Obama’s counter-radicalization strategy turned Muslim communities into informants

Evidence

Instead of pushing back against preemptive prosecution and the racist practice of targeting Muslims before they actually do anything, Obama strengthened it. Giving credence to existing radicalization programs in the law enforcement community, he unveiled his “counter-radicalization” strategy in 2011. In the opening statement of his strategy document, Obama argued that “most recently, al-Qa’ida and its affiliates have attempted to recruit and radicalize people here in the United States, as we have seen in several plots and attacks, including the deadly attack two years ago on our service members at Fort Hood.” After spending much time in 2009 emphasizing the threat of terrorists inside US borders, as discussed in chapter 9, Obama put forward a plan to police “homegrown terrorism” by eliciting the help of the Muslim community. Yet liberal Islamophobia does not target all Muslims. It acknowledges that there are “good Muslims”—those who cooperate with the goals of empire. Thus, Obama stated that Muslims are “best positioned to take the lead because they know their communities best.” Heaping praise on Muslim Americans who have worked with the law enforcement community, he called for more such work. The document solicits the support of teachers, coaches, and community members, who are to be turned into a McCarthy-type informant system. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 582

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the term ‘liberal Islamophobia’ and its core mechanism: targeting Muslims while distinguishing ‘good’ cooperative Muslims from ‘bad’ ones.
• XREF: The good Muslim/bad Muslim split connects directly to Mahmood Mamdani’s work and to the reader’s existing knowledge base on how liberal discourse sustains empire. — connects to: Obama’s mosque visit aimed to enlist Muslims as CVE policing informants. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 322; Obama’s presidency mutated and advanced rather than ended the war on terror — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 329; Both Bush and Obama demanded Muslims police their own communities — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 339 (+18 more)

Broader Connections

• Divide-and-conquer foreign policy tactics moved into domestic Muslim communities via CVE #corroborates (0.80) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 409
• Liberal Islamophobia under Obama worsened conditions for Muslims at home and abroad #expands (0.70) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 436
• The War on Terror racially constructed Muslims as terrorists. #expands (0.60)
• Counterterrorism rhetoric masks an offensive campaign against Muslims. #expands (0.60)
• Muslim religious identity becomes a racial category through surveillance. #expands (0.55)
• Terrorist designations function as tools to criminalize Muslim civic participation. #expands (0.50) — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 665