State repression of religious dissident Muslims coerces other Muslims into political silence

Evidence

Muslims experiencing the most harm from Islamophobia and national security practices are the political dissidents (as defined by the US government and American elites) who practice Islam. Accused of terrorism, barbarity, and inassimilability, the Religious Dissident Racial Muslim is the prime target of government antiterrorism operations, frequently discriminated against at work and in public, and portrayed in the media as a threat to American security. In vociferously challenging American empire abroad and racism at home, Religious Dissident Racial Muslims attract government repression, which in turn chills other devout Muslims, who remain silent about their dissenting political views and hide their religious beliefs. The result is a coercive depoliticization and secularization of immigrant Muslims in exchange for less discriminatory treatment. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 82

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The chilling mechanism described here — targeted repression of the most vocal producing self-censorship and secularization across an entire community — is a dense, multi-layered social dynamic worth sitting with.
• XREF: The chilling dynamic parallels how colonial regimes silence native populations through exemplary punishment of a few leaders, a theme in Fanon and in accounts of authoritarian statecraft. — connects to: State coercion pressured Muslims to become informants or face false charges — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 575; High-capacity low-democracy regimes use rights rhetoric while suppressing organized Islamist opposition — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 513
• SEED: An essay angle: ‘the coercive bargain’ — how states trade tolerance for political silence, comparing the Muslim-American case to other immigrant and minority communities facing loyalty tests.