“This – ahem – this is the most important challenge we face in our century. The most important. Without the freedom to say what we believe, what have we? However, if left unguarded, we risk losing everything. Is that what you want? To lose everything? No. We need to regulate it. Freedom must be protected, …
Published 18th April 2017 by Daniel Kirkpatrick Recent acts of terror across Europe ensure that terrorism remains firmly fixed in the public consciousness whether in England, Sweden, Germany, or France. And yet, while everyone knows what terrorism is when they see it (or at least think they do); few can agree on a definition. The clich’d phrase – ‘one man’s terrorist is …
Published 13th June 2017 by Daniel Kirkpatrick In the wake of the terrorist attack on London Bridge, Theresa May said that recent attacks “are bound together by the single, evil ideology of Islamist extremism that preaches hatred, sows division, and promotes sectarianism.” In 2015, the prime minister had written that where “non-violent extremism goes unchallenged, the values that bind our society together …
Read more “Why criminalising non-violent extremism won’t prevent terrorism”
Originally Published 11 th Sept 2019 by Daniel Kirkpatrick, and Recep Onursal When the Conservative MP Nigel Evans was interrupted during a television interview in early September by an anti-Brexit protester, he criticised the “extremism” of Remainers. Back in February, the avowed Brexiteer Jacob Rees–Mogg warned that delaying Brexit would risk a surge in right–wing extremism. Others have also …
Read more “Not all types of extremism are terrorism – conflating the two is dangerous”