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PREVENT

Martian Tom

I start my new job on Monday with two days of corporate induction.  Then it's straight in.  At least half-term's coming up soon.  I'm guessing this will be two full-on weeks.

I'm having to do some pre-employment online training as preparation.  There's huge amounts of the online stuff.  Over 30 courses, all of which have to be done in our own time.  I'm just having to do two for now.

One is on the PREVENT strategy (part of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act) which is about identifying the risk of exposure to extremism and radicalisation among vulnerable groups: the signs to look for in mood, behaviour, language, etc.  To be honest, I find some of what I'm 'learning' to be quite worrying.

Here's an example, from my course, to illustrate why:

In the 'Feedback' form at the end of the course, I mentioned my concerns about the wording on this page and elsewhere (see red underlining).

How many of those feelings do you have?  I'd like an adventure.  I have mental health issues.  I feel alienated.  I'd like to be part of some cause that could change the world.  I'd like a sense of identity.

Don't people in our situation have enough of this stuff to put up with?  Stigmatisation.  Stereotyping.  Suspicion.  Misunderstanding.

Is that a knock at the door?

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  • in reply to Robert124

    Once you start poking into some of the things security services are using to 'keep an eye on us', it becomes quite scary.  I know this is a Hollywood film, but it bears out some of the other stuff I've read - aside from Snowden and WikiLeaks...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrrAwGzQO_U

    Years ago, when I was involved in animal rights (all legal activities and campaigning), I worked in a shop where one of our customers was a local millionaire.  Smashing bloke.  Self-made man, pillar of the community, now retired.  He used to like giving money to various animal groups.  One week, though, he came in and told me he'd had a visit from the police (at his mansion, out in the sticks), and they'd searched the place under warrant.  He was gobsmacked.  Then he told me that apparently they'd become suspicious because he was sending cheques to the Hunt Saboteurs Association and to various other perfectly legal animal welfare groups, like Compassion in World Farming and Animal Aid.  That was what it was all about.  The cheques were usually in high amounts (because he was wealthy), and it had aroused suspicion.  This was over 20 years ago, mind, before we had anything like the mass surveillance possibilities (internet, smart phones, CCTV) that we have now.