Theatre and surveillance; A play that brings Prevent under scrutiny

Last night I went to watch Liberation Squares, a play about 3 school girls; Zara, Ruqayah and Sabi, who find themselves referred to Prevent, discovering how their opinions and thoughts are policed in a way that others aren’t, and ultimately, are silenced.

An absolutely brilliant play. Not only was it genuinely funny, but there was a nuance I didn't expect. The characters felt familiar and heartwarming.

In the play, we see one of the girls; Zara, being taken to the headmaster under the authority of Prevent legislation about a video she had made expressing her criticisms. Eventually, the other three girls also fall under suspicion. The play, brilliantly, movingly and hilariously brings to light the sinister nature of Prevent Legislation, and the way it affects communities, especially the youth of those communities.

What is Prevent and its effects:

Initially introduced by the government of Tony Blair in 2003, its aim is to pre-empt the emergence of “violent extremism”; operating within the vague and intangible “pre crime space”.

Since 2015, Prevent was placed on a legal footing in which institutions such as universities and the health care system were brought into the fold of the state security apparatus.