Elite power over anti-Muslim discourse is open to contestation by mass movements

Evidence

It is worth noting how, despite the contested and relational nature of terms such as ‘terrorism’ and ‘Islamism’, which invite qualification and contextualization, it is increasingly common to find statements of a seamless association between the two. This is a good example of what Richard Jackson has called a culturally embedded ‘hard’ discourse, since so many other assumptions compound and reinforce it. … One example is Melanie Phillips’s statement that, ‘after the Rushdie affair, Islam in Britain became fused with an agenda of murder’. This characterization conceives the violence that is committed by Muslims as ‘something inherent in the religion, rendering any Muslim a potential terrorist’. — Nasar Meer, Tariq Modood, Refutations of Racism in the ‘Muslim…, 107 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Mass Muslim-led labor strikes forced courts to block the ban.; Elite-driven Islamophobia faces countervailing mass movements that can redirect public opinion.; Elites hold power that mass movements can and do check through organized struggle (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Sustained protest can push political elites to disavow anti-Muslim provocations #exemplifies (0.93)
• Elite power over anti-Muslim racism is real but not absolute or predetermined #expands (0.88)
• The Islam-terrorism link is a culturally embedded hard discourse resistant to contestation #complicates (0.80) — Nasar Meer, Tariq Modood, Refutations of Racism in the ‘Muslim…, 107