Contrary to media reports regarding the state of PVE in Reading, it would appear that out of 20 Mosques and Muslim organisations there is now only one Muslim organisation that is ‘on board’ with the PVE agenda. However there is no evidence that this organisation has consulted the community it claims to represent before it joined the PVE steering group.
At a recent meeting in the Town Hall it was confirmed that the Local Authority in Reading are not distancing themselves from the national PVE agenda, this despite the huge concerns that have been caused by the Governments revised CONTEST2 strategy within which PVE sits.
The Reading Muslim PVE Crisis Group was a short term initiative aimed to communicate the change in position of the Muslim community in Reading from the initial RFAE pathfinder work in 2007. It was felt that the discussions in numerous community meetings and community workshops concluded that the overwhelming majority of the 7 PVE objectives were ‘unworkable’. Consultations with the Local Authority were being ignored and the PVE agenda was spiralling dangerously out of control. To that end RM PVE Crisis group has been immensely successful in providing:
- A framework within which the principled concerns related to PVE can be understood.
- Educating people about these principled concerns which the majority of Muslims in Reading share.
Filed under: PVE
