Thursday, March 14, 2024
Who are the extremists?
The Guardian reports on the latest initiative by the UK Government that will ban ministers and civil servants from talking to or funding organisations that undermine “the UK’s system of liberal parliamentary democracy”.
However, not everybody is happy with the new definitions, not least the government’s own terror watchdog and Muslim community groups:
Michael Gove, the communities secretary, will tell MPs on Thursday that officials should consider whether a group maintains “public confidence in government” before working with it.
Groups that will be effectively cancelled by ministers for falling foul of the new definition will be named in the coming weeks, government sources said.
There will be no appeals process if a group is labelled as extremist, it is understood, and groups will instead be expected to challenge a ministerial decision in the courts.
The new definition, which will be distributed across government and Whitehall, will say: “Extremism is the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance, that aims to: 1 negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others; or 2 undermine, overturn or replace the UK’s system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights; or 3 intentionally create a permissive environment for others to achieve the results in (1) or (2).”
The previous guidelines, published in 2011, said individuals or groups are only defined as extremist if they show “vocal or active opposition to British fundamental values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs”.
Gove, who has overseen the formulation of the new definition, said it would “ensure that Government does not inadvertently provide a platform to those setting out to subvert democracy and deny other people’s fundamental rights”.
But deep concern was expressed by Jonathan Hall KC, the government’s independent reviewer of state threat legislation who referred to a lack of safeguards and the labelling of people as extremists by “ministerial decree”.
“The definition focuses on ideas, on ideology, not action. So it’s a move from the previous definition … Moving the focus from action to ideology or ideas is an important one because I think people will be entitled to say: ‘What business is it of the government what people think, unless they do something with that?’” he told the Guardian.
“There’s no appeal body and where you have this lack of safeguards, it’s going to be really important to make sure that this labelling does not bleed into other areas.”
“If the government says that someone is an extremist, and is essentially saying ‘You are unacceptable’, then what would stop a local authority, another public body or even a private body from deciding they will adopt it as well?”
These are good points by Jonathan Hall. Will the next step be the establishment of a Ministry of Truth? It is little wonder that Muslim organisations, including the Muslim Council of Britain, are preparing to take the government to judicial review over its new definition. Crucially, as well, there appears to be no attempt by Ministers to define Islamophobia.
The real question though, is what about the extremism within the ranks of government ministers and Tory MPs themselves?
However, not everybody is happy with the new definitions, not least the government’s own terror watchdog and Muslim community groups:
Michael Gove, the communities secretary, will tell MPs on Thursday that officials should consider whether a group maintains “public confidence in government” before working with it.
Groups that will be effectively cancelled by ministers for falling foul of the new definition will be named in the coming weeks, government sources said.
There will be no appeals process if a group is labelled as extremist, it is understood, and groups will instead be expected to challenge a ministerial decision in the courts.
The new definition, which will be distributed across government and Whitehall, will say: “Extremism is the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance, that aims to: 1 negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others; or 2 undermine, overturn or replace the UK’s system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights; or 3 intentionally create a permissive environment for others to achieve the results in (1) or (2).”
The previous guidelines, published in 2011, said individuals or groups are only defined as extremist if they show “vocal or active opposition to British fundamental values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs”.
Gove, who has overseen the formulation of the new definition, said it would “ensure that Government does not inadvertently provide a platform to those setting out to subvert democracy and deny other people’s fundamental rights”.
But deep concern was expressed by Jonathan Hall KC, the government’s independent reviewer of state threat legislation who referred to a lack of safeguards and the labelling of people as extremists by “ministerial decree”.
“The definition focuses on ideas, on ideology, not action. So it’s a move from the previous definition … Moving the focus from action to ideology or ideas is an important one because I think people will be entitled to say: ‘What business is it of the government what people think, unless they do something with that?’” he told the Guardian.
“There’s no appeal body and where you have this lack of safeguards, it’s going to be really important to make sure that this labelling does not bleed into other areas.”
“If the government says that someone is an extremist, and is essentially saying ‘You are unacceptable’, then what would stop a local authority, another public body or even a private body from deciding they will adopt it as well?”
These are good points by Jonathan Hall. Will the next step be the establishment of a Ministry of Truth? It is little wonder that Muslim organisations, including the Muslim Council of Britain, are preparing to take the government to judicial review over its new definition. Crucially, as well, there appears to be no attempt by Ministers to define Islamophobia.
The real question though, is what about the extremism within the ranks of government ministers and Tory MPs themselves?
Whether it is seeking to stoke up public opinion against asylum seekers, blatant islamophobia, or failing to act to properly to disassociate themselves from donors who make racist and theatening remarks about ethnic minority MPs, the Tory Party has a real problem.
The culture wars that Tory ministers are embarking on are acts of extremism as well. Will they now stop talking to themselves?
The culture wars that Tory ministers are embarking on are acts of extremism as well. Will they now stop talking to themselves?
