I won’t give a full account of this programme, but would refer readers to Richard Bartholomew’s useful summary. The main targets of this undercover investigation were a Madrassa in which small boys were repeatedly hit and kicked for apparent minor misdemeanours and a Muslim school which promoted intolerance and disdain for those of other religions, as well as for fellow Muslims who didn’t adhere to particular practices within their religion. Ironically the school had been praised by inspectors in the past for its commendable interfaith teaching. It has since been asserted that the incidents reported by Dispatches were uncharacteristic and that some of those involved in such teachings had been dismissed.
I didn’t think this programme was as strong as another Dispatches episode on a related theme, ‘Britain’s Islamic Republic’ . There was rather too much repetition – some brief scenes of abuse were shown three times I think, and the impact was weakened by showing some scenes of violence in the Madrassa which only involved the unsupervised children – you might find these in many schools. But, despite some padding, the programme certainly seemed to have identified valid grounds for concern.
It has been claimed that programmes such as these do the EDL’s job for them. But it is potentially more dangerous to repress such information, allowing it to be leaked by the EDL or BNP, and presented on their terms. Dispatches, by contrast, offered a more balanced perspective, showing footage of a Muslim school in Oxford where children were being taught tolerance and respect for those of other faiths in a happy and relaxed environment. (It might have been helpful to start with one of these clips rather than with one of the more negative examples.) It also included interviews with several Muslims who distanced themselves in the strongest terms from such teachings and practices.
