There was something depressingly familiar about Mak Chishty’s article in the Times this weekend. What is depressing is that, once again, we have a person who has been in a position to positively influence the implementation and outcome of counterterrorism strategies, but is instead playing the counter-productive blame-game.
Chishty himself is far from a popular figure amongst large swathes of British Muslims. This reputation is fuelled by several comically misguided past statements, such as when he claimed that Muslims who stopped eating at McDonalds, or shopping at Marks and Spencers are showing signs of radicalisation. If only it were as simple as Chishty suggests. If only we could profile the queues at Nandos, or analyse purchasing trends at Tescos – perhaps focusing on those who switch from buying ‘British’ potato salads to ‘Middle Eastern’ hummus.
In this recent article, and in the wake of the London Bridge terror attack, Mak Chishty discusses, quite passionately, how he considers Muslim communities to have “failed in combating extremism.”
Firstly, (and somewhat obviously) it is interesting that Chishty makes no mention to the fact that Muslim communities made several attempts to prevent the attacks at both London Bridge and Manchester Arena – indeed, Muslim communities, leaders and individuals did everything they could to make the authorities aware of the danger that the perpetrators posed. [MEND] Read more
