Civil society discourse is invoked selectively, denied to certain Muslim states

Evidence

Civil society in this picture accordingly is the sphere, in contemporary parlance and in abstraction from its state-shaping, of non-governmental organizations and new social movements, tax revolts and anti-war protests, of discontent and critique, falling walls and velvet revolutions, failed dictators and people power. So civil society in Eastern Europe in the downfall of communism, in the Philippines or parts of Africa is seen as the reservoir of a democratic possibility in transition from repression to openness, the realm beyond as it is the object of state repression of one variety or another. (It is curious by contrast how little that language is being invoked in respect of Afghanistan – or for that matter Iraq – as though their ruggedness combined with (or giving rise to) their repressive extremisms excludes almost any hope of a civil society and so of any democratic future. Try as we may, too much dirt beneath those fingernails.) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 212

Categorization

• QUESTION: Does the differential application of civil-society language track a racialized or religio-coded boundary echo of threatened-privilege logics?
• XREF: connects to: Anti-Muslim bias is denied legitimacy by framing Muslimness as voluntarily chosen. — Nasar Meer, Tariq Modood, Refutations of Racism in the ‘Muslim…, 8; Civility discourse smuggles in exclusion of those deemed different — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 208; Muslims are denied the unmarked ordinariness that others enjoy — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 711

Broader Connections

• Anti-Muslim bias is denied legitimacy by framing Muslimness as voluntarily chosen. #expands (0.82) — Nasar Meer, Tariq Modood, Refutations of Racism in the ‘Muslim…, 8
• Civility discourse smuggles in exclusion of those deemed different #corroborates (0.78) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 208
• Muslims are denied the unmarked ordinariness that others enjoy #expands (0.75) — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 711