Schools to Report Students at risk of Radicalisation

The news that the NSW government has approached schools requiring them to report students who are at risk of being radicalised to the police is indeed retrograde news. This comes only weeks after Numan Haider, a teenager in Melbourne who knew he was under surveillance and was already under a radical influence, reacted in such an extreme manner to the involvement of police that he was shot dead.

Law enforcement is not the first authority to turn to when kids are in trouble. Counsellors, advisors, specialists in the area of concern are the right people to involve and provide intervention - whether it be learning difficulties, antisocial behaviour, involvement with crime and so on. 

When did defending innocents become radical?

Every night I listen to the increasing death toll of children and civilians in a brutal, now sectarian civil war. I think of my friends who are desperately trying to get their families out of Syria, and of Bob Carr's comment about the unusual aspect of 33% of Syrian homes being razed by the government forces.

I know how far I will go in order to protect my children - and I am not a radical. I feel the pain of my friends whose extended families flee for their lives or are callously butchered.

Dangerous Minds

Dangerous Minds:
The recent SBC program of Dangerous Minds was a dangerous escalation of rhetoric about minor problems that can be controlled with good leadership. Fadi Rahman – until recently the leader of a youth centre providing fitness and sport facilities for young Muslims in Lidcombe – has a history of talking up the problems of his youthful charges.
What is more imperative is that he gives them guidance on how to solve their problems, raise their self-esteem and earn the respect of their community. Unfortunately, while his intentions are genuine, he appears to be role modelling marginalisation in a vocal form, and does little to dispel perceptions of a sexist community. Heightening concerns about potential radical tendencies amongst marginalised youth may win more grants, but it does little to prevent and a lot to encourage the very radicalisation that he wishes to control.