Official counterterrorism policy creates the terrain from which far-right Islamophobia grows
Evidence
With the election of Joe Biden in 2020, troglodyte racism is not going to have the same platform as it did under Trump. However, these forces are not marginal but very much a central part of US imperialism. In this sense, their overt racism exists on a continuum with covert racism. As Hilary Aked, Melissa Jones, and David Miller, authors of the important Spinwatch report, argue, official counterterrorism and counterextremism policy sets the terrain on which the counterjihad movement and the Far Right can operate. Indeed, various models of radicalization combined with the Obama administration’s Countering Violent Extremism initiative put a spotlight on “homegrown terrorism.” This “green scare” then created fertile grounds for the growth and expanded reach of the conspiracy theories of the Right. Thus, to see the counterjihad movement, or the new McCarthyites, in isolation is to miss the broader dynamic at work. At the end of the day, the Islamophobia network is one part of an overall system that serves to reproduce empire. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 737
Categorization
- XREF: Directly answers / extends the reader’s comparative question about whether the rotation-and-terrain circuit is unique to US empire or generic: Spinwatch is the UK analogue showing counterterrorism statecraft seeding far-right movement growth in a European state too. — connects to: Liberal security politics amplified right-wing Islamophobia against the NYC Islamic center — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 659; Counterterrorism is framed as an internal ideological struggle over Muslim mainstream; Liberal containment of Islamophobia serves counterinsurgency strategy, not tolerance — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 574 (+14 more)
- QUESTION: The Spinwatch report is precisely the comparative European material the reader wants — worth chasing whether UK/EU counterterrorism policy setting far-right terrain parallels the US mechanism suggests the pattern is generic to state racism rather than empire-specific.
Broader Connections
- State counter-terrorism focus has fostered and furthered Islamophobia in the UK
#corroborates(0.95) — Runnymede Trust (ed. Farah Elahi & Omar Khan), Islamophobia, 384 - Liberal security politics amplified right-wing Islamophobia’s reach and power
#corroborates(0.90) - State policies authorizing suspicion are the cornerstone of dialectical Islamophobia
#expands(0.90) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 136 - Liberal homegrown-terror hysteria amplified right-wing Islamophobia
#corroborates(0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 671 - Official Islamophobia is manufactured by state surveillance rather than arising from public ignorance
#corroborates(0.90) — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 412 - Counterterrorism is framed as an internal ideological struggle over Muslim mainstream
#expands(0.85) - Liberal containment of Islamophobia serves counterinsurgency strategy, not tolerance
#expands(0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 574 - Institutionalized anti-Muslim ideology corrupts official counterterrorism training
#expands(0.85) — Carl W. Ernst, Islamophobia in America_ The Anatomy of…, 31 - Liberal and conservative Islamophobia jointly enable far-right conspiracy theories
#expands(0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 721 - Structural Islamophobia operates through laws and policies that presume Muslims threaten national security
#expands(0.85) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 123 - Structural Islamophobia institutionalizes the presumption that Muslim identity threatens national security
#expands(0.85) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 1258 - Liberal Islamophobia legitimizes and amplifies right-wing anti-Muslim conspiracy theories
#expands(0.85) - Islamophobia within the Christian Right extended into law enforcement counterterrorism circles.
#expands(0.80) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 537 - Islamophobia operates through spatial policing that restricts Muslim movement and daily life
#expands(0.80) — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 263 - Anti-Muslim fear-mongering empowered by right-wing foundations fuels mainstream hatred.
#corroborates(0.80) — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 626