveillance, Racial Profiling and Exclusion at Kingโs College London