Video transcript: Research Impact – Engaging Policy, Media and Community: Dr Jasjit Singh

Transcript for the video on the World Changers story, Not 'hard to reach' but 'hardly reached'.

[Musical sound as University of Leeds logo is displayed]

[Dr Jasjit Singh, Associate Professor, School of Philosophy, Religion and the History of Science, University of Leeds, talking on camera]

Jasjit Singh: In this film, I'm going to discuss the evolution, execution and impact of a research project I started in 2016 on Sikh radicalization in Britain. 

[View of Hindustan Times headline: “Modi to ask UK to take action against radical Sikh groups”]

In November 2015, I'd seen Indian media widely reporting that the Indian Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi will be raising the issue of Sikh radicalisation in Britain with the then British Prime Minister David Cameron.

[Camera on Dr Jasjit Singh talking; and various newspapers headlines and webpages on the topic, which continue throughout the video]

During Mr Modi's visit, a number of headlines about Sikh radicalisation in Britain appeared in both Indian and British media reporting about a dossier which was allegedly being presented to the British government by Mr Modi. According to these Indian television newspaper reports the dossier included numerous allegations about terror activities being carried out by Sikhs in Britain. What’s particularly fascinating is that British MPs asked the government twice about the dossier and on both occasions the government denied receiving the dossier.

I’d also observed a number of incidents taking place in Britain involving Sikhs from the Behzti affair in Birmingham to protests in [unclear, sounds like ‘graze’] and Dudley against a serving of alcohol and meat in halls owned by gurdwaras. There was also a protest against the screening of the film Nanak Shah Fakir which led to the evacuation of a cinema in Wolverhampton in April 2015 and protests against mixed faith Anand Karaj taking place in gurdwaras in 2016. I found this all really interesting and realised that there was very little to no research on these various incidents.

I wanted to examine the following questions: 

1. What are the realities of Sikh radicalisation?
2. Which incidents have taken place involving Sikhs and why?
3. What are the different political, religious and socio-cultural reasons?
4. Which narratives and issues are more commonly cited by Sikhs in relation to these protests and incidents?
5. How are these narratives transmitted and framed in the media?
6. What are the different types of Sikhs activism and the key issues of focus?

In 2016 Crest released a call for projects which I successfully applied to to carry out the research. I’ll cover the key findings of the research in another series of films, but in this film I’ll be talking about the execution and impact of the project.

The research was conducted a number of ways using archives and examining historical and contemporary media to understand the context and framing of Sikh issues and incidents. I also interviewed 20 self-identified activists in Britain. Once I’d written the draft, which was in May 2017, rather than simply publishing the report, I wanted to obtain feedback on the emerging findings. 

As well as presenting at national and international academic conferences, I also presented to the members of the Sikh community in Britain, many of whom lived through some of the events I was describing. From mid to late 2017, I presented the International Sikh Research Conference at the University of Warwick, then in Central London organised by the Sikh Education Council, then in Southall organized by the Sikh Press Association, and finally Leeds at the KSA primary in October 2017.

Presenting at these events allowed me to test my research to see if I’d gathered an accurate record of all the various incidents narratives and issues. Although all the events were open to the public, the rule was that there will be no live streaming or tweeting and anything discussed will be on the Chatham House Rule, i.e. would stay in the room. This was to ensure that the discussion during or following the presentations will be as open and frank as possible.

The events went really well, with comments including, “this is the first time that I’ve seen experienced this kind of engagement between the community and academia”. I received very useful feedback and comments which I incorporated into the report where relevant.

[Jasveer Singh, Press Officer, Sikh Press Association, speaking on camera]

Jasveer Singh: I had been working full-time within the Sikh community for approximately two years and I’ve never seen an event like this where an academic would actually open doors to connect directly with so many people within the community and not kind of cherry pick their own people that, you know, might be most beneficial for their aim and their agendas, where things were kind of so open and things were made so accessible. At the same time, you know, protocol was followed, things weren't put out on social media, no pictures, no video recordings. I think that added to the level of trust within these kind of circles that were created for these events.

We've used the report very regularly anytime there is any kind of mention or discussion or dialogue on Sikh radicalization or Sikh extremism. We present the research project as an example of something that should be referenced all the time and sadly often it's not. It allows us to also then say well perhaps you aren't coming at this in the right way then if you're unaware of this, if you haven't taken time out to read this.

A specific example of how the how much impact that can have was a case in 2017 where we put in a complaint to the Canadian Media Council, through our international Canadian team about an article in the Toronto Sun which said that shahidi is the same in Islam and Sikhi, so shahidi being the term for martyrdom, and Dr Jasjit Singh covered this very specifically and actually absolutely superbly in his Sikh radicalization report. With us putting through a complaint about this article which claimed that shahidi is the same in Islam and Sikhi, we are able to reference the research project and we were able to present that to the Canadian National Media Council, and they ruled in our favour and that had to be changed in the Toronto Sun, and they had to actually include in an article that they'd mentioned this prior and that was a mistake to state this. So you know there's tangible examples there of how we have used this research project to actually change narratives.

The work of the Crest research project and Dr Jasjit Singh has set a standard now for how this community views academic research projects, the levels of transparency and the levels of interaction and I think that standard now is always going to put anything else that comes through under scrutiny which is a good thing and the right way forward for real authentic insights into the Sikh community.

