British anti-terrorism laws perpetuate terrorism

Ever since the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, but more specifically since the bombing of the London Underground trains in 2005, the British police and state have stepped up the search for ‘home-grown’ terrorists.
Apart from the fact that this makes them sound like something you buy from the garden center, the complication in this is that very few of the numerous raids, stop-and-searches and arrests have resulted in any actual terror charges.
At the crux of the issue is media coverage. When someone is arrested in the UK over a terrorism charge it makes national headlines with lengthy in-depth analyses around covering every morsel of information that the particular media outlet can get its hands on.
In April this year, 12 men were arrested in and around Manchester and Liverpool in the North West of England, including at a university library. It was a media gift. Popular tabloid paper The Sun headlined an article that implied packets of sugar found in the suspect’s possession were evidence that these men were plotting to attack, because sugar is a “common ingredient in home–made bombs”. If we are going to arrest everyone who owns a kilogram of sugar, we are going to need a few more cells.
Juxtapose this type of breaking news with the follow-up story which invariably announces the release of the suspects without charge and it strikes a harsh contrast.  We’re lucky if this update is mentioned at all. Announcing the release of some kids who were arrested is not as sensational as a story about young home-grown Asian Muslims arrested at their university library under terrorism charges. This characteristically clichéd image is not entirely the fault of the media. You have to wonder who the clever badge was who decided to make a terrorism arrest at a university library. As if the public mind wasn’t paranoid enough with all the other arrests of brown people made across the country, now there are ceremonial arrests being made. We are going to start seeing terrorists everywhere. Why not cut to the chase and just introduce a poster similar to this swine flu warning but featuring a heavily-bearded, galabiyya-wearing Muslim.  That is basically the effect of these raids.
Of course true terror threats should result in swift arrests but I know I am not the only one who is unconvinced by the techniques that are currently being employed. Frankly they appear to perpetuate the problem as opposed to solving it.
If the information that the police held is so compelling and truly did require immediate action surely the best policy would be to release that intelligence? The police and indeed the British state comes under immense scrutiny for their never-ending anti terror crusade so why not attempt to get public backing by proving the necessity for action?
Being a justice-seeking, anti-violent and somewhat hippy (much to the dismay of my brothers) Muslim I cannot and will not justify terrorist acts. I can, however, provide a valuable insight which will begin to help us understand them. It is awful to feel uncontrollably out of place. Add to that a feeling of injustice about British involvement in the Middle East and the implementation of an apparently racist state policy of arresting anyone who has a ‘Muslim look’ about them, as if it were possible to define religion according to skin color, and we have a real recipe for creating the type of alienated person who will seek control through other mediums.
Yes, violent individuals are to blame for their own actions. We must, however, break away from the vicious circle of cause and effect that we find ourselves in. By creating a society suspicious about anyone who looks like a young Muslim man, we are allowing those who perpetrate crimes like that of the attack on the London Underground win because they successfully triggered into existence a divisive and divided community. This community in turn mistreats a number of young men by wrongfully arresting them, with much media attention and they are silently released back into society, uncharged. These men are consequently are far more likely to turn to violence as a means to reconciling this injustice than if they had not been arrested.
Instead of vilifying an entire section of society, we should welcome them, include them and desist from demonizing them. A person who values their community is a person who is unlikely to betray it.
BM