We must fight back against the forces of hatred
In the wake of the terrorist attacks in 2017 that took the lives of 36 innocent people in London and Manchester, I was asked by the Home Secretary to look at the threat of extremism in England and Wales.
Today, after 18 months of evidence gathering, my commission is releasing a report Challenging Hateful Extremism which has identified a new category of harmful extremist activity.
The commission describes hateful extremism as behaviours that incite and amplify hate or engage in persistent hatred or make the moral case for violence. Drawing on hateful, hostile or supremacist beliefs we show how it is causing harm to individuals, communities and wider society.
I have seen how hateful extremism – far-right, far-left, Islamist, animal rights and other forms – is having a deep impact on our towns and cities, threatening the social fabric of our country and fomenting social division. It is having a devastating impact on victims, many of whom are repeatedly targeted by extremists.
It is undermining the rights and democratic freedoms that define our nation – creating a climate of censorship, restricting freedom of expression and religion or belief. At its worst hateful extremism can inspire terrorist attacks.
I’ve visited 20 towns and cities, had 3,000 responses to a call for evidence and commissioned almost 30 academics. I have found that hateful extremists are persistent, active and well organised.
In Sunderland we show how local, national and international far-right activists seized on local tensions. One Muslim resident cried as he told how unfounded allegations that he was a paedophile alongside personal details were publicised online as punishment for a counter-protest.
In Birmingham, the anti-lgbt protests outside primary schools were seized on by extremists to spread hate. Islamist group Hizb ut-tahrir used the protests to spread misinformation, conspiracy theories and hate about LGBT people, comparing them to animals and paedophiles.
Even when an individual’s extremist activity is clear, the response can be insufficient. In 2016, Lord Justice Haddon-cave, then sitting in the High Court ruled in a libel case that Shakeel Begg, the imam at Lewisham Islamic Centre, was an extremist who had encouraged religious violence and promoted extremist Salafi-islamist beliefs to Muslim youth.
Yet the dangerous views he propagated and the judgment against him had little effect on Begg’s career or involvement in his community.
As our report shows, distinguishing democratic debate from hateful extremist activity is critical. We must continue to protect and preserve freedom of expression. This includes our right to be radical, to protest and even be offensive.
The Government launched the first Counter Extremism Strategy in 2015.
Having reviewed it, I found the current response unfocused and insufficient. Some 75 per cent of public respondents to our call for evidence do not find the Government’s definition of extremism helpful.
That is why today I am calling on the Government to overhaul its approach and to focus on hateful extremism. My commission’s next step will be to develop a working definition of hateful extremism.
Hateful extremism cannot be ignored; it demands a response.