[Revd Tom Wilson, Director at St Philip’s Centre, Leicester, speaking on camera]

Revd Tom Wilson: I invited Dr Singh to come to the St Philip’s Centre and we asked him to do two different events. 

We did a round table for practitioners, that was invitation only, relatively small group of people. The idea was that we could have a frank and unhurried, unrushed conversation that people could ask maybe some of the more tough and challenging questions. We could explore different perspectives, we could potentially disagree with each other but do so behind closed doors, such that disagreements then would be less likely to get heated. 

I think it's really helpful when research is honest about the problems in communities so sometimes when you go to interfaith events people want to just say that everything is fine, and on one level that's important. So if I take a group of faith leaders into a primary school that is not an appropriate context for us to explore some of the challenges within and between communities. We want to present a group of people of different faiths who get on so that we can prove that that's possible, and I think it's really important that that happens. But if you've got a group of adults, a group of leaders who are experienced and recognise there are challenges within and between communities, at that kind of context pretending that there are no issues is just not very helpful. 
I think it's helpful to have some solid research that's been well done, that's been peer reviewed, that is specific and concrete, and particularly that gives you a sense of the scale of a problem because people can say you know there's an issue in the Sikh community or there's an issue in the Muslim community, but how many people, what actually does it look like, what is the likely impact on a specific community and on community or inter-community relations either city or a region as a whole.

[Rashpal Singh, Co-Chair, Sikh Alliance Yorkshire, speaking on camera]

Rashpal Singh: Dr Singh did a research project, presented it to the community, to the sangat, and there was an opportunity to have dialogue and understand the findings. So using that same model we thought well let's build on that and really create our organisation, Sikh Alliance Yorkshire to do that same kind of thing.

What issues are there with the NHS? What issues are we having with the police? What issues do we have with education? Even at government level? And how can we start to bridge the conversations with community and policy makers and start to have that dialogue, start to hold events discuss key topics in a positive manner on how, all right, this is a problem but what can we contribute to help offer a solution to that?

The fact that the title was so provocative, it just in many ways it rang alarm bells. Leeds is a very conservative place, but we still had practically a full house, so from that point of view I thought that the positioning of the title was on point. With regards to the content, the substance of the actual report and the presentation, the depth and the thoroughness of the research was really strong, there wasn't any part that was just skimmed over.

Dr Jasjit Singh: There was lots of interest in the report when it was released in November 2017, from policymakers, the community and from national and international media. I appeared on the BBC number of times talking about the research. I was invited to present my findings nationally and internationally to discuss the issues raised, for instance in the houses of parliament in June 2018.

[Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, Member of Parliament, Labour Party Member of Parliament for Slough, speaking on camera]

Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: There are too many anecdotes but not enough rigorous academic research, so more initiatives as undertaken by Dr Jasjit Singh are very much needed because we as legislators are constantly looking for rigorous academic research in order to make those informed decisions, but also in terms of reaching the right conclusions.

Dr Jasjit Singh: In February 2018, as the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, visited India, a number of headlines appeared in Canadian media relating to Sikh extremism. In December 2018, Public Safety Canada published a 2018 public report on the terrorism threat to Canada, which for the first time included a reference to Sikh extremism. In response, the World Sikh Organization organised a second series of Ask Canadians Sikhs panel discussions in March 2019 across Canada which they invited me to headline.

[Balpreet Singh, World Sikh Organisation, Canada, speaking on camera]

Balpreet Singh: Whenever we've met with politicians or tried to explain this to third parties, whether that's media or just other interested parties, we've always tried to bring forward the fact that there is no evidence to suggest a rise in Sikh extremism. So having that evidence is very important, and Dr Jasjit Singh's report is a part of that repertoire of evidence saying that this is an academic report and it clearly shows that the agenda behind calling Sikhs extremists is not based on fact, it's based on politics, it's based on rhetoric. So that definitely is a helpful tool when explaining this issue to others, 

[Jaskaran Singh, World Sikh Organisation, Canada, speaking on camera]

Jaskaran Singh: It's something that I took a deep interest in only after all this blew up because I started getting it back from decision makers, I started getting it back from journalists: “well, you say x, that guy says y, that guy over there says one two three, he's only speaking the same language as you guys, give me something that at least has the appearance of objectivity, right, or at least has some level of research and empirical data where I can go back to the sources and reference, you know, the exact primary or secondary sources that built this this report or this opinion”. 

This is where Dr Jasjit Singh’s work comes in because it became one of the few tools we had at our disposal to actually hold up and say here's a piece of, you know, peer-reviewed, university, post-secondary level, critical analysis of activism and radicalization or the lack actually thereof in our Sikh community that is often misconstrued as being such. And that's a piece of evidence, where you can send to a reporter, that's a piece of evidence that you can send to policy and decision makers that, hey, by the way, you know if you're going to report on our community at least do the reading and here's one piece of research that is credible it has that seal of authenticity of a scholarship that it can be sourced.

Dr Jasjit Singh: On reflection, the innovative methods I used enabled me to gather valuable insights to ensure the research was reliable and valid and demonstrated the importance of holding open access public consultations which built trust with the community. My engagement with policy makers, media and the community throughout the project meant that the findings were impactful as they emerged. This engagement also ensured that the open access resources I produced are actually been used to guide media discourses and policy.