This year at Greenbelt we’re going to host a conversation and workshop aimed at alerting us to and equipping us to counter what we’re calling “everyday extremism”.
Here’s what we’re billing:
EVERYDAY EXTREMISM
SATURDAY, 5.00 PM, PAGODA
It’s easy to think that extremism is other people — lone shooters in New Zealand mosques. But it is also easy for us all to stop noticing and speaking out against everyday extremism in our communities. As it must have somehow been in 1930s Germany. With the ‘far right’ on the rise in the UK and right across Europe, how can we notice, speak and resist? Everyday?
With ex-EDL member Ivan Humble, Strategic Peacebuilder Jill Mann, and Dilwar Hussein, Head of New Horizons in British Islam. Chaired by Greenbelter and Counter-Extremism Community Coordinator Lisa-Raine Hunt.
COLLECTIVE WISDOM FOR RESISTING EVERYDAY EXTREMISM
With Jill Mann and Lisa-Raine Hunt
SATURDAY, 8.00 PM, FOUNDRY
A continuation of the earlier panel in The Pagoda — this practical workshop will draw on collective wisdom as an essential tool for resisting everyday extremism. We’ll spend time reflecting together on key questions raised during the earlier panel about varying forms of extremism and will prompt participants to initiate change in their own context.
And we’re delighted to have assembled a stellar panel to help us explore this vital issue.
Ivan Humble
Ivan Humble was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk in 1970 but spend all of his life living in Lowestoft, Suffolk. He was a leading active member of the the Far Right from 2009 when he joined the EDL (English Defence League). He started out as a foot soldier but quickly worked his way up to role of Regional Organiser (RO) for the East Anglia Region.
Whilst Regional Organiser he was responsible for setting up new divisions of the EDL throughout East Anglia also for arranging demonstrations and sorting travel from various places around East Anglia, recruiting and fundraising. He was also the admin of many EDL pages on Social Media and thus has a lot of insight to the narrative of the Far Right.
Since leaving the Far Right in 2014, Ivan is active in various communities within East Anglia and across the country. Ivan uses his knowledge and understanding to highlight and combat radicalisation and all forms of extremism. He campaigns against Racism and Hate crime under the banner OYEtoHate Open Your Eyes to Hate.
Ivan now talks about his personal journey after seeing through his hate and works to break down barriers and tackles the many misconceptions of his misguided hate hoping to help others to change their views to live a normal hate free lives. He recently joined the Me and You Education team, as an Associate Trainers sharing his insight of the real active life of the English Defence League.
Jill Mann
Jill Mann worked across the third sector in Leeds for over 15 years on strategic peacebuilding programmes. She now works with a range of groups and organisations from grassroots and local to high-profile, international and cross-border.
She is a specialist trainer with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), delivering a capacity building programme designed to foster community resistance and resilience to all forms of extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism. This work centres upon key areas such as the complexities of extremism, media literacy, critical thinking, policy influence, strategic communications, and project design and evaluation.
She is co-chair of the community organising alliance Leeds Citizens and a co-founder of a grassroots dialogue group for EU27 migrants in West Yorkshire adversely affected by Brexit. Her work is inspired by strategic and systemic peacebuilders such as Elise Boulding and John Paul Lederach. She is currently in further training with the Institute of Group Analysis and brings a therapeutic and group analytic perspective to this work.
Dilwar Hussain
Dilwar Hussain is an independent consultant working on social policy, Muslim identity and Islamic reform in the modern world. He is founding Chair of New Horizons in British Islam, a charity that works on Muslim identity, integration and reform; Research Fellow at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, University of Coventry and Lecturer at the University of Leicester.
He teaches courses on Islam in contemporary society and has a number of published works in the field. He has worked in academic research, policy consultancy and training for over fifteen years, delivering contracts for private sector groups as well as various government departments. His recent research and advisory work includes: Literature Review for the Casey Report on Integration (2016); a report on the Somali Diaspora in Leicester for the Open Society Foundation (2014); a report on Muslims in Leicester for the Open Society Foundation (2010); Specialist Advisor to the House of Commons Inquiry on Prevent (2010); Consultant to the Cambridge-Azhar Imams Training Project, Cambridge University and FCO; steering group of the Contextualising Islam in Britain Project, Cambridge University.
He is Vice-Chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and a Trustee of the Three Faiths Forum (3FF) and the Islamic Society of Britain, where he was President (2011–2013). He is a member of the Faiths Advisory Panel for Near Neighbours, a grant scheme managed by the Church Urban Fund and was a member of the Community and Voluntary Local Services Honours Committee (2013–2016).
Dilwar established and headed the Policy Research Centre, at the Islamic Foundation (2007–2013). He was also a Commissioner at the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) (2006–2007). He served on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Commission on Urban Life and Faith (2005–2006), was Co-Chair of the BBC Standing Conference on Religion and Belief (2011-2013), was co-chair of Alif-Aleph UK (2005), a Trustee of Maslaha (2011–2013) and worked on the Preventing Extremism Together workgroups set up by the Home Office after July 7th 2005. He has been listed in the ‘Who’s Who of British Muslims’ by http://www.salaam.co.uk and the British Bangladeshi Power and Inspiration 100. Dilwar graduated from King’s College, University of London in 1993.
Lisa-Raine Hunt
This important panel will be chaired by longterm Greenbelt volunteer – and herself a Counter-Extremism Community Coordinator in her day-job – Lisa-Raine Hunt.