Counter-terrorism expert to discuss religious freedom and extremism

Layout 1

Maajid Nawaz will speak at St George’s Hall on February 27, in a free event as part of the Security and Conflict lecture series

Maajid Nawaz, co-founder and chairman of Quilliam, a counter extremism think tank, will consider the future security challenges in relation to integration, citizenship, religious freedom, extremism and immigration in a public lecture hosted by the University of Liverpool.

Maajid Nawaz will share his thoughts on national and international security threats whilst acknowledging the influence that politicised religion has over many threats to civic security.

Pluralistic, democratic alternatives

Quilliam is a global think tank that was founded in 2008 to challenge extremist views while advocating pluralistic, democratic alternatives.  It seeks to generate creative, informed and inclusive discussions to counter the ideological underpinnings of terrorism, as well as provide evidence-based recommendations to governments for related policy measures.

As a teenager, Maajid Nawaz, a British-Pakistani born in Essex, played a central role in an extreme Islamist group, Hizb al-Tahrir.

Maajid Nawaz is also the founder of Khudi, a Pakistan-based social movement campaigning to entrench democratic culture among the nation’s youth. 
He abandoned his radical ideas in an Egyptian prison where he served four years as an Amnesty International adopted ‘prisoner of conscience’ and returned to the UK as a leading critic of his former Islamist ideological dogma while remaining a Muslim.

Maajid Nawaz is also the founder of Khudi, a Pakistan-based social movement campaigning to entrench democratic culture among the nation’s youth.  He holds a BA in Arabic and Law from London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies and an MSc in Political Theory from the London School of Economics.

He is the second speaker in the Security and Conflict lecture series which invites eminent and respected thinkers to consider the security challenges in store for 2020. Each speaker will consider what the future holds with particular reference to their special interests – policing, human rights, defence and media.

What does 2020 look like?

The lecture series, ‘What Does 2020 Look Like?’, also features David Milliband, British Labour Party politician and former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs; Colonel Tim Collins, the  military commander best known for his speech on the eve of the Iraq war;

General The Lord Dannatt, British Army Chief of General Staff from 2006-2009; and Rageh Omaar, the Somali-born British writer and world affairs correspondent.

Tickets for the lectures are free and available at http://www.liv.ac.uk/events/2020/  or by telephoning the ticket line on 0151 794 2650.  The lecture will take place on February 27 at 6pm at St George’s Hall.

Layout 1

 

Leave a comment