Government officials have drawn up deeply controversial proposals to broaden the definition of extremism to include anyone who “undermines” the country’s institutions and its values, according to documents seen by the Observer.
The new definition, prepared by civil servants working for cabinet minister Michael Gove, is fiercely opposed by a cohort of officials who fear legitimate groups and individuals will be branded extremists.
The proposals have provoked a furious response from civil rights groups with some warning it risks “criminalising dissent”, and would significantly suppress freedom of expression.
One Whitehall official said: “The concern is that this is a crackdown on freedom of speech. The definition is too broad and will capture legitimate organisations and individuals.”
…
Internal departmental documents marked “official – sensitive” says the proposed definition could “frame a new, unified response to extremism”. It lists a number of organisations which it considers would be “captured” by the new definition.
Among them are the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), Palestine Action and Mend, which has featured at some Conservative party conference fringe events and in 2021 provided evidence to parliamentary committees.
wouldn’t calling bbc woke and threatening to gut it be considered undermining british institutions?
I like your thinking!
Let’s be honest, British traditions including being fair and helping people, so the Tories are guilty of torpedoing that.
I mean Boris did lie to the Queen, and you don’t get more of a British institution then the monarchy
Or calling the NHS expensive and inneficient. Underfunding it would be extremism as well.
Or opposition parties calling for a election or votes of confidence against the government
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The BBC is a massive asset to the UK. It projects a soft power across the world, and even brings in a cash return for it. Where it fails is in the structuring process. This government has abused its control over it. The party in power should not have sole discretion over employment roles within the BBC. It is very evident how biased the BBC has become because of this.
My opinion would be set up a cross party group. One that controls both budgets and key role appointments.
So undermining the UK = non Tory values. This is just the next step towards nazification.
I am not patriotic, I do not feel pride in what my country does generally, and shit like this guarantees that I won’t do so any time soon.
As ever, toffs want you to wave your flag and shut the fuck up whilst they do whatever they please.
WTF does “undermining the UK” even mean, like criticising it in any way?
Whatever the government want it to mean.
Whatever gives corrupt little removed the most power.
I don’t know exactly what ‘UK values’ are but I’m pretty sure the most aggressive and high-profile underminer of them in recent years has been Suella Braverman - I’m rather looking forward to seeing the look on her face when she gets locked up under her own legislation.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Government officials have drawn up deeply controversial proposals to broaden the definition of extremism to include anyone who “undermines” the country’s institutions and its values, according to documents seen by the Observer.
The new definition, prepared by civil servants working for cabinet minister Michael Gove, is fiercely opposed by a cohort of officials who fear legitimate groups and individuals will be branded extremists.
Among them are the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), Palestine Action and Mend, which has featured at some Conservative party conference fringe events and in 2021 provided evidence to parliamentary committees.
The definition of extremism and its usage in counter-terrorism policies like [counter terrorism strategy] Prevent is already being applied so broadly it seeks to effectively hinder people from organising and mobilising.
The government’s 2011 Prevent strategy defined extremism as the “active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs”.
Under the proposed definition in the documents, extremism would be the promotion of any ideology which aims to “overturn or undermine the UK’s democracy, its institutions and values; or threaten the rights of individuals or create a permissive environment for radicalisation, hate crime and terrorism”.
The original article contains 901 words, the summary contains 204 words. Saved 77%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
