Blog – extremism

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  Tributes for a Jihadist Godfather: from Moazzam Begg to Al Qaeda Central

  28 Mar 2017 by CST

  Death and martyrdom are key parts of jihadist ideology. It is, therefore, vitally important to note the reactions to the deaths of leading jihadists: whether by actual terrorist groups, or by those British Islamists who push victimhood narratives.  

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  Cold comfort from Anjem Choudary conviction

  17 Aug 2016 by Mark Gardner

  Anjem Choudary, Britain’s most notorious Jihadist rabble rouser, has – at long last – been found guilty of “inviting support for a proscribed terrorist organisation”. On the surface, it looks like good news, but look deeper and it is hard to take much comfort. CST has been raising strong concerns about Choudary and his predecessors for over 25 years, warning the authorities that open incitement for Jihadist extremism and terrorism was causing not only antisemitism, but all manner of radicalism that could literally explode against the British public at any time in the future: as it is still doing, both here and across western Europe, fuelled by events in Syria, Iraq and beyond.

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  Babar Ahmad’s “ideal of jihad” is still a problem

  16 Mar 2016 by Dave Rich

  Babar Ahmad is a British jihadi who returned home to the UK last year after being sentenced to 12 and a half years prison in America for terrorism offences. These offences related to a jihadi website called Azzam Publications (named after Abdullah Azzam, the godfather of the first Afghan jihad) that Ahmad set up and ran.

• The Prime Minister’s speech: counter-extremism in a liberal democracy

  21 Jul 2015 by Dave Rich

  The Prime Minister gave an important speech yesterday to set out the framework, and much of the detail, of the government’s counter-extremism strategy for the next five years. It was a landmark statement in Britain’s efforts to challenge and reduce the appeal of Islamist extremism.

• Jihadist Recruitment Videos Raise Important Questions About Counter-Extremist Policy

  25 Jun 2014 by CST

  This is cross-posted from the Huffington Post UK. The appearance of three British Muslims in the latest recruitment video for Syrian jihadists raises important questions about counter-extremist policy and the Prevent strategy. Nasser Muthana and Reyaad Khan from Cardiff, and Abdul Rakib Amin from Aberdeen, are just another example of…

• Integration, Disadvantage and Extremism

  29 May 2014 by CST

  A new report (pdf) looking at connections between integration and extremism has been published by the Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism, Birkbeck, University of London; COMPAS, University of Oxford; and the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism. The report includes a chapter by CST's Dave…

• Online radicalisation. 'Lone wolves' of all stripes.

  10 Oct 2012 by Mark Gardner

  This article, by CST's Mark Gardner, is in the September-October 2012 edition of Hope Not Hate magazine. A shorter version is on the Haaretz website, entitled "Jihad, lone wolves and the terror threats facing Jews today": ------ We already know that Al Qaeda and the extremes of the far right share…