Counter-radicalization, public health, and racism: A case analysis of Prevent

The threat of terrorism is well documented to be associated with Muslims and Islam in British public consciousness. This chapter will emphasize the sociopolitical context underlying public health strategies seeking to address radicalization and extremism, especially given the UK government’s recent pivoting of its ‘Prevent’ policy within mental health services. Drawing upon two years of empirical fieldwork exploring the impact of the Prevent duty in the National Health Service, this chapter will outline several key issues with counter-radicalization policies enacted within health settings. Firstly, I found that mental health professionals—especially Muslims—self-censored their critical thoughts of Prevent, largely as a result of the political and moral subscript underlying counterterrorism: the ‘good’ position was to accept their counterterrorism duty, and the ‘bad’ position was to reject it. Secondly, Prevent significantly emphasizes reliance on ‘trusting one’s gut’ given the elusive framework of psychological risk factors it outlines during training. In turn, the government engages in what I call performative colour blindness: the active recognition and erasure of a common sense that associates racialized Muslims with the threat of terrorism. Colour blindness, however, is known to be integral for the maintenance of institutionally racist practices in contemporary times. This chapter ends by highlighting two understated issues of racism in contemporary public health approaches to counter-radicalization: the reinvigorated impulse to ‘tackle’ the far-right and the question of coercion and accountability.