{"id":400,"date":"2016-09-12T08:21:38","date_gmt":"2016-09-12T08:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rhetoric.commarts.wisc.edu\/?p=400"},"modified":"2017-03-15T01:56:19","modified_gmt":"2017-03-15T01:56:19","slug":"radicalization-responsibility-and-control-the-islamophobic-rhetoric-we-use-to-talk-about-isis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rhetoric.commarts.wisc.edu\/?p=400","title":{"rendered":"Radicalization, Responsibility, and Control: The Islamophobic Rhetoric We Use to Talk About ISIS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u0628\u0633\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u0644\u0647 \u0627\u0644\u0631\u062d\u0645\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0631\u062d\u064a\u0645<\/span><\/u><\/u><\/h2>\n

In the Name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Merciful<\/p>\n

Fifteen years following the 9\/11 attacks, and studies show that Islamophobia is worse than ever<\/a><\/u>.\u00a0 One reason that remains under-examined is the manner in which we use Islamophobic rhetoric to talk about ISIS. Rather than doing anything to actually \u201cdefeat ISIS\u201d (to quote several politicians), all this rhetoric does is normalize anti-Muslim racism.<\/p>\n

First off, it is worth noting that Islamophobia is a confusing term. It insinuates a \u201cphobia\u201d or fear of Islam and, by extension, Muslims. However, reducing Islamophobia in such a simplistic manner does not address the systemic and historical roots of anti-Muslim aggression — namely that it stems from colonial discourses of white supremacy. Put simply, Muslims are technically a religious demographic; but, Islamophobic rhetoric has racialized Muslims as Brown people belonging to a pre-modern civilization that is inferior and subordinate to that of the West. This casts a wide net of who actually experiences Islamophobia: from non-Muslim Arabs, signified by the murder to Khaled Jabara by a neighbor last month<\/a>,<\/u> to Sikh men who adorn the turban for religious reasons. This is also why Jaideep Singh even goes so far as to argue that the term\u00a0Islamo-Racism should replace our use of Islamophobia<\/a><\/u>, with others preferring to use the term “anti-Muslim racism.”<\/p>\n

When this rhetoric of Muslims\u2019 inferiority is used to shape our understanding of ISIS, all it does is instrumentalize ISIS to rationalize structural anti-Muslim racism. This was demonstrated well during the Republican and Democratic national conventions this summer where Muslims were portrayed either as ISIS affiliates or individuals willing to work with the state <\/em>to defeat ISIS-like radicalization. In his RNC speech, for example, Donald Trump framed his ambition to \u201cdefeat the barbarians of ISIS\u201d by strategically placing the attack in Nice, France<\/a><\/u>, alongside a myriad of other examples in the U.S., including the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center and the recent Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, FL<\/a><\/u>. In doing so, Trump spoke through a false dichotomy wherein the victims of ISIS are uniformly Western, and marks the aggression as a coherent, linear brand of \u201cIslamic terrorism.\u201d In proclaiming this violence as inherently and solely \u201cIslamic,\u201d however, his rhetoric leaves no room to address that Muslims are actually the primary victims of ISIS. July alone, for instance, witnessed one the deadliest attacks in Baghdad, Iraq since 2003<\/a><\/u> killing over 250 (predominantly Shia) people in the Karada shopping district; one of the deadliest attacks in Kabul, Afghanistan since 2001, killing over 80 Shi\u2019i Hazara Muslim<\/a>; <\/u>and an attack in Istanbul, Turkey killing over 40 people<\/a>.<\/u><\/p>\n

\"Donald

Donald Trump speaking at the 2016 RNC<\/p><\/div>\n

Unlike Trump\u2019s RNC speech that promoted an \u201cIslamic radicalization versus the progressive West\u201d narrative, the DNC fueled a classical \u201cgood Muslim\u201d\/\u201cbad Muslim\u201d narrative in which the \u201cgood Muslim\u201d was one eager to cooperate with the state to defeat radicalization. Bill Clinton stated this point blank by proclaiming, \u201cif you\u2019re a Muslim and you love America and freedom and you hate terror, stay here and help us win and make a future together.\u201d Several Muslims immediately pointed out via social media<\/a> <\/u>the manner in which Muslim loyalty was put on trial. It may also be worth noting that neither of the candidates \u2013 Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump \u2013 even mentioned the word \u201cMuslim,\u201d and that the only time Trump did was in reference to the Muslim Brotherhood. This means that Muslims were invisible in both conventions, unless and until terrorism and\/or militarism was brought to the forefront.<\/p>\n

