Terrorism expert heads up fact-finding trip to Teesside

Terrorism expert Lord Carlile is heading to Middlesbrough on Monday to observe a ground-breaking counter-extremism programme.

Lord Carlile of Berriew, the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation from 2001 to 2011, is meeting Amjid Khazir, founder of Media Cultured, to hear about the social enterprise’s identity and integration programme. Mr Khazir set up Media Cultured to improve social cohesion with support from a Teesside University DigitalCity Fellowship. During the visit, Lord Carlile will speak to Amjid and take part in a workshop for Redcar and Cleveland College students. Mr Khazir said: 'By training teachers and helping to teach students Media Cultured aims to help avert further Woolwich, Boston and Islamophobic type attacks from taking place. 'I set up Media Cultured after I identified there was a lack of credible positive role models across both the media and educational spectrums for multicultural Britain. 'Young people especially are often recruited and indoctrinated using videos posted on different social media channels – this can start by simply following a Twitter link.

'I looked at the extensive use of methods such as You Tube and Twitter by organisations such as Al-Shabaab and the EDL, and the fact there was no counter to these.' Amjid decided to focus full-time on community work after the death of his uncle, Mohammed Zabir, a taxi driver who died of a heart attack in 2011, a month after being attacked by a drunken passenger who shouted racist abuse at him. Having initially worked with mosques and national faith groups to help the community understand issues around internet safety and misinformation that were being communicated by both racist and extremist groups, Amjid decided to tackle these issues head-on. He said: 'Short educational films and documentaries deployed as teaching aids are central to Media Cultured’s work. 'Specialist learning resources are built around the films to support the teaching of citizenship, race relations and community cohesion.' Lord Carlile said: 'Engaging new methods in the fight against terrorism is hugely important and fighting misinformation is central to that. 'Media Cultured’s programme is unique in its insight into the issues surrounding discord between different groups in the UK. 'Its approach offers many potential merits, engaging with young people before they are radicalised and illustrating the positive nature of multiculturalism in Britain today.' Laura Woods, Director of Academic Enterprise at Teesside University, said: 'It’s excellent that Lord Carlile is coming to see for himself how Media Cultured tackles what is a major social issue. 'Amjid’s company is a good example of the way DigitalCity Fellowships can help young entrepreneurs turn ground-breaking digital ideas into truly ground-breaking projects.'

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