Ramadan Projects
The Ramadan Project was established after ACF intervened to prevent a race riot in Waltham Forest during the holy month of Ramadan in 2003. Timely intervention, based on local knowledge, and local credibility by the Qadir brothers in partnership with Mike Jervis ensured that peace prevailed and safeguarded any escalation of social disorder.
This incident provided the catalyst for the establishment of ACF and the key partners decided to organise a project to take place during Ramdan the following year that would offer structured diversion for ‘at risk’ young people in the borough. In 2004 over three hundred attended this project and incidents of crime and anti-social behaviour fell in the area by 20 %.
Ramadan Project 2004: Breaking down Barriers
Aim: Tolerance and Understanding
Learning from the problems of 2003, ACF sought funding from the local authority to open a centre and provide a number of diversionary activities to keep the young people off the streets and out of mischief and violence. Pool competitions between local councillors and the Met Police were held on a regular basis. These events proved to be very popular and bridged vital gaps as well as creating tolerance and better understanding between the young people and the authorities.
Good relationships between youth and the police are crucial. In gang culture, young people are encouraged to disrespect, verbally abuse and generally treat the Police with contempt; in turn, the Police can sometimes react to this fact in a negative manner.
Ramadan 2004 built upon the positive community spirit generated by the Defendin Da Hood conferences and brought together, with close interaction with the Police, disaffected young people who were ‘at risk’ or associated to gangs. The purpose of these meetings was to break down barriers and help both groups of people to gain a better understanding of each other. Activities such as pool matches proved to be highly successful -healthy competition, effective engagement and the breaking down of stereotypes helped to further the removal of suspicion between the two groups. In fact, these bridge-building activities were so successful that a much larger group of Police officers volunteered to come for the second meeting.
These young people have now transformed into valued and important members of society
This competitive interaction removed tension and achieved a dramatic success. The competition assisted the Metropolitan Police Service to actively recruit from a normally ‘hard to reach’ group. Eleven young people applied to become Police Community Support Officers and four have since been accepted. These young people have now transformed into valued and important members of society. But that is not the whole success story.The real success is that when these young people return to live and work within their peer group, each PCSO can demonstrate that transformation is possible and can be multiplied ten-fold.ACF continue to seek partners in order to assist with the placement of young people in worthwhile employment long-term, or on a work experience or internship basis.
ACF has demonstrated the effectiveness of early intervention and positive engagement and how understanding and sensitivity to issues can prove to be pivotal in turning young people away from violent extremism and gang culture.
Ramadan Project 2005: Facing the Facts
Aim: Education
Following the July bombings and learning from the feedback from the 2005 ‘Defending da Hood’ conference, the Ramadan youth project was funded again. With the experience of the previous years to aid the organisers, much more was achieved. Workshops were introduced, focusing on the true facts regarding terrorism and the methods used by extremists to ‘recruit’. There was close examination of theological texts and the Qu’ran regarding terrorism and violence. ACF worked hard to educate the young Muslim people about the particular Islamic texts used by the ‘mystery recruiters’ to attract disengaged young people, specifically focusing on the ‘six steps to recruitment’ used by activists from extremist organizations.
It was during this period that a young man was brought to ACF’s attention by his friends. He was clearly ‘at risk’ and in the process of being actively recruited by an extremist group. Structured application of the ACF intervention model successfully diverted this vulnerable young person from harm, ensured his return to mainstream UK society, and was, by any measure, a significant success.
Ramadan Project 2006: One Community
Aim: challenging escalation & safeguarding against unrest
This included a number of sub projects such as; Building Bridges, Safer Neighbourhood Discussions and Hard Talk Community Debates.In August 2006, fourteen local young Muslims were arrested for various serious alleged breaches of the Terrorism Acts. This event thrust Waltham Forest into the international headlines.
It was at this time that ACF models of good practice received world-wide attention.As a result of Police activity in Waltham Forest and neighbouring boroughs there was a palpable increase in community tension and marked negativity towards the police within the UK Muslim community. Police and local agencies were concerned that there was a high probability of this tension escalating into protests and violence.ACF addressed these concerns by applying their model of engagement in partnership with the local authority in order to prevent the possibility of escalation.
In September 2006, the focus of the Ramadan project was to challenge the underlying reasons behind the community unrest. Open and frank discussions between the community and local Police re-established their respect for the local MPS Safer Neighbourhood Teams without hiding the fact that there was considerable concern in the community for what was perceived as insensitive and unaccountable policing by Scotland Yard-based specialist counter-terrorism units.