Difference between revisions of "Anthony Glees"
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This kind of reasoning is a recipe for thought control and the constraining of education within the conservative lexicon where 'liberal democracy' is by definition good and any critique of it in practice bad. | This kind of reasoning is a recipe for thought control and the constraining of education within the conservative lexicon where 'liberal democracy' is by definition good and any critique of it in practice bad. | ||
| − | ==Dundee University and Special Branch surveillance=== | + | ===Dundee University and Special Branch surveillance=== |
Dundee University was one of those named as a potential recruiting ground for terrorists and this has led to overt and covert surveillance by Special Branch of Islamic and anti war groups.{{ref|Courier}} | Dundee University was one of those named as a potential recruiting ground for terrorists and this has led to overt and covert surveillance by Special Branch of Islamic and anti war groups.{{ref|Courier}} | ||
Sohaib Saeed writes: | Sohaib Saeed writes: | ||
Revision as of 19:29, 19 September 2006
Anthony Glees is the Director of Brunel Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies (BCISS)[1] at Brunel university on London.
Contents
When Students Turn to Terror
With Chris Pope Glees is the author of When Students Turn to Terror: Terrorist and Extremist Activity on British Campuses Published by the right wing Social Affairs Unit in Autumn 2005. The report gained widespread mainstream media attention [2] and little proper criticism.
The report
At over 100 pages this is a longish report claiming to find evidence of Islamist, animal liberation and British National Party 'terrorism' on UK campuses. The report is intellectually worthless and simply a propaganda tool for use in encouraging the suppression of dissent in Universities. The basis of the evidence that there is 'terrorist activity' is simply that people who have been arrested under anti-Terrorism legislation attended universities at some point. On this basis there is also evidence of terrorist activity in schools, nurseries and for that matter even in mother's wombs, since all terrorists were once presumably there.
Here is a quote on the 'dangers' of the universities from the report:
- Instead of encouraging students to reflect on the values and virtues of liberal democracy, universities may be teaching them subjects or theoretical tools for understanding the world - Marxism for example - which could encourage them to believe Britain and other Western states are in terminal decline. Moving from campus to Mosque, students convinced by their dons might gain further inspiration from radical mullahs. (Anthony Glees and Chris Pope When Students Turn to Terror: Terrorist and Extremist Activity on British Campuses, Social Affairs Unit, 2005, p. 15.)
This kind of reasoning is a recipe for thought control and the constraining of education within the conservative lexicon where 'liberal democracy' is by definition good and any critique of it in practice bad.
Dundee University and Special Branch surveillance
Dundee University was one of those named as a potential recruiting ground for terrorists and this has led to overt and covert surveillance by Special Branch of Islamic and anti war groups.[3] Sohaib Saeed writes:
- The only Scottish university named was Dundee, where a suspect in the 2002 Bali bombings is said to have once studied.
- The publicity associated with the report has caused great consternation on the Dundee campus, which is home to one of the country’s most active Islamic societies. DUIS president Hassan Habib told the iWitness of his society’s positive efforts to portray Islam accurately and engage with the wider student body. They have won several awards of recognition from the Student Association.
- “If there is any illegal activity going on, then it should be dealt with on the basis of evidence. If the Islamic society can be of any assistance in tackling such problems, then we will not hesitate to do our part.”
- Prof. Glees’ report, entitled “When Students Turn to Terror”, is remarkably devoid of detail about what exactly is wrong at Dundee. The only relevant paragraph informs us that “Suspected or confirmed terrorists who have studied in Britain in recent years include the lecturers Dr Azahari Husin, 45, who went to Reading University, and Shamsul Bahri Hussein, 36, who read applied mechanics at Dundee. They are wanted in connection with the Bali bombings in October 2002, when 202 people, including 26 Britons, died.”
- According to the Sunday Times, Hussein was at Dundee in the 1980s. Exactly what connection his student days in Fife have to his alleged involvement in a terrorist atrocity more than two decades later, is not made clear. Neither is the relevance of that case to the present time. Nevertheless, Glees states: “We have discovered a number of universities where subversive activities are taking place, often without the knowledge of the university authorities.”
- An open letter compiled by the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS) claims that the report “has been undertaken without any academic or credible research; indeed the authors have systematically opted to rely on hearsay and allegations rather than fact.” The letter further called on the media to “exercise more caution” in their coverage.[4]
City University - report denounced by Vice Chancellor
Glees on 'The Stasi files'
External links
- Dave Renton's Blog on Glees.
- Anthony Glees: The Stasi Files.East Germany’s Secret Operations Against Britain (London 2003: The Free Press) Some observations by John Sandford*
- Glees report on terror riles v-cs Phil Baty, Times Higher Education Supplement, Published: 14 October 2005
- Letter to Anthony Glees from the Vice chancellor of City University
16 September 2005
Notes
- ^ Freshers’ fair surveillance criticised The Courier, 19 September 2006.
- ^ Sohaib Saeed, Dundee students refute extremism smear The I-Witness, 24 September 2005