What the language in the speeches demonstrates is that anti-Muslim racism in today\u2019s ISIS hysteria-ridden\/post-9\/11 context paints Muslims as if they have been infected by this thing called \u201cIslam.\u201d If it is not surveilled and monitored properly, this will turn into the virus we now call \u201cradicalization\u201d; but with proper care, this radicalization will lie dormant. This was particularly clear in the fear that Trump spurred through his application of \u201cradical Islam,\u201d and in Bill Clinton\u2019s plea with Muslims to stay in the U.S. so long as they can fulfill their \u201cresponsibility\u201d to fight terrorism (insinuating that Muslims would have insight into terrorism by virtue of being Muslim).<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, the entity responsible for controlling the \u201cradicalization\u201d outbreak, is the State itself. That is, the federal government has taken it upon itself to cure the nation of this illness by enlisting the help of the U.S. public, and especially Muslims and Arabs themselves, to participate in the surveillance process. Anti-Muslim rhetoric, then, reinforces the need for control and surveillance through the fear of radicalization.<\/p>\n

\"Muslims

Muslims demand equal rights in a 2013 U.S. protest.<\/p><\/div>\n

The language of fear, responsibility, and control that was extolled throughout the convention speeches has material consequences that structure anti-Muslim racism, particularly through state and federal policies.\u00a0 This includes (but is not limited to):<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Support for surveillance programs such as the \u201cShared Responsibility Committees\u201d<\/a><\/u> which ask counselors, teachers, and community leaders to help the state identify individuals who have been potentially \u201cradicalized.\u201d These rely heavily on the use of \u201csuspicious activity reporting,\u201d<\/a><\/u> which, some claim, has questionable and unsuccessful methods<\/a>. <\/u><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. Rationalized forms of racial profiling<\/a><\/u>, particularly through the use of community informants. This, arguably, encourages Muslims and Arabs to engage in the State\u2019s work of criminalizing their own communities. Since the informants are community members, this allows the federal government to evade the accusation of direct racial profiling.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \n
      1. The prevalence of anti-Shari\u2019a legislation in nine states, even though Shari\u2019a was never practiced in U.S. court systems<\/a>.<\/u><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          \n
        1. The stigmatization of refugees seeking asylum simply on the basis of ethnic and faith-background, as indicated by attempts by state governors to deny refugees asylum — even though they do not hold that power.<\/a><\/u><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
            \n
          1. The emboldening of policies such as the Countering Violent Extremism Act<\/a><\/u>, which may make innocuous acts of Muslim worship appear suspect, thereby further criminalizing Muslims for merely observing their faith. The CVE website \u201cDon\u2019t be a Puppet\u201d<\/a><\/u> reflects the manner in which not<\/em> engaging in the acts of surveillance renders you \u201ca puppet\u201d that may, one day, be responsible for the presence of radicalization within our country.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            As a necessary point of clarification, I am not trying to argue that nothing should be done or that \u201cextremism\u201d doesn\u2019t exist \u2013 as a Shia Muslim woman myself, I belong to one of the most targeted groups of ISIS; however, the \u201ccountering extremism\u201d measures here promote structural anti-Muslim racism by criminalizing Muslim communities, and renders Muslim victims of both ISIS as well as <\/em>structural anti-Muslim racism, completely invisible. This is enhanced through the rhetoric surrounding radicalization, responsibility, and control.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            \u0628\u0633\u0645 \u0627\u0644\u0644\u0647 \u0627\u0644\u0631\u062d\u0645\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0631\u062d\u064a\u0645 In the Name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Merciful Fifteen years following the 9\/11 attacks, and studies show that Islamophobia is worse than ever.\u00a0 One reason that remains under-examined is the manner in which we use … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhetoric.commarts.wisc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhetoric.commarts.wisc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhetoric.commarts.wisc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhetoric.commarts.wisc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhetoric.commarts.wisc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=400"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/rhetoric.commarts.wisc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":412,"href":"https:\/\/rhetoric.commarts.wisc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions\/412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhetoric.commarts.wisc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhetoric.commarts.wisc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhetoric.commarts.wisc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}