Anti-communist legal machinery was adapted wholesale to target Muslims

Evidence

The threat of Communism and that of terrorism came together seamlessly. When the McCarran–Walter Act was repealed after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the government switched to the new “terrorist activities” provisions of the Immigration Act of 1990 to continue the case. It was finally thrown out in 2007. This case illustrates how the national security state adapts provisions originally designed to handle one threat to deal with new and evolving threats. The McCarran–Walter Act, COINTELPRO, and other such means of controlling Communists proved suitable for targeting racialized others as well. Moreover, mechanisms developed after 9/11 were then deployed against leaders of the Occupy Wall Street movement as well as environmental rights activists including Native Americans in Montana protesting the Keystone Pipeline. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 557 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

This case illustrates how the national security state adapts provisions originally designed to handle one threat to deal with new and evolving threats. The McCarran–Walter Act, COINTELPRO, and other such means of controlling Communists proved suitable for targeting racialized others as well. Moreover, mechanisms developed after 9/11 were then deployed against leaders of the Occupy Wall Street movement as well as environmental rights activists including Native Americans in Montana protesting the Keystone Pipeline. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 557 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Anti-communist legal machinery transfers intact onto racialized Muslim and later leftist targets. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 557; Surveillance machinery built for the Cold War was repurposed against Muslim activists; National security laws built against Communism were repurposed for terrorism (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Anti-communist legal machinery transfers intact onto racialized Muslim and later leftist targets. #corroborates (0.98) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 557
• The state adapts anti-communist tools to target racialized groups #expands (0.92)
• Anti-communist control mechanisms are recycled to target each successive racialized or dissident group #expands (0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 557
• Surveillance machinery built for the Cold War was repurposed against Muslim activists #corroborates (0.85)
• National security laws built against Communism were repurposed for terrorism #expands (0.80)