As a Muslim convert, I set up a project to counter radicalisation among young urban men. But our funding was cut by the government and now there’s a vacuum. The former chairman of Brixton mosque in south London saw the challenges facing new converts to Islam.
Since 2005, there have been 148 teenage murders in London; 100 are knife related and 27 have been gun related. In 2011, the boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark recorded the highest number of knife crimes in London. Add to this dynamic, youths who try to escape this lifestyle – not through education or employment (due to these avenues either failing or rejecting them) – but through religion; Islam in particular, due to its ability to transfer their focus towards personal and spiritual empowerment, no matter what adverse circumstances they face. The young urban Muslim convert feels this sense of empowerment reducing the sense of helplessness, frustration and anger towards the marginalisation he has faced throughout his young life. However, he is at a “founding” idealistic stage of his new faith and, particularly if he had a propensity for violence and criminality before he converted, his vulnerability is clearly evident for all to see – especially extremist propagandists seeking “foot soldiers”.
The author argues that, although psychological and social mosaics are clearly influencing factors to how we initially develop as new Muslims, there are defining catalysts that propel an individual from being radical or non-violent to violent. “Cycle of violence” theories refer to a “tipping point” – when an individual reaches a point of no return due to an incident or event which pushes them across the threshold to commit a violent or terrorist act. Richard Reid – the shoe bomber’s – tipping point was when the “war on terror” was launched against the Taliban in Afghanistan shortly after the events of 9/11.
As former chairman of Brixton mosque, in south London, I saw the challenges facing new converts to Islam. The mosque was able to provide the spiritual and familial support often required at the most formative “founding” stage of their lives. The over-zealousness that usually accompanied this stage led converts on a quest to learn more about the religion from various sources.
For this reason, youth intervention programmes such as Street UK (Strategy to Reach Empower and Educate Teenagers) were established. More than 4,500 young men participated in Street activities in 2010, the penultimate year before funding was withdrawn by the coalition government. We still operate voluntarily, but at a much reduced capacity. So there is a vacuum. Young men are no longer actively engaged or challenged ideologically by those most qualified, both socially and religiously, to do so; extremist narratives proliferate unchallenged and are no longer deconstructed to susceptible converts at the grassroots where such messages are most potent. In light of this, there is an uncomfortable realisation that those behind the Woolwich attack are unlikely to be the last to be violently radicalised.